Janis Joplin - Jan 19, 1943 - Oct 4, 1970
The seventies can be accused of being the cruelest decade in the world of music. To add to the list of musicians whose lives ended in their 20s, there's Janis Joplin. Known for her quirky wardrobe and hairdos as much as for her music, this Queen of Rock and Roll finds mention in the best of the All Time Great lists. Her wild and wanton ways provided much grist for her musical endeavours, and she was a known heroin addict and alcoholic. Many female artistes have tried to copy her bluesy vocals, with little success. In those years itself, she was allegedly shooting about $200 worth of heroin everyday. She was found dead by her bed by her manager, with the official cause of death being cited as an overdose of heroin.
Nick Drake - Jun 19 1948 - Nov 25 1974
Prolific songwriter and young musical genius Nick Drake never witnessed the commercial success of his songs; it was much after his demise that his work heavily influenced some of the music greats of our time. This self-taught guitarist is heralded as one of the most influential songwriters today. Chronically depressed, he was given to long spells of creative highs and then sinking to great depths of despair and loneliness.
After being rejected twice by the women he had romantic aspirations towards, he's said to have consumed large quantities of the anti-depressant, Amitriptyline and died at a heartbreaking age of 26. Whether this was by design or unintentional is still unclear.
Kurt Cobain - Feb 20, 1967 - Apr 5, 1994
With the face of an Adonis, unkempt blond hair and piercing blue eyes, lead singer and guitarist of grunge band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, was the envy of every wannabe musician and the fantasy of every girl during late eighties and early nineties. His parents' divorce when he was eight years old is said to have had a profound effect on his personal life. His affair and marriage to fellow rocker Courtney Love was rocky. Love is said to have pursued him relentlessly till he gave in to her advances. However, he's said to have locked himself up in his home in Seattle to hide from her a few days before he committed suicide. Though she called the police and warned them about his state of mind, he's said to have rubbished her claims, only to kill himself with a gunshot three days later. The autopsy also revealed very high levels of valium and heroin in his system.
Jeff Buckley - Nov 17, 1966 - May 29, 1997 The son of musician Tim Buckley, who died of a drug overdose, this soulful voiced singer is probably the only singer in music history who's more famous for a cover version than for his own songs. Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's
Hallelujah pushed him to the top of the billboard charts and finds mention in most 'greatest' lists to this day.
His death, though not a case of a drug overdose, is no less tragic. During an attempt to swim across a channel of the Mississippi River, he allegedly drowned. He was said to have been in high spirits and of sane mind, and no drugs were found in his system, with the official cause of death being accidental drowning.
Michael Jackson - Aug 29, 1958 - Jun 25, 2009 One of the saddest stories of our times has to be Michael Jackson's. Though he didn't die young, metaphorically, owing to the physical and emotional abuse during his childhood and the huge expectations that were heaped on him by his family, a music fan can see why he could have been dead on the inside, living only for the false glory that fame brings with it.
Hailed as the King of Pop and the greatest singer of all time, this superstar was plagued by self-doubts all his life, leading him to take drastic measures like repeated rhinoplasties and allegedly getting rid of all the melanin in his body. These left him with the threat of his nose falling off and a ghostly white pallor to his skin, which made it impossible for him to be outside in broad daylight. He became a caricature of himself, and all the allegations of sexual misconduct against minors didn't do him any good either. He indulged his Peter Pan complex with Neverland, his own amusement park, that also had to be foreclosed owing to his bankruptcy.
He was found dead two years ago, with alternating allegations of suicide and murder charges against his personal physician. We might never know what really happened, but when one can look beyond his larger-than-life lifestyle and the countless unsavoury allegations against him, one can see he was trying to cling on to his childhood any which way he could.
Like all these music greats, there are countless others whose lives were cut short by a twist of fate or a sense of despair like Freddie Mercury, Bob Marley, Nazia Hassan, etc. But they've left behind a legacy that generations much after ours will remember - their words, their artistry, their music.
May they rest in peace.
