Here is some more useful advice for musicians, Don't do what these guys did and you may live a little longer!

Air Crash

Big Bopper: Age 29

Died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens On 3 February 1959

Buddy Holly: Age 22

Died in a plane crash with Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens On 3 February 1959

Patsy Cline: Age 30

Patsy's manager, Randy Hughes, was the son-in-law of Cowboy Copas. In 1963 Randy flew Patsy to Kansas City for a benefit for the widow of a country disc jockey who had died in a car crash. The return journey was hampered by storms and poor visibility. On 5 March 1963 Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Randy Hughes were killed when their plane crashed in swamped woodlands in Camden, Tennessee, 85 miles from Nashville. Identification was difficult as only Patsy's shoulders, the back of her head and right arm were in one recognizable piece.

John Denver: Age 53

Denver was killed instantly in the crash of the Long-EZ experimental airplane he was piloting on October 12 , in Monterey Bay shortly after take off.  Denver, an experienced pilot, had taken delivery of the Y-shaped, futuristic looking plane just a day before the crash. with a record ironically entitled Goodbye Kisses.

Ronnie Van Zant: Lynyrd Skynyrd

On 20 October, Van Zant, Steve Gaines, his sister and backup singer, Cassie and manager Dean Kilpatrick were killed in a plane crash en route from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The twin-engine Convair 240 plane short of fuel crashed into a swamp in Gillsburg, MS.

Glenn Miller: Age 40

Glenn Miller departed an RAF-Base, in England in a Norseman C-64 aircraft. The flight was to take Glenn Miller and other passengers to Paris.  However, the flight never made it.  It is believed the aircraft encountered icing conditions over the English Channel and crashed. Glenn Miller and his band had been performing for Allied Troops prior to the crash and was planning on putting on a show in Paris, France.

Rick Nelson: Age 45

On 31 December 1985, a chartered plane carrying Rick to a concert date in Dallas caught fire and crashed near De Kalb, Texas.

Otis Redding: Age 26

A triumphant appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival suggested that Redding was about to attract an even wider following but tragedy struck on 10 December 1967. The light aircraft in which he was travelling plunged into Lake Monona, Madison, Wisconsin, killing the singer, his valet, the pilot and four members of the Bar-Kays.

Jim Reeves: Age 40

On July 30, while approaching Nashville on his return, his plane ran into a rainstorm and disappeared from radar.  Outside his Brentwood home, Marty Robbins heard something crash.  It took two days to find the wreckage and the bodies.

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Age 35

The helicopter carrying Vaughan to Chicago after the concert slammed into a fog-shrouded hill near the amphitheatre in the wee hours of August 27, 1990.   He was dead--instantly--at 35.

Motorcycle

Duane Allman: Age 24 Allman Brothers Band

In an effort to avoid a collision with a truck, Allman crashed his motorcycle and died following three hours of intensive surgery.

Marc Bolan:  Age 30 T. Rex

Marc died as a passenger in a car driven by his common law wife, American soul singer Gloria Jones, was killed when they crashed into a tree on Barnes Common, London. (T. Rex members: Steve Peregrine Took died in 1980 choking on a cherry pit on mushrooms, and Steve Currie, who had played bass on Electric Warrior and The Slider, met his end in 1981. Also, Marc's first and only wife -they never divorced, June Bolan passed away of a heart attack while vacationing in Turkey in 1995 at age aprox. 46).

Eddie Cochran:  Age 21

Cochran was killed in Chippenham, Wiltshire, when his taxi suffered a burst tire and veered off the road and crashed. Gene Vincent was a badly injured passenger, as was Sharon Sheeley, co-writer of his posthumous hit Something Else, (which became a major hit for the Sex Pistols in 1979).  His biggest record was the inappropriately titled Three Steps To Heaven which topped the UK chart shortly after his untimely death.

Kurt Cobain: Age 27 Nirvana
His descent into self-destruction accelerated in 1994 as he went into a coma during dates in Italy (it was later confirmed that this had all the markings of a failed suicide attempt), before returning to Seattle to shoot himself on April 5, 1994.

Nick Drake: Age 26

Although the coroner's verdict was suicide, relatives and acquaintances feel that his overdose of a prescribed drug was accidental. Interest in this ill-fated performer has increased over the years and his catalogue contains some of the era's most accomplished music. Drake is now seen as a hugely influential artist.

Danny Gatton: Age 49

Danny died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

Michael Hutchence: Age 37 INXS

Hutchence hanged himself in Ritz-Carlton Hotel room with his leather belt.   The body was discovered around noon by a hotel employee.  INXS had been rehearsing for their 20th anniversary tour.  All those close to the singer report that he had been in high spirits in the days prior to his suicide, although he had been linked with a notorious reputation of cocaine and opium use.  He was also planning to marry his girlfriend, Paula Yates, the mother of his 18 month old daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. 

Del Shannon: Age 55

From the plethora of clean, American, post doo-wop male vocalists to find enormous success in the early '60s, only a small handful retained musical credibility. Shannon was undoubtedly from this pedigree... Ultimately however, he was branded to rock ‘n’ roll revival tours which finally took their toll on 8 February 1990, when a severely depressed Shannon pointed a .22 calibre rifle to his head and pulled the trigger, ending the misery echoed in his catalogue of hits.

