How many entertainers died at age 27

Brandis gained fame as a child actor on "One Life to Live" and became a teen idol, leading the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's "It. Edwards was the rhythm guitarist of Manic Street Preachers, a Welsh punk rock band active since the s, and was the band's main lyricist.

He disappeared on February 1, Two weeks later, his car was found near the Severn Bridge. It's widely believed that he jumped off.

Police declared him "presumed dead" in after years of fruitlessly searching for other clues. The founding member and original front man of the Grateful Dead is noted for bringing the influence of the Blues to the band's sound.

He died from gastrointestinal bleeding after complications from alcoholism and a rare autoimmune disease called congenital biliary cirrhosis. Yelchin came to prominence after starring in the science fiction miniseries "Taken," produced by Steven Spielberg, when he was just 12 years old.

Years later, he played his most famous character in another science fiction series, as Pavel Chekov in the "Star Trek" movies. The actor died in a car accident outside of his home.

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Click here to learn more. Johnson's death, like Johnson himself, is shrouded in mystery and rumor. This is the guy, after all, who claimed he sold his soul to Satan at a Mississippi crossroads in exchange for mastery of the guitar. There's no percent confirmation of how he died on August 16, , only that he did. According to Mother Jones , some say he died of syphilis, some say he had a tissue disorder called Marfan syndrome, others insist he was poisoned by the jealous boyfriend of a woman he was wooing, and still others say Johnson's own girlfriend poisoned him.

The only person left alive who knew Johnson, a bluesman named David Honeyboy Edwards, claims that he witnessed Johnson's murder, and that it was indeed a man angered that Johnson was flirting with his girlfriend. If true, this jealous guy poisoned Johnson's whiskey, and a few days after drinking it, the man was dead.

He did not have possession over Judgment Day after all. Ron McKernan was one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead, a singer, organist, and harmonica player who worked hard to establish the band as a pioneer in jug- and blues-based rock.

Unfortunately for him, the band didn't share that vision for very long. The group got heavily into LSD and began recording more psychedelic music, leaving "Pigpen," a hard-drinking blues guy who didn't care for trippy drugs, out in the cold.

By , McKernan's drinking had begun to really affect him. It was hurting him so much, he had to quit touring. He couldn't stay away for long, though, and was back the next year. By June , however, he was completely done with both touring and the band. He simply couldn't operate anymore, and on March 8, , he suffered an internal hemorrhage and died. He didn't last long with the Grateful Dead, but the band never would've taken off without him. Pete Ham of Badfinger is a tragic example of the business side of the music industry completely destroying the creative side and taking lives with it.

The band itself was poised to be the next Beatles, even getting signed to the Beatles' label, Apple Records. Ham was the smiling face of the band, a fine guitarist who had limitless potential.

But then, the very business that was poised to make him huge completely betrayed him. The band found financial representation in New York businessman Stan Polley, who netted them a six-figure contract with Warner Records in , but would only give them a grand a month in allowance. The rest, he claimed, was being saved and invested. Basically, Polley and others had cashed in Badfinger's checks for themselves.

This destroyed the band, and especially Ham. Financially broke, emotionally broken, and with a child on the way, Ham was desperate. On April 23, , Ham and bandmate Tom Evans met to discuss what to do. After drinking ten scotches, Ham told Evans, "Don't worry, I know a way out. Eight and a half years later, still devastated by his friend's suicide and still fighting for money he earned years ago, Evans drank heavily and hanged himself, too.

Chris Bell of '70s power pop group Big Star the band who wrote the theme song for That '70s Show wasn't a big name. He was hardly a name at all, even though he absolutely should've been, which makes his untimely death even sadder. Bell was the singer, songwriter, and head mixer for most Big Star songs. But it was fellow Star Alex Chilton, already famous thanks to his stint in the Box Tops, who got the attention. This despite Bell absolutely being the leader of the band, even according to Vice directing Chilton in the studio's mic booth at times.

It was perhaps this feeling of not getting credit where it was due, plus Big Star's debut album not selling as well as he'd hoped along with latent mental issues that prompted Bell to leave the band after one album.

Unable to find a record deal, he wound up working at his father's hamburger restaurant while recording solo material, which can't have helped his depressed, frustrated psyche any. On December 27, , Bell was found dead after a car crash. He had lost control of his car and it slammed into a wooden pole, which landed on him and killed him on the spot.

It was ruled an accidental death. Had Linda Jones lived longer, she might have become one of the most famous gospel-tinged soul singers of all time. In , Jones hit the big time with her song "Hypnotized"; she was on her way to becoming a star along the lines of Cissy Houston and Dionne Warwick, only fiercer.

As Hampton Roads pointed out , Jones didn't let up on the fiery drama in her voice even when threatening to cross over into the pop scene. She would still wail, and her voice would still sometimes get distorted on the microphone, such was her power. Would she have stayed that pure in the decades to come? We don't know because she didn't complete her third decade. Jones, a diabetic, was at her mom's house on March 14, , following an afternoon show at the Apollo in Harlem. She asked her mom to wake her up from a nap in time for her evening show.

When her mom went to do that, she found Jones unconscious. Her mother called for an ambulance, but she was already gone, the victim of a diabetic coma. It's not the most soulful way to go, but a sadly realistic one.

However, his heavy drinking caused him to develop cirrhosis in , and by his health had become so fragile he could no longer tour. He died of an internal hemorrhage in March Ham worked with the Beatles after the group signed to their Apple label. Ham died just days before he would have turned 28 on April 27, An icon of the Seattle grunge scene, Kurt Cobain formed Nirvana with a friend in ; the band achieved mainstream success in the early s.

Under a glaring public spotlight, Cobain struggled with mental illness, chronic health problems and heroin addiction. He committed suicide in April , leaving behind his wife, the musician Courtney Love, and their baby daughter. An English singer-songwriter whose powerful voice and unique style won her numerous awards and honors, Amy Winehouse battled drug and alcohol addiction for years.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Artist and musician Jean-Michel Basquiat died of a heroin overdose on August 12, in an apartment whose streets were lined with crack addicts. He had tried to sober up only months before, but was discovered on the floor in a pool of his own vomit with several bloody syringes in the bathroom.

Richey Edwards. Linda Jones. Linda Jones, a soul singer whose career began at age 6 as a member of the Jones Singers, died in between sets at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on March 14, after being diagnosed with diabetes. Fredo Santana. Photo: user uploaded image. Peter Ham. A singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose biggest fame was achieved with rock band Badfinger, Pete Hamm hanged himself in a Surrey garage on April 24, , just days shy of his 28th birthday.

Jesse Belvin. Photo: Metaweb FB. The car Belvin was riding in was believed to had its tires tampered with and possibly slashed prior to the collision that killed all four occupants of Belvin's Cadillac.

Dave Alexander. The original bass player of legendary rock band The Stooges, Dave Alexander was admitted to the hospital on February 10th, for pancreatitis, and died shortly thereafter from pulmonary adema.

Dickie Pride. Photo: SFM. Dickie Pride, a popular pop singer, overdosed on sleeping pills on March 26th, Chris Bell. Chris Bell, a solo musician and frontman of the power pop band Big Star, died when his car crashed it into a wooden pole in the early morning hours of December 27, The musician was returning from his father's restaurant in East Memphis when he lost control of his car and died on impact.

Rudy Lewis.