# Artists who died too young **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497 "2007-03-04T02:10:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/21 "2007-03-04T04:58:35Z")
\*\*Jeff Buckley Kirsty MacColl\*\* Both died while swimming, Jeff by drowning, Kirsty by being run over by a boat. We will never understand the enormous artistic loss. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/22 "2007-03-04T05:27:58Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] **Kirsty MacColl** [/QUOTE] Kirsty owns this thread. Vastly unappreciated in her early career, just emerging from a divorce and making amazing Latin-inspired music… and we lost her. Makes me want to cry when I hear her voice. I wish Michael Hutchence (INXS), Pete Farndon, Jimmy Honeyman-Scott (Pretenders), and Alan Murphy (Level 42, Go West, Kate Bush) had been around a little longer as well. I would add Ian Curtis to the list as well, but after reading Deborah Curtis’ _Touching From A Distance_ he sounds like one messed up dude. Talent-wise, it was a huge loss. But we wouldn’t have had New Order… imagine Curtis singing “Love Vigilantes” or “The Perfect Kiss.” ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/23 "2007-03-04T05:30:02Z")
John Keats, TB at 26. It was a sad day when I realized I was older than Keats ever was. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/24 "2007-03-04T05:40:37Z")
[QUOTE=Webner] John Lennon, on the other hand, had done hardly anything in the decade before he died. [/QUOTE] Well… John spent the last half of the 70’s in “retirement”, being a dad. During the first years of that decade, he released some of his greatest material, added his voice to the anti-war movement, and successfully fought the US Government’s efforts to have him deported. He did quite a bit in the last 10 years of his life, if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/25 "2007-03-04T05:49:20Z")
seminal bluesman Robert Johnson was pretty young. What about the singer Selina? Who can forget Darby Crash? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/26 "2007-03-04T05:51:24Z")
James Dean Buddy Holly Jim Croce Duane Allman Berry Oakley Mitch Hedberg Bill Hicks ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/27 "2007-03-04T06:27:26Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] I can only “Imagine” what **John Lennon** would have accomplished. [/QUOTE] Boatloads of pretentious mediocracy. I came here to post Jeff Buckley, Stevie Ray Vaughn and David Lee Roth. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/28 "2007-03-04T06:30:24Z")
Stan Rogers, dead at age 32. ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/29 "2007-03-04T08:23:14Z")
Two words: John Belushi. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/30 "2007-03-04T08:39:51Z")
[QUOTE=Manda JO] John Keats, TB at 26. It was a sad day when I realized I was older than Keats ever was. [/QUOTE] If you’ll forgive me being flippant (and/or sacrilegious), this reminded me of this [Onion article](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33678) about an “artist” of sorts who died too young. Same article reminded me of Buddy Holly and James Dean, who also deserve a mention in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/31 "2007-03-04T08:43:09Z")
Eddie Wilson ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/32 "2007-03-04T08:45:29Z")
Brad Nowell and Shannon Hoon ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/33 "2007-03-04T08:49:15Z")
Not necessarily very young, but I don’t think any of them were done, yet. **Tommy Bolin** **Michael Hedges** **Allen Woody** **Jimmie Spheeris** **Chris Wood** **Mike Bloomfield** **Michael Houseman** **Bob Marley** **Lowell George** **Twiggs Lyndon** (what, you don’t think what he did took artistry?) **Rory Gallagher** **Steve Marriot** **Janis Joplin** **John Bonham** **Toy Caldwell** **Mark Sandman** **Sam Kinison** ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/34 "2007-03-04T08:54:42Z")
**D. Boon** of the **Minutemen** (27) **Marc Bolan** of **T. Rex** (30) Both car crashes. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/35 "2007-03-04T09:03:15Z")
I came in to mention Bill Hicks and Bradley Nowell, both already mentioned. Both geniuses whom I firmly believe would’ve kept getting better and better for years. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/36 "2007-03-04T09:06:04Z")
How about the French mathematician Evariste Galois? > **[Évariste Galois](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galois)** > > Évariste Galois (/ɡælˈwɑː/; .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}French: \[evaʁist ɡalwa\]; 25 October 1811 – 31 May 1832) was a French mathematician and political activist. While still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a problem that h Besides his mathematical contributions, he also was expelled from school, a political activist, a member of the French military, imprisoned for 6 months and shot to death in a pistol duel five months _before_ his 21st birthday!!! ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/37 "2007-03-04T14:17:02Z")
[Eva Cassidy](http://www.amazon.com/Songbird-Eva-Cassidy/dp/B000006AKD/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-9791019-3736866?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1173017737&sr=1-2) died of skin cancer at 33. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/38 "2007-03-04T14:18:34Z")
[Stanly Weinbaum, 33](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_G._Weinbaum) ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/39 "2007-03-04T15:01:48Z")
George Butterworth, composer, killed at The Somme, 1916 at the age of 31. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2007, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497/40 "2007-03-04T15:26:58Z")
[QUOTE=Oregon sunshine] What **E. Thorp** said. Plus Lee Morgan (shot to death at age 34). [/QUOTE] Ditto here, too. And although their ages might fall outside the “too young” category in a chronological sense, I’d add Paul Desmond and Chet Baker, both of whom elicited the “Oh, NO!” reaction from me with their passing. Still another whose age is irrelevant to me was [Michel Petrucciani](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Petrucciani) at 36. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-died-too-young/394497.md?page=3)