AGE GROUP: 27 The “27 club” was Brian Jones, Jimi

Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain

BRIAN JONES• Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February

1942 – 3 July 1969). English guitarist.• sporadic contributions to the Rolling

Stones • Drowned in the swimming pool of his

home in England. • Jones was informed by the other members

of the band that a new guitarist would be added to the lineup, and that a tour of the US would go ahead without him.

• The circumstances of his death are unknown

• his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse. There have been theories of suicide and murder.

• Jimi Hendrix dedicated a song to him on television, and Jim Morrison wrote a poem entitled Ode To LA.

• There is a film called “Stoned” that tells his last days

JIMI HENDRIX

• Jimi Hendrix (Johnny Allen Hendrix then James Marshall Hendrix) (27 November 1942 – 18 September 1970). American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer.

• Died in a London hotel room under circumstances which have never been fully explained. According to the doctor who initially attended to him, Hendrix was drowned in his own vomit, mainly red wine. His girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, claimed that he had taken her prescribed sleeping pills, but her comments about that morning were often contradictory, and there have been suggestions of blame cast on her. In 1996, in the face of legal action, Dannemann committed suicide.

• There’s a rockumentary “A Film About Jimi Hendrix” released in 1973.

ANIS OPLIN• Janis Lyn Joplin (19 January 1943 – 4 October 1970). American singer,

songwriter, and music arranger. • Died in a Los Angeles motel room of a heroin overdose, possibly

combined with the effects of alcohol. She had recently become engaged, and was involved in recording her band’s album Pearl. The song “Mercedes Benz” on the album was the last thing she recorded.

• “The Rose” is a film about her life and was released in 1979. A new film is being filmed.

JIM MORRISON

• James Douglas Morrison (8 December 1943 – 3 July 1971). American singer, poet, songwriter, writer and film director.

• Died in the bathtub of his Paris apartment. Under French law, no autopsy was performed because the medical examiner claimed to have found no evidence of foul play. The cause of death was officially listed as “heart failure”, but heroin use was probably involved, possibly inhaled because he thought it was cocaine. His girlfriend, Pamela Courson, gave numerous contradictory versions of his death. Courson died of a heroin overdose three years later, at the age of – you guessed it – 27.

• His soul rest in Père Lachaise cementery in Paris, where repose some celebrities , such as Oscar Wilde, Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, Moliere and Chopin

• In 1990 a mad stole his bust, since then there always are lighting candles, flowers and musical scores commemorating his name.

• Every 3 July his grave is full of fans remembering him.• “The Doors” was filmed in 1991 by Oliver Stone

KURT COBAIN • Kurt Donald Cobain (20 February 1967 – c 5 April 1994).

American singer, guitarist, and songwriter.• Committed suicide by gunshot in his home in Seattle. After

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Cobain was referred to as the “spokesman of a generation”. He was uncomfortable with the attention. In the last years of his life, he struggled with drug addiction and media pressures. Following a meeting with friends and record company executives, arranged by his wife Courtney Love, Cobain had agreed to undergo a detox program, but left the facility the day after arriving. On 8 April, Cobain’s body was discovered at his Lake Washington home by an electrician. Apart from a minor amount of blood coming out of Cobain’s ear, the electrician initially believed that Cobain was asleep, until he saw the shotgun pointing at his chin. A suicide note was found that said, “I haven’t felt the excitement of listening to, as well as creating music, along with really writing for too many years now”. A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were also found in his body. Cobain’s body had been lying there for days; the coroner’s report estimated Cobain to have died on 5 April.

• Last year a movie opened about his life: “About a Son”• Another film: “Last Days” was also about his life.