Malcolm Hale was the lead guitarist for the ’60s folk rock band, Spanky and our Gang. The band released their debut album, Spanky and Our Gang, in 1967. It contained their three biggest hits, “Sunday Will Never Be The Same,” Lazy Days,” and “Making Every Minute Count.” A little over a year after the band’s first album, Malcolm Hale, 27, died of carbon monoxide poisoning suffered when using a faulty space heater. The band broke up shortly thereafter.
Janis Joplin was a pioneering female rock ‘n roll star in an era that saw very few of them. Born and raised in east Texas, Joplin had a rebellious streak from an early age. As the rock ‘n roll stereotype goes, she was an outcast who found solace in music of her idols, in this case, Lead Belly, Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton. Joplin left Texas for San Francisco in 1963. Building a name for herself throughout the scene due to her passionate bluesy singing style, Joplin was hired by local psychodelic rock favorites, Big Brother and the Holding Company to be their lead singer. Signed to Columbia Records, the group soon became a breakout act of the San Francisco scene. Thanks to a few key festival performances, television appearances and such dynamic records as “Ball and Chain” and “Piece of my Heart,” Joplin was universally being touted as one of rock’s greatest voices. Sadly though, she was waging a battle against hard drugs an alcohol, and to some, each performance seemed like it might be her last. The band broke up in December of 1970, with Joplin embarking on a solo career. All the while battling her demons, Joplin recorded what would be her swansong album, Pearl. The album contained the two rock classics, “Me and Bobby McGhee,” and “Mercedes Benz,” but would not come out until after her death. On October 4, 1970, when she failed to arrive at the recording studio to work on some finishing touches for Pearl, her band’s road manager drove over to her hotel and found lifeless body. Janis Joplin was dead of a heroin overdose at the age of 27.
Jimi Hendrix was unquestionably the greatest guitarist rock music has ever known. With one foot firmly planted in the blues and the other in jazz, Hendrix took took the best of both, added some fire and created a guitar sound like had never been heard. It makes no sense to list those he’s directly influenced here, because it would likely lead to the end of the internet. Unless you count the broomstick Hendrix strummed on as a child, the first guitar he ever played was at the age of 15. He went on to teach himself how to play by watching others on TV or by listening to records. After a stint in the army, Hendrix began playing guitar professionally, mostly along the so-called chitlin’ circuit. In 1964, Hendrix was hired by Little Richard to record and play on the road in his band. Within a couple of years, he formed his own band, Jimmy James & the Blue Flames, with whom he began building a reputation around the southeast. That band included rhythm guitarist, Randy California who would later form the band Spirit. Hendrix soon formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience with Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding, and Billy Cox. That group would record three of the most acclaimed albums in history, Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland. After disbanding the Experience, Hendrix formed Band of Gypsys with Cox and Buddy Miles. They recorded a popular live album of the same name, released just three months before Hendrix’s death which is still shrouded in mystery to this day. What is known is that Jimi Hendrix was just 27 years old when he died on September 18, 1970. The official cause of death was determined to be choking on his own vomit. The coroner found an excessive amount of wine and sleeping pills in his body. There are some who believed he commited suicide while others thought it to be an accidental overdose. And still others believe something more sinister had taken place.
Alan Wilson was the co-founder, lead singer and guitarist for blues rock band, Canned Heat. Formed in 1965 by Wilson and and fellow record junkie, Bob Hite, Canned Heat played an electrified boogie version of the great blues recordings they had collected. Canned Heat endeared themselves to both psychedelic rock fans and the blues crowd by not only kicking ass at the Woodstock AND Monterey festivals, but by producing and recording with John Lee Hooker on the outstanding, Hooker ‘n’ Heat. Alan Wilson died of a drug overdose on September 3, 1970. He was 27 years old.
