The 27 Club

There is an infamous club known as the 27 Club

and it’s members include famous figures like Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, and Janis Joplin.

The (unofficial) membership to this exclusive “club” however comes at a very high cost – it is only ever granted after a celebrity dies - aged 27.

Their name is then put forward to be included in the list, but since the club is purely notional, there is no official membership.

The ‘27 Club’ is a cultural phenomenon, highlighting the musicians, artists, actors and athletes who died at the age of 27, with many of the deaths linked to high-risk lifestyles, including suicide, homicide, drug, and alcohol abuse, or accidents.

Many people maintain that there is something very strange about the deaths, and there are several theories floating around.

One theory that the stars made a satanic pact and sold their souls for talent and fame and that the debt would be paid in their 27th year of age (this was linked to Robert Johnson — the first recorded member of the club), while some astrologists believe the effects of the Planet Saturn are felt at 27 which causes reckless behaviour and therefore increases the chances of death.

The 27 club has been repeatedly cited in music magazines, journals and the daily press. Several exhibitions have been devoted to the idea, as well as novels, films and stage plays. Even other musicians have written songs about the club and its members.

The idea of this pattern first came about between 1969 and 1971 when Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison all died at the age of 27. So many celebrities passing away at the same age in a short space of time was noticed.

But it wasn’t until Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died aged 27 in 1994 that the term ‘27 Club’ was officially first coined. The club gained even more attention in 2011 when Amy Winehouse died aged 27.

So, are celebrities more likely to die at 27?

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) released a study in 2011 looking into whether 27 is a dangerous age for famous musicians.

The study found that there was “no peak in risk around age 27, but the risk of death for famous musicians throughout their 20s and 30s was two to three times higher than the general UK population”.

The study concluded that “fame may increase the risk of death among musicians, but this risk is not limited to age 27”.

An article from the Independent, published in 2015, took a deep dive into the statistics behind the 27 Club, and found that there was no statistical evidence that showed that celebrities were more likely to die at 27.

The theory of the 27 club members

selling their soul to the devil in return for talent, fame and fortune starts back in 1930 in Robinsonville, Mississippi. 19-year-old Robert Johnson, an aspiring blues musician, was hanging out at a juke joint where legends Son House and Willie Brown were playing. Between sets, Johnson dared to pick up one of the musicians' guitars and attempted to play his own stuff, but the crowd wasn't having it.

The club owners tossed Johnson out of the Robinsonville juke. Then one night, while House and Brown were playing another gig in Mississippi, in walks Robert Johnson with a guitar strapped to his back. House elbowed Brown and pointed mockingly at Robert. “Boy, now where are you going with that thing? To noise somebody to death again?”

But this time, something was very different. Johnson took out his guitar, a regular six-string, fitted with an extra seventh string, something neither House nor Brown had seen before. But that wasn't the only new thing.

Johnson had acquired insane skills and unusual techniques, strumming a series of rapid-fire chords that made the guitar sound almost like a piano — a piano with three hands playing it. How could this youngster, who less than a year ago had no skills and got kicked off the stage, return in such a short space of time as the most talented blues guitarist in the Delta?

"I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees, Asked the Lord above, 'Have mercy, now save poor Bob, if you please.'" sings Johnson in his eerie and cool voice on his song Crossroads.

Two very notable songs Robert wrote: "Cross Road Blues" (or just "Crossroads") and "Me and the Devil Blues," have both contributed to the myth of Johnson's pact with Lucifer, including the part about the dark angel coming to collect his debt. In the latter song, Satan comes knocking on the singer's door early in the morning. "Hello Satan," says Johnson, "I believe it's time to go."

Legend has it that Johnson had taken his guitar to the crossroads of Highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and made a deal, where the devil traded him his newfound skills in exchange for his soul at the age of 27. He returned with a formidable technique and a mastery of the blues.

Sadly recordings of Roberts songs seemed to only be made in the final year before his death. The few recordings—29 songs in total—went on to influence Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, 27 club member Brian Jones and so many others. And that's not to mention the hundreds of blues guitarists who probably barely stopped short of selling their own souls trying to outplay him.

Who are the most well-known members of the 27 Club?

Amy Winehouse

Born 14 September 1983 in north London, throughout her life, the singer songwriter struggled with alcohol addiction and drugs.

Winehouse passed away on July 23 2011. She was found dead by paramedics in her flat in Camden, north London, and there were empty bottles of vodka on the floor. An inquest into the singer's death confirmed that she died from alcohol poisoning.

The inquest found that Winehouse had 416mg of alcohol per decilitre in her blood, which was enough to make her comatose and depress her respiratory system.

Brian Jones

Born 28 February 1842 Brian Jones would go on to become the founder and original leader of The Rolling Stones. He died at around midnight on 3 July 1969 and was discovered at the bottom of his swimming pool at Cotchford Farm. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The coroner’s report ruled his death as a drowning, which was later clarified as “death by misadventure”, and noted that Jones’ liver and heart were both enlarged by his previous drug and alcohol abuse.

