Musician Death Curse: Musicians Dying at 27 - Truth or Myth?
After Amy Winehouse, like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones and Kurt Cobain, died at the age of 27, many began to reconsider the suspicion that a curse befell musicians of that age.
However, despite the odd coincidence, researchers have dispelled the rumor with a new study that proves the curse is just a myth. Authors from the British Medical Journal compared the deaths of 1,046 famous musicians with data from the general U.K. population.
Mathematical analysis showed no peak in the risk of death at age 27, however musicians in their 20s and 30s were two to three times more likely to die prematurely than people in the general population.
Psychotherapist Stephanie Sarkis, PhD, explained the "curse of 27" as a psychological phenomenon in the Huffington Post.
“When there is a tragic death, such as that of a famous young person, we tend to look for a reason why it happened…. we try to find a common thread, in order to make sense of it all,” she said.
She attributes the death of young musicians to drug use, the increased likelihood of private plane crashes, and their higher ranked fame at a young age. Still many continue to believe in the mystery of the “27 Club.”