Although his recording career remarkably spanned roughly one year, Robert Johnson is considered by many to be the most influential blues artists of all time. And although his entire catalog of recordings fill just two compact discs, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #5 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. He minimal recording output couldn’t deny the considerable vocal, guitar-playing and songwriting talent he possessed. And that fact that not much is known about his history coupled with the fact that only two photographs of him even exist, add to a legend that is as big as any in popular music. Even the most respected historians of music could, at best, find sources who claimed they heard “this” or “that” about Johnson’s life in and around Clarksdale, Mississippi. A popular legend has it that he went to a darkened Mississippi crossroad with his guitar and met a man representing the devil who tuned his guitar and played a few songs on it, there bequeathing Johnson phenomenal guitar skills in exchange for is soul. True or not, Johnson has been called the “grandfather of rock ‘n roll,” a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has been cited as a direct influence on the likes of Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Jeff Beck to name just a very few. Robert Johnson’s death is as mysterious as his life,with the most popular, though disputed story being that he drank whiskey that had been laced with strychnine by the jealous husband of a woman Johnson is said to have flirted with at a juke joint. He allegedly died a slow and painful death from the poison a few days later, at the age of just 27. A further testament to the overall mystery surrounding Johnson’s life is the fact there there are three tombstones said to mark his place of burial.
Mia Zapata was the powerful lead singer of the highly influential Seattle punk band, the Gits. As a child growing up in Louisville, Zapata was exposed to music by some of the greatest voices in America, Hank Williams, Ray Charles, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. While at an Ohio college during the mid ’80s, Zapata co-founded the Gits. In 1989, the band moved to Seattle to be closer to what was quickly becoming a scene of like minded bands like Nirvana and Mudhoney. The band quickly built a local following partly due the release of a handful of solid singles and their critically acclaimed debut album, Frenching The Bully. Things appeared to be on the verge of taking off for the band when tragedy struck. In the early morning hours of July 7, 1993, Zapata left a friends apartment to presumably walk or catch a cab home. She never made it. Police reports indicate that she was beaten, raped and strangled at approximately 2:15 am, her body left in a “Christ like” pose in the middle of the street. Her murder would go unsolved for ten years until a DNA match linked a Florida man to the crime. He was convicted of Mia Zapata’s murder on March 25, 2004
As the charismatic front man for the Doors, Jim Morrison exemplified all that is rock music. In life and in death, his impact on popular culture cannot be denied. Moving to Los Angeles in 1964, Morrison enrolled in UCLA’s film school where he met Ray Manzarek. The following year they formed the Doors with Robbie Krieger and John Densmore. In 1967, the Doors signed with Elektra Records and were soon invited to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show where Morrison’s use of the lyric “higher” instead of “better” maddened Sullivan enough to forever ban them from the show. If anything, that only added momentum to the Doors’ ascent, and by the time of their second release, they were one of the most popular bands in the world. The Doors continued to record several now-classic rock albums and blow away concert audiences along the way. By 1969 though, Morrison’s physical appearance had dramatically changed…the once leather-wearing rock god was now a husky bearded mountain-of-a-man more closely resembling a lumberjack than a rock star. And his performances were becoming more erratic as well. One concert in Miami ended with a warrant out for Morrison’s arrest on indecent exposure charges after he tried to incite a riot out of the crowd. He was later exonerated of those charges. Morrison moved to Paris in April of 1971 with long-time companion Pamela Courson. On July 3, 1971, Courson found Morrison dead in his bathtub, but under French law, no autopsy was conducted. The coroner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play and ruled it heart failure. Of course, there have been numerous articles and books written about Morrison’s mysterious death. Some say suicide, while others claim that Courson was responsible either accidentally or intentionally. While still others believe he staged the whole thing and is alive and well somewhere.
