Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and the 27 Club

Amy Winehouse’s sad death came when she was just 27. It’s an age that sounds familiar to anyone who knows their history regarding gone-too-soon musical artists.

The so-called 27 Club tragically has some notable members in addition to Winehouse: Jimi Hendrix mixed sleeping pills with wine and died at 27. Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones died at 27 after drowning in a swimming pool.

Also gone at that age: Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and many other musicians, as listed on the subject’s Wikipedia page.

Of course, this club of tragic coincidence is one that no one wishes existed. Wendy O’Connor, Cobain’s mother, famously said, “Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club,” after her son’s death in 1994. “I told him not to join that stupid club.”

Sadly, there’s proof that rock stars are more likely to become members. A 2007 study by researchers at Liverpool John Moores University determined that North American and British music stars were “twice as likely to die a premature death as ordinary citizens of the same age,” according to an AP article.