There are other theories surrounding Jones’ death, with associates of The Rolling Stones claiming that Jones was murdered.

Jimi Hendrix

Born 27 November 1942, Hendrix would go on to become one of the most influential guitarists in history. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame described Hendrix as “the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music”.

Hendrix’s girlfriend Monika Dennemann found him breathing but unconscious and unresponsive in her apartment in London.

She called for an ambulance and paramedics transported the musician to St Mary Abbot’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on 18 September 1970.

The post-mortem examination declared that Hendrix choked on his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates, a drug that acts as a central nervous system depressant.

Janis Joplin

Born on 19 January 1943 in Port Arthur, Texas, she rose to fame as a singer after her appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

On October 4 1970, her producer Paul Rothchild was concerned for Joplin when she failed to show up for a recording session. She was found by John Cooke, one of her close friends, and two other friends at her hotel room, dead on the floor beside her bed.

The autopsy of the singer determined that the cause of death was a heroin overdose, which had possibly been compounded by alcohol.

Jim Morrison

Born on 8 December 1943, he would go on to become the lead vocalist of rock band, The Doors. He was reportedly found by Pamela Courson in Paris in the bathtub of the apartment he was staying in.

The singer died on 3 July, 1971 - two years to the day after the death of Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones.

The cause of death was listed as heart failure, however, no autopsy was performed as it wasn’t required by French law.

Kurt Cobain

Born on 20 February 1967 and best known as the frontman and primary songwriter of rock band, Nirvana, he was found dead at his home in Seattle, Washington. It was determined that he had died on April 5 1994, three days before he was found.

Whilst his death was officially ruled as a suicide - the Seattle Police Department incident report states that he was “found with a shotgun across his body, had a visible head wound and there was a suicide note discovered nearby” — the death of Cobain has been the subject of much public discussion, with many people theorising that he was murdered.

Jade Goody

An English television personality, born on 5 June 1981, found fame after her appearance on the Channel 4 reality TV show Big Brother in 2002.

In 2008 Goody appeared on the Indian version of Big Brother, called Bigg Boss, but had to leave the show early and return to the UK as she learned she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer.

On September 1, 2008, it was reported that her cancer was “advanced and life-threatening”.

In 2009, it was confirmed by her publicist, Max Clifford, that cancer had spread to Goodby’s liver, bowel and groin. On 22 March 2009, Goody passed away in her sleep.

Sahara Davenport

Antoine Ashley, is best known by the drag queen stage name and persona Sahara Davenport, who appeared on the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Davenport was born on 17 December, and joined the cast of Drag Race in 2010. The drag queen passed away on 1 October 2012 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore due to heart failure.

The first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, a spin-off of the main show that sees contestants return, aired following Davenport’s death was dedicated to the drag queen.

Anton Yelchin

Anton was born on 11 March 1989 in Leningrad, Russia, to figure skater parents.

He was an Russian-American actor, best known for his role as Pavel Chekon in the rebooted Star Trek film franchise - Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and posthumously in Star Trek Beyond (2016).

On June 18 2016, after he failed to arrive at rehearsals, Yelchin was found by his friends pinned between his Jeep and a brick pillar mailbox outside his house in Studio City, California.

The vehicle had rolled back down his driveway, which was on a steep incline, and had trapped the actor. He was pronounced dead at the scene on 19 June 2016.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office identified the cause of death as “blunt traumatic asphyxia”.

Kim Jong-hyun

Also known as Jonghyun, was born on 8 April 1990 and was a South Korean singer-songwriter and the main vocalist of K-pop group Shinee for nine years.

In December 2017, Jonghyun rented a flat in the Gangnam District in southeastern Seoul for two days. On 18 December, Jonghyun’s older sister, Kim So-dam, made a call to emergency services reporting that she thought her brother was going to commit suicide.

He was found unconscious by police and rescue workers and was taken to Konkuk University Hospital in a state of cardiac arrest. After receiving emergency CPR treatment, he was pronounced dead at the hospital, on 18 December 2017.

At the request of Jonghyun’s family, a post-mortem was not carried out and his death was declared as a possible suicide.

The unofficial list of the current 75 members can be found on the wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club which includes this year's entrant Lil Marlo, an American rapper who was murdered July 11, 2020.

Coincidence or conspiracy

the 27 Club is surely one of pop music’s greatest and most mysterious mythologies. But whether the club even exists or not is debatable. We may be continuing to keep the myth going simply because of the legend surrounding it. Any celebrity, especially music-affiliated ones, however big or small, who dies at age 27 is now much more likely to receive attention than others who die at any other age. By actively looking for a pattern & proof of the club, we continue to create a body of evidence that suits the case itself. The 27 Club, in music and in legend, lives on.