Brian Jones was a multi-instrumentalist who is most famously known as founding member and guitarist for the Rolling Stones. By the age of 17, Jones was already adept at the clarinet and saxophone and had taken up the guitar. While in high school, Jones got his then 14 year-old girlfriend Valerie Corbett pregnant and was forced to leave the school in shame. When he announced to Corbettthat he wanted her to have an abortion, she refused and broke up with him for good. After the child’s birth, Corbett gave him to an infertile couple who apparently never learned the identity of the boy’s father. Corbett later married a friend ofJones. By the early ’60s, Jones was in London where he became immersed in he local blues scene, playing with the likes of Alexis Korner, Jack Bruce and Bill Wyman. In a short time, he was forming the nucleus of what would become the Rolling Stones who played their first gig on July 12, 1962. When the group eventually began recording, it was Jones’ exceptional abilities on various instruments that would help define the Rolling Stones sound. As the band’s fame and fortune grew, tension between Jones and the other members followed the same trajectory. By all accounts, his growing addiction to various drugs and alcohol didn’t help. By the summer of 1968, Jones was barely contributing to the band’s recordings, his final participation being on Beggars Banquet before parting ways the following year. By all appearances, his life was on a downward spiral due to his drug dependency, his estrangement from the band that he had created, as well as his growing legal and financial troubles. On the night of July 3, 1969, Brian Jones was found unconscious (and perhaps dead) at the bottom of his swimming pool. As expected, there are many theories about the mysterious death of Brian Jones. Was it suicide? An accident? Did his bad heart or liver simply give out as the coroner stated? Or was he perhaps murdered by a worker at the house? Years later, that builder, Frank Thorogood allegedly confessed to the murder on his deathbed. Although that “confession” was made to one-time Rolling Stones driver, Tom Keylock, many doubt its validity since there were no witnesses to the “murder” or the “confession.”
Kristen Pfaff was a late bloomer when it came to playing the bass. Although she studied piano and cello in college, it wasn’t until after she graduated that she tought herself how to play the bass. Pfaff soon cofounded Minnapolis local faves, Janitor Joe who would eventually sign to hip indie label Ampthetimine Reptile Records. While on a west coast tour with Janitor Joe, Pfaff was approached by Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson to join their band, Hole. Pfaff reluctantly agreed and packed her bags and moved to Seattle, where she helped ignite the grunge movement. While in Seattle, Pfaff struggled with herion addiction just as the band was becoming popular outside the Northwest. And then in April of 1994, close friend Kurt Cobain was found dead of what was ruled a suicide and everything changed. Pfaff packed up and moved back to Minneapolis to rejoin Janitor Joe. Sadly, Kristen Pfaff was found dead of an apparent accidental heroin overdose.
Besides being a respected producer, Pete de Freitas was best known as the drummer for the popular ’80s band, Echo & the Bunnymen. It was with Echo & the Bunnymen that de Freitas reached an international audience, thanks to such post-punk hits as “The Cutter” “Lips Like Sugar,” and “The Killing Moon.” They took the US by storm in 1984 with the release of Ocean Rain thanks in part to heavy video rotation on MTV. Sadly, de Freitas passed away on June 14, 1989 of injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident while on his way home from filming Julian Cope’s “China Doll” video.
Les Harvey was the guitarist for the Scotland blues-rock band Stone The Crows. Despite being Glasgow pub favorites and having the support of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant as their producer, they were never able to attract much more than their loyal cult following. On May 3, 1972, while performing at Swansea Top Rank, Harvey grabbed an ungrounded microphone with wet hands and was electrocuted to death.
Helmut Kollen played bass and sang for the German prog-trio, Triumvirat during the mid-’70s. With a sound akin to Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Triumvirat attained modest commercial success which pretty much peaked with the 1975 release of Spartacus, an album that many consider a prog rock essential. After leaving the band after Spartacus, Kollen embarked on a solo career. Sadly that career was cut short on May 3, 1977 when Kollen went into his car to listen to some new tracks he had recorded. With the motor running and the car parked in his garage, Kollen died of carbon monoxide poisoning at age 27.
