Since the 1970s, the untimely deaths of influential musicians have led to a popular belief in the so-called ’27 Club’ phenomenon.
Unlucky members include Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin, who all died at the same young age.
Some say these people had difficult childhoods, grew up as outsiders and doubted themselves.
Others speculate about the weight of approaching adulthood and approaching thirty might have fueled a desire to escape through increasingly heavy drug use.
But experts have now debunked this myth, saying famous people are no more likely to die at 27 compared to other ages.
A team from Indiana University analyzed data from 344,000 notable people who had Wikipedia pages dedicated to them.
They found that although pop musicians tend to die younger than other famous people, there is no evidence to support the theory that age 27 carries an increased risk of death.
However, they found that the legacies of famous people who died at this age tend to attract more attention than those who died at other ages.
Since the 1970s, the untimely deaths of influential musicians have led to a popular belief in the so-called ’27 Club’ phenomenon
Unlucky members of the ’27 Club’ include Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin (pictured), who all died at the same young age
The 944 people in their dataset who died at the age of 27 received relatively more visits to their page.
The team wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that the 27 Club effect could stem from the prevailing influence of myth online.
For example, even people who have never heard of the phenomenon are more likely to encounter a reference to a famous person who died at this age than at other ages.
“The ’27 Club’ refers to the widespread legend that notable people, especially musicians, are unusually likely to die at the age of 27,” they wrote.
‘Using Wikipedia data, we show that while age 27 does not confer a greater risk of mortality for notable individuals, those who died at age 27 are, as a group, exceptionally notable compared to those who died at other young ages died.
‘The 27 Club legend originated from a statistically improbable event around 1970, in which four superstar musicians died within the span of two years, all at the age of 27.
‘This coincidence so captured the public imagination that our fascination with the 27 Club arose.’
The four musicians involved in the ‘statistically improbable’ event include Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, all of whom died between 1969 and 1971 at the age of 27.
The four musicians involved in the ‘statistically improbable’ event include Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix (pictured), Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, all of whom died aged 27 between 1969 and 1971.
Brian Jones, founder of the Rolling Stones, was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool in East Sussex on July 3, 1969.
He had struggled with drugs and alcohol and had a greatly enlarged liver and heart when he died.
Rock legend Jimi Hendrix died on September 18, 1970 after collapsing during a party in London.
The autopsy revealed that he choked on his own vomit while intoxicated.
American singer and songwriter Janis Joplin died shortly afterwards, on October 4, 1970, of a suspected heroin overdose.
And on July 3, 1971 – a year to the day Brian Jones died – Jim Morrison, lead singer of the rock band The Doors, was found dead in a bathtub.