On 5th April 1994 Kurt Cobain pumped himself up with heroin and Valium, grabbed a shotgun and blew his own brains out. He was just 27 years old and qualified for immediate entry into The 27 Club.

What is the 27 Club? It has rather an exclusive membership actually, all of them famous singers, and all of them dead at 27-years old.

It all began on 3rd July 1969 when the ex-Rolling Stone Brian Jones was found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool. Jones was a founding member of the Stones and on his death he became the founding member of a new group, but more people had to die before the connection was made.

The following year, on 18th September1970, Jimi Hendrix consumed a lethal cocktail of sleeping pills and wine, chocked to death on his own vomit and became the second member of the club.

A few weeks later, on 4th October, The 27 Club became a trio when Janis Joplin died of a drug overdose.

Then on 3rd July 1971 The 27 Club gained yet another member when The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison died of a suspected heroin overdose. Morrison was also the second member to die on 3rd July.

When people talk about The 27 Club they are usually referring to the original lineup of Jones, Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison; with the later addition of Kurt Cobain who brought fresh blood into the group nearly 23 years later. The shocking truth is that these five are really only the main players. When people began studying the subject more closely it emerged that The 27 Club contained a lot more talent than people realized and that there were, in fact, many more singers and musicians who had died at 27-years-old. It is quite a list and it stretches back at least as far as 1892:

• 17th January 1892.        Alexandre Levy – Brazilian composer, conductor, and pianist.
• 26th March 1908.         Louis Chauvin – American ragtime musician.
• 16th August 1938.         Robert Johnson – bluesman.
• 5th August  1945.          Nat Jaffe – bluesman.
• 6th February 1960.       Jesse Belvin – R&B singer and songwriter.
• 20th May 1964             Rudy Lewis – vocalist (The Drifters).
• 31st October 1968        Malcolm Hale – original member of Spanky and Our Gang.
• 26th March 1969          Dickie Pride – British rock and roll singer.
• 3rd September 1970      Alan ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson – lead singer (Canned Heat).
• 13th March 1971          Arlester ‘Dyke’ Christian – frontman and vocalist (Dyke & the Blazers).
• 14th March 1972          Linda Jones – R&B singer.
• 8th March 1973            Ron ‘Pigpen’ Mckernan – founding member, keyboard player and singer (The Grateful Dead).
• 27th July 1973              Roger Lee Durham – singer and percussionist (Bloodstone).
• 12th August 1974          Wallace Yohn – organ player (Chase).
• 10th February               Dave Alexander – bassist (The Stooges).
• 24th April 1975 Peter Ham – keyboard player, guitarist and lead singer (Badfinger).
• 8th December 1975      Gary Thain –  former bassist (Uriah Heep).
• 2nd August 1976           Cecillia – Spanish singer
• 3rd May 1977               Helmut Köllen – bassist (Triumvirat).
• 27th December 1978    Chris Bell – singer-songwriter and guitarist (Big Star).
• 23rd March 1980          Jacob Miller – Jamaican reggae artist and lead singer (Inner Circle).
• 22nd December 1985    D. Boon – Guitarist and lead singer (Minutemen).
• 17th February 1988      Alexander Bashlanchev – Russian poet, rock musician and songwriter.
• 12th August 1988          Jean-Michael Basquiat – formed Gray
• 14th June 1989             Pete de Freitas – drummer (Echo & the Bunnymen)
• 7th July 1993                Mia Zapata – lead singer (The Gits).
• 16th June 1994             Kristen Pfaff – bass guitarist (Hole/Janitor Joe)
• 3rd February 1998        Fat Pat – rapper (screwed up Click).
• 28th March 1999          Freaky Tah – Rapper and hip-hop artist (Lost Boys).
• 28th August 2000          Sean Patrick McCabe – lead singer (Ink & Dagger).
• 24th June 2000             Rodrigo Bueno – Argentinian Cuarteto singer.
• 24th November 2001    Maria Serrano Serrano – backing singer (Passion Fruit).
• 25th May 2003             Jeremy Michael Ward – sound manipulator (The Mars Volta/De Facto).
• 19th April 2005 Bryan Ottoson – guitarist (American Head Charge).
• 25th November 2006    Valentin Elizalde – Mexican banda singer.
• 20th April 2008 Orish Grinstead – founding member (702)
• 14th September 2009    Lily Tembo – Zambian musician.

It would be all to easy to dismiss this lengthy list as being just coincidence or bad luck, but the chances of so many musicians dying at 27 years old does seem a little slim. Is there any significance to the number 27? Not that I am aware of. In numerology it has very little significance, so why The 27 Club has accrued so many members is a mystery to me, but judging by the club’s past success in recruiting new members I am willing to bet that the membership will continue to grow.