Pete Ham was the singer and by some accounts, primary songwriter for the British rock band, Badfinger who were signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records in 1968. You may not know his name, but you likely know his biggest hit, “Without You,” which would not only be a #1 smash for Badfinger, but also a #1 hit for Harry Nilsson, a #3 hit for Mariah Carey, and go to #28 for Clay Aiken. They had six albums and no fewer than four hit singles, but by the early ’70s the band were caught up in a legal nightmare with their former management that left the members broke. It all became too much for Pete Ham who hanged himself in his garage on April 23, 1975 at the age of 27. In his heart breaking suicide note, he mentioned the love of his girlfriend and included the post script, “Stan Polley is a soulless bastard.” Stan Polley was Badfinger’s manager who was accused by many of his clients of corruption. He would later plead nolo contendere to unrelated embezzlement and money laundering charges.
Enjoy this piece called The Moving Tale Behind The Song “Without You.”
Bryan Ottoson was a guitarist for Minneapolis hard rock band, American Head Charge. Their music is generally categorized as “industrial metal.” By 2000, the band had moved to Los Angeles and signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings. Rubin produced their debut. The next few years found the band’s fan base quickly growing, sharing tours with the likes of Slipknot, Ministry, and Mudvayne. On April 19, 2005, Ottoson’s lifeless body was found in his tour bus bunk prior to a show in South Carolina. Officials determined that he had overdosed on prescription medicine. It appears to have been accidental.
Kurt Cobain and his band Nirvana were unleashed in 1989 and many say they, along with Pearl Jam, almost single-handedly changed what the world then knew as rock music. They created a dirty, flannel and jean-wearing beautiful mess that combined equal parts punk, metal, alternative rock, disillusionment and apathy. It would become know as “grunge” and dealt a fatal blow to “hair metal,” the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the last days of disco. Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic in 1987. They were signed to Sub Pop Records who released their debut, Bleach in 1989. Their drummer at the time was Chad Channing but he was soon replaced by Dave Grohl whose pounding assault was exactly what the band needed to take their message beyond the dimly lit clubs of Seattle. Two years later, the band released their amazing Nevermind album which included the radio and video hit, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” one of those classic songs that would be forever memorialized by parodist Weird Al Yankovic. Check it out here. While all this was going on, Cobain met and fell in love with Courtney Love of the band, Hole. They were wed on February 24, 1992 and had their first and only child later that year. Cobain appeared to be in a very happy place even though many Nirvana fans resented his relationship with Love, some comparing her to Yoko Ono and her perceived role in breaking up the Beatles. Needless to say, Cobain continued to struggle with his own internal demons (both mental and physical) in spite of, or perhaps because of all the “positive” changes in his life. His drug problems are already well documented, so need to go into them here. On March 1, 1994 while on tour in Munich, Love woke up one morning to find Cobain had overdosed on champaign and Rohypnol. Love later declared that this was Cobain’sfirst attempt at suicide. After apparent struggles (he claimed he was fine) back home in Seattle, Cobain agreed to go to to rehab in Los Angeles. He checked in on March 30th, but just one day later, he hopped the fence and took a plane back home to Seattle. Over the next couple of days there were various Cobain sitings in Seattle clubs, but his family had no idea where he was. Love reached out to a private detective to help find him. On April 8th, Cobain was found lying on the floor at a friend’s Lake Washington home. That friend at first assumed Cobainwas asleep since there were no visible signs of trauma or struggle. He then noticed the shotgun on Cobain’s chest and what he thought was a suicide note nearby. The police ruled his death a suicide by shotgun wound. The date of death was declared to be April 5, 1994.
As with many mysterious deaths of famous people, this one is not without its own controversies.
Born Raymond Rogers, Freaky Tah was a rapper from Queens, New York. He worked primarily with The Lost Boyz, a chart topping and gold selling hip hop group during the mid to late ’90s. Tah was gunned down as he left a birthday party for fellow Lost Boy, Mr. Cheeks.
