THE 27's CLUB

 

Hi everyone and welcome back to our blog. If you remember, in my last article I told you the story of Robert Johnson. There I mentioned the 27’s club, which is just what we are going to talk about today. Ready?

The 27 Club is a list, including popular musicians, actors and artists in general, who died at age of 27, often because of drug abuse or alcohol abuse or who died a violent death. The “club” has been repeatedly cited in music magazines and journals. There have been many theories and speculations about the causes of such early deaths and their possible connections.

 

Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison all died at the age of 27 between 1969 and 1971. At the time, the coincidence gave rise to some comments, but it was not until Kurt Cobain’s 1994 death, at age 27, that the idea of a “27 Club” began to catch on in public perception. Blues musician Robert Johnson, who died in 1938, is the earliest popular musician who has been included in the members of the 27 Club. In 2011, seventeen years after Cobain’s death, Amy Winehouse died at the age of 27 creating again a great interest in the media about the club. Three years earlier, she had expressed her fear of dying at that age.

An individual does not necessarily have to be a musician to qualify as a member of the 27 Club. Rolling Stone included television actor Jonathan Brandis, who died in 2003, in a list of “members” of the 27 Club. Anton Yelchin, who had played in a punk rock band but was primarily known as a film actor, was also described as a member of the club when he died in 2016. Jean-Michel Basquiat has also been included in the 27 Club lists, despite the relative brevity of his music career, and his prominence as a graffiti artist and painter.

 

A study published in the British Medical Journal in December 2011 concluded that there was no increase in the risk of death for musicians at the age of 27, but the age ranges from 20 years old to 30 years old.

 

The story of the 27’s club is a very disturbing one; there are many theories about the links between every death.  Its story has been known for almost  150 years and we can’t know when and where the next member will  join the club. Fingers crossed it won’t be soon!

 

Francesco P., 4sc