I’m trying to come up with a good list of famous persons who died young.[sup]*[/sup] I’ve got a good head start with this page I found through Google, but I can think plenty of right off the bat who aren’t listed there: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison to name three.
[sup]*[/sup] Time period is not important. Means of demise is not important. I am more interested in musicians/composers/songwriters than other professions, but all nominations are welcome.
Anyone? Anyone?
Jim Morrison… ripe age of 27…
Tupac…not sure on the age, but he was young.
Notorious B.I.G… again, not sure on the age…
although they aren’t really dead. they’re on a remote island waiting for their comeback.
Kurt Cobain, age 27
Race car drivers: Greg Moore, age 24. Adam Petty, age 19. Kenny Irwin, age 30.
For more dead musicians, you can try this site.
Thought of another musician. Cliff Burton, of Metallica. 24.
Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols) 21 drug OD
Duane Allman (Allman Brothers) 24 motorcycle accident
Gram Parsons (The Byrds) 26 drugs&booze
Brian Jones (Rolling Stones) drowning 27
Ronnie Von Zant (Lynyrd Skynyrd) 28 plane crash
Steve Gaines (Lynyrd Skynyrd) 28 plane crash
Cassie Gaines (Lynyrd Skynyrd) 29 plane crash
Jim Croce 30 plane crash
Keith Moon (The Who) 31 drug OD
John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) 32 booze
Karen Carpenter (The Carpenters) 32 anorexia nervosa
John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) 32 booze
Phil Ochs 35 suicide
Bob Marley 36 cancer
Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys) 39 drowning
Cemetery of Rock
Darby Crash
Schubert 31 typhoid
Bizet 36 angina
Mozart 36 nephritis
Gershwin 38 brain tumor
Mendelsohn 38 “cerebral accident”
Chopin 39 TB
Excellent!
Thanks especially to racinchikki and bibliophage for the swell links! I’ll be spending some quality time perusing those sites over the next few days, I’m sure.
My professors of English opine that Keats’s death at 26 was extremely terrible for literature.
Of course, had he lived, he might have written pure-t ass. Doubtful, but who knows. <hacking cough> Gotta go.
Michael Hedges, 44
I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help but laugh at some of the categories listed on their “Causes of Death” page. “Golfing,” for one, caught my funny bone. I was also amused by “Poor Maintenance.”
Hank Williams Sr., 29
Buddy Holly, 21
Janis Joplin, don’t know the age
John Belushi, 31
John Lennon, 40 (too old to be “young?”)
Chris Farley, 31
Percy Bysshe Shelley, 20s
Stephen Crane, 30
Jack London, 40
Lord Byron, ~30
Bruce Lee 32, actor, cerebral edema (swelling of the brain)
Brandon Lee, 28, actor, accidental gunshot
John-Erik Hexum, actor, 26, stupidity (shot himself with a blank-loaded .44)
Karen Silkwood, 28, union organizer, automobile accident, possibly murdered
Tutankhamun, ~18, pharoah, cause of death unknown
I think Tupac Shakur was about 25, if that. My sister was a huge fan, so I remember that well.
Selena died really young. I’m not sure of her age, but I think she was in her early 20s. She was shot by the president of her fan club.
River Pheonix was 23. My uncle came in and asked me if I knew of an actor named “River something.” I said I did. He said, “Oh, because he died today.” I was sure he had to be talking about someone else.
I think the others I thought of have been mentioned already.
Sylvia Plath, 32, poet/writer
One of my friends was a Darby Crash groupie. I remember her telling me about his suicide, the day it happened. She was really shook up. She said he had been giving away his belongings (a “warning sign”) about a week before his suicide. I don’t know his age, though, but I am pretty sure he was still in his 20s.
Pete Duel, actor (“Alias Smith and Jones”, “Gidget”) age 31, apparent suicide.
Brandon DeWilde, age 31 (I think) plane crash (I think). He was the little kid in “Shane” and the young man in “Hud”.
Natalie Wood. Early '40s. (Hey - that’s still too young to die!) Drowning.
Has anyone mentioned James Dean? I will.
Marylin Monroe, age 36 (I think). Drug overdose. (Or Kennedy conspiracy!)
Freddie Prinze Sr., early 30s, suicide.
Merrit Butrick, age 30. AIDS. (He was Kirk’s son in “Wrath of Khan” and starred in “Square Pegs”.
Elizabeth Hartman, age 46 (hey! That’s still too young to die!) Suicide. Starred in “A Patch of Blue”, “The Secret of NiMH” and many more.
Brad Davis, age 42. AIDS. Starred in “Midnight Express” and many other films.
Leslie Howard, age 50. (I know I’m pushing it, but hey! 50 is still too young to die!) Plane crash, casualty of war. Played “Ashley” in “Gone with the Wind”, and many other roles.
Carole Lombard, age 33. Plane crash. Was romantically attached to Clark Gable, starred in many films.
Ian Curtis from Joy Division, 24, suicide.
such a talented guy. . .
F. Scott Fitzgerald died when he was 40. Which may be “too old”, but he did die of a heart attack. 40 seems insanely young to have a heart attack to me.