This is going to be a bit depressing especially if you are 26. The cliche of number 13 is going to be broken down when you see how many celebrities have died at the age of 27. We have ten celebrities who died at 27 in this list, but hang on after the 10th one because that is not all. Obviously.
10. Anton Yelchin
The star from J.J Abrams’ Star Trek series, Yelchin is the most recent amongst deaths of celebrities recorded at 27. On June 19, 2016, he got out of his Jeep Cherokee in the driveway of his California house. The car then slipped, rolled back and pressed him against a brick pillar and a security fence.
By the time his friends found him, he was dead. The Los Angeles coroner’s office declared him dead due to traumatic asphyxia (suffocation). A few weeks later Star Trek Beyond was released and dedicated to the memory of Anton Yelchin.
See also; 10 Famous Stars Who Died Too Young.
9. Jonathan Brandis
Brandis was already a soap opera actor when he was under 10. He had secured the role of Kevin Buchanan on One Life to Live when he was just six. To the courtesy of NBC series seaQuest DSV lies his success as a teenage heartthrob. Films like The NeverEnding Story II, It based on Stephen King’s novel, Ladybugs and Sidekicks are just a few hits to his credit.
Things began to slow down for Brandis after 1996 when the seaQuest wrapped up. He secured roles in Ride with the Devil and Outside Providence but his 2003 movie pilot 111 Gramercy Park failed to pick up. No one knows whether it was his dwindling career or some other problem in his life that caused him to hang himself on November 12, 2003.
8. Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse was the talk of the UK after her 2006 Black to Black. She was an international sensation known for both her talent in singing and her looks. Her attitude also gave her a few headlines when coupled with intense relationships and abuse of alcohol. She broke into the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart with her hit “Rehab”.
Winehouse had a marvellous voice but her tendency to overuse alcohol was what ultimately led to her demise. Ironically we see that in her name partly- wine. She died on July 23, 2011 and the coroner’s inquest revealed that the alcohol level in her blood was five times than the level permitted for drivers in the UK.
See also; Top 10 Celebs Who Died Before 30.
7. Kurt Cobain
Like many rappers, one of Cobain’s songs also laid down his death-wish. After “I Hate Myself and Want to Die” people were not blind towards the possibility of him committing a suicide. Psychologists say that once you have said it, you can do it. Kurt contributed to the music industry with significant submissions like “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and it is known that he found solace in writing, recording and playing music.
He was very close to his wife Courtney Love and his daughter Frances Bean Cobain. Yet all this was not enough to keep him sane. He got out of rehab, where he was trying to quit his heroin habit, flew to Seattle and turned the gun on himself. This happened on April 5, 1994.
6. Kristen Pfaff
Kristen Pfaff was a member of the band Janitor Joe, based in Minneapolis, through which she found regional fame. Courtney Love (Kurt Cobain’s wife) and Eric Erlandson tried to coax her into becoming the bassist for the band Hole. It didn’t work at first but she eventually got around. Pfaff developed a drug habit while she was recording Hole’s Live Through This album.
She went into detox in the February of 1994 and got clean. She left Hole and joined Janitor Joe for only a tour, but after Kurt Cobain’s death she left Hole and Seattle for good. On June 16, 1994, Pfaff was found dead in her apartment due to a heroin overdose. Her reported departure for Minneapolis was scheduled to happen the next day.
See also; Famous stars who committed suicide.
5. Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix, without hyperbolic eulogization, the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music. His death still causes his fans to contemplate on what kind of music they might have heard had he been alive. He was quite disturbed during the final days of his life. His bassist Billy Cox had just ditched him, he was facing a paternity suit and struggling with a recording contract dispute.
At the same time he was thinking of leaving his manager and we can very well assess that he did not have an emotional range of a teaspoon because on top of all this Hendrix was trying to cope with bad health due to anxiety and insomnia. On September 19, 1970, he took nine sleeping pills which left him so incapacitated that he inhaled his own vomit and died.
4. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones was initially steered by Brian Jones even if we know Mick Jagger and Keith Richards more. In the bassist Bill Wyman’s words for an interview given to the Daily Mail in 2002, we quote;
He formed the band. He chose the members. And, he named the band. He chose the music we played. And, he got us gigs. He was very influential, very important, and then slowly lost it … and just kind of wasted it and blew it all away.
Jones grew frustrated as the band started moving towards the pop genre. He began drug and alcohol abuse that led to mood swings and his eventual dismissal from the band. His bad habits continued even though his mood changed towards the end of his life. On July 3, 1969, Jones was found at the bottom of his swimming pool. The coroner ruled it as a “case of death by misadventure”.
3. Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison is one star whose legacy looms so long after his death that it is almost like he never left. His body was found in his apartment in Paris while he was in the bathtub. An autopsy was never performed, although the cause mentioned was heart failure, which led to all sorts of speculations whether he died accidentally, through murder or whether he died at all.
He is dead obviously but a rock star’s legacy lasts for a long time after they have gone and Morrison belonged to a group that was one of the most popular ones. His excesses were richly portrayed in the biopic The Doors, 1991. He was gone on July 3, 1971. When he died, the lead singer of his band had already been gone for a decade.
2. Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin died on October 4, 1970. She had gained her reputation amongst the rock stars because of being able to belt out numbers just like any man. It wasn’t just this that she did like a man though, it was also the drinking and the drugging where lay the actual problem.
Her alcohol habits and heroin intake level was quite bad and efforts were made to sway her into rehab. Tragedy did not spare her though and she died due to overdose.
1. Jean Michel
Jean Michel Basquiat and his works played their magic on Andy Warhol in the 1980s and both collaborated creatively along with being friends. The impression of his artistry was such that he also dated Madonna for a while.
He was also in the famous video for Blondie’s Rapture which is a humongous credit in itself. Yet, there was a downside to his life which was addiction to heroin. When his friend Andy Warhol died in February 1987, Basquiat plunged into depression and drugs. He died on August 12, 1988 due to an overdose.
Artists are creative and intelligent- but they are known to be sensitive. Whether it is their sensitivity to the slightest and smallest of happenings of whether it is the fact that their life leads them away from spirituality, it is sad to see precious lives being wasted because of drugs- mostly. These are not the only celebrities though. The list goes on…