Louis Chauvin was a ragtime contemporary of Scott Joplin and quite possibly the first member of the 27 Club.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri of a Mexican Spanish-Indian father and an African American mother, [Louis Chauvin] was widely considered the finest pianist in the St. Louis area at the turn of the century. He was part of the ragtime community that met at Tom Turpin’s Rosebud bar, along with Joe Jordan and others. Chauvin died in Chicago. Whereas his death certificate lists causes of death as “multiple sclerosis, probably symphlitic,” and starvation due to coma, a modern diagnosis would probably conclude he had a neurosyphilitic sclerosis and not link it to multiple sclerosis. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, MO. He left only three published compositions and died without having recorded, so his ability is hard to judge today. However, he was long remembered by his peers as an exceptionally gifted performer and composer. He is primarily remembered today for Heliotrope Bouquet, the rag he wrote with Scott Joplin, in which the first two strains are his and the last two Joplin’s. – From wikipedia
Jeremy Michael Ward was the sound technician and vocal operator for The Mars Volta and for the dub outfit De Facto. He created many of the soundscapes heard on The Mars Volta’s album De-Loused in the Comatorium. Jeremy, aside from his role in The Mars Volta and De Facto, was a talented guitar player, as well as an artist (working mostly in pen and ink). He was found dead in his Los Angeles home by his roommate on the evening of Sunday, May 25, 2003 of an apparent heroin overdose. He was 27 years old at the time, and his death came less than a month before the release of De-Loused in the Comatorium. A journal Jeremy found while working in the repossession business in Los Angeles served as a source of inspiration for The Mars Volta’s album Frances the Mute. Ward also coined the term “amputechture,” which served as the title of The Mars Volta’s third LP. He was the cousin of At the Drive-In and Sparta member Jim Ward, and brother of El Paso punk rock bassist Jered Ward. Ward’s death was the impetus for The Mars Volta members Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez to quit using opioids. – From wikipedia
Starting a rock band was actually Ron McKernan’s idea, and he was its first front man, delivering stinging harmonica, keyboards, and beautiful blues vocals in the early years of the Warlocks/Grateful Dead. Nicknamed “Pigpen” for his funky approach to life and sanitation, he was born into a family that was generally conventional, except for the fact that his (Caucasian) father was an R & B disc jockey. And that sound put Pig’s life on the rails of the blues from the time he was 12. Liquor, Lightnin’ Hopkins, the harmonica and some barbecue – it was an unusual life for a white kid from San Carlos, but it was Pig’s life. And the hard-drinkin’ blues life began to catch up with Pig by the very early ’70s. He played his last show with the band in 1972, and on March 8, 1973, he died of internal hemorrhaging caused by his drinking. – From dead.net
David Alexander was an American musician, and the original bassist for influential protopunk band the Stooges. After his family relocated to Ann Arbor from Whitmore Lake, Michigan he attended Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan where he met the Asheton Brothers. “Zander” (as he was known) dropped out after 45 minutes on the first day of his Senior Year in 1965, to win a bet. Later in 1965 he sold his motorcycle and went to England with his best friend Ron Ashetonto see the Whoand to “try and find the Beatles”. Alexander and the Asheton brothers met Iggy Pop and formed the Stooges. Although he was a total novice on his instrument, he was a quick learner and subsequently had a hand in arranging, composing and performing all of the songs that appeared on the band’s first two albums, The Stooges and Fun House. He is often credited by vocalist Iggy Pop and guitarist Ron Asheton in interviews with being the primary composer of the music for the Stooges songs “We Will Fall”,“Little Doll” (both on The Stooges), “1970″ and “Dirt” (Fun House). Alexander was fired from the band in August 1970 after showing up at the Goose Lake International Music Festival too drunk to play. He died of pulmonary edema in 1975, aged 27, in Ann Arbor after being admitted to a hospital for pancreatitis, which was linked to his drinking. - From wikipedia
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