Screaming Lord Sutch: Age 58

Hanged himself.   Born... West Hampstead, England.  - Was the leader of The Savages (They did, "Till The Following Night" and "She's Fallen In Love With A Monster Man") - Worked with Keith Moon, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Charlie Watts & Nicky Hopkins - Holds the record for running for public office in the UK (Lost all 40 elections) - Founder of The Monster Raving Loony Party.

Freddie Mercury: Age 45: Queen

Following much speculation over his health in November 1991, he finally admitted that he was suffering from AIDS. Within forty-eight hours, on 24 November, he died from bronchial pneumonia at his Knightsbridge home. A major concert was arranged in April 1992 at London's Wembley stadium. Known as the Freddy Mercury Aids Benefit, it attracted the largest world-wide viewing audience when televised live. 

Janis Joplin: Age 27

Janis’ reputation blossomed following the Monterey Pop Festival, of which she was one of the star attractions.  Electric Flag members Mike Bloomfield, Harvey Brooks and Nick Gravenites helped assemble a new act, initially known as Janis And The Joplinaires, but later as the Full Tilt Boogie Band.  In July they toured Canada with the Grateful Dead, before commencing work on a ‘debut’ album, Pearl.  The sessions were all but complete when, on 4 October 1970, Joplin died of a heroin overdose at her Hollywood hotel.

Frankie Lymon: Age 25

Often billed as the ‘boy wonder’, In 1964, he was convicted of possessing narcotics and his finances were in a mess. His private life was equally chaotic and punctuated by three marriages. In February 1968, he was discovered dead on the bathroom floor of his grandmother's New York apartment with a syringe by his side.

Jim Morrison: Age 27 The Doors

It all ended for Jimbo on July 3, 1971 at 5am. It seems that Morrison had spent the evening at Rock n Roll Circus (now called the "Whisky A Go Go" at 57 rue de la Seine), where he acquired a fix. It was Chinese and very pure. Some would say too pure. There is one story that Jim died in the club, then his body was taken back to his apartment. Officially, he died in the apartment, in the bathtub, from heart failure. He was 27.   Pam reportedly told the police that Jim complained of feeling ill, and asked her to get a bath ready. Minutes later she discovered him, unconscious in the tub... No autopsy was done, and Pam "could not remember" the name of the doctor who signed the certificate: "Heart problems were aggravated by the abuse of alcohol, followed by an abrupt change of temperature caused cardiac arrest." ...On Wednesday, the coffin was buried secretly in Pere Lachaise.

Sid Vicious: Age: 21 Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistol's gigs became synonymous with violence, which reached a peak during the 100 Club's Punk Rock Festival when a girl was blinded in a glass-smashing incident involving the group's most fearful follower, Sid Vicious. On 12 October 1978, his girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed in his hotel room and Vicious was charged with murder. While released on bail, he suffered a fatal overdose of heroin and died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of 2 February 1979.

John Belushi: Age 33 The Blues Brothers

Comedian/actor/singer John Belushi died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine on March 5,1982, at the age of 33.  Belushi had been a regular on TV's "Saturday Night Live," then went on to star in movies such as "Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers," which featured his singing.

Tommy Bolin: Age 25 James Gang/Deep Purple

Unable to resist temptation Bolin went on a binge. He recovered in time for their show at the Jai Alai Fronton Hall on December 3rd, where they were supporting Jeff Beck. The set went down a storm with a lengthy version of "Post Toastie" climaxing the performance. Backstage Bolin and Beck posed for a picture after which Tommy returned to his Miami Beach hotel with his girlfriend. Late that night, he passed out; fearful of adverse publicity no doctor was called and, as he seemed to come round, roadies put him back to bed. Around 8 am the following day, Saturday, December 4th, his girlfriend saw that he was looking much worse and finally an ambulance was called, but Bolin died before it arrived.

Steve Clark: Age 30 Def Leppard

As Def Leppard began work on their belated follow-up to HYSTERIA, Clark was found dead in his London flat after consuming a mixture of drugs and alcohol.

Jerry Garcia: Age 53 The Grateful Dead

For the first half of the '90s, Garcia concentrated on Grateful Dead tours and albums, as the band confirmed their status as one of the most popular concert acts in America. However, the guitarist slowly sank back into heroin addiction. Late in the summer of 1995, he entered Serenity Knolls, a drug rehabilitation facility in Forest Knolls, CA. While he was attempting to recover, Garcia died in his sleep of a heart attack on August 9, 1995. Several months after his death, the Grateful Dead announced their disbandment.

Keith Moon: Age 31 The Who

The cause of death, according to the death certificate, was an overdosage of Chlormethiazole (Heminevrin), self administered but with no evidence of intention. An open vedict was recorded. He was certified dead on arrrival at the Middlesex Hospital, Westminster but was found at his flat in Curzon Place, Mayfair.

Brian Jones: Age 27 Rolling Stones 

While the Stones were re- establishing themselves, Brian Jones was falling deeper into drug abuse. A conviction in late 1968 prompted doubts about his availability for US tours and in the succeeding months he contributed less and less to recordings and became increasingly jealous of Jagger's leading role in the group. Richards' wooing and impregnation of Jones' girlfriend Anita Pallenberg merely increased the tension. Matters reached a crisis point in June 1969 when Jones officially left the group. The following month he was found dead in the swimming pool of the Sussex house that had once belonged to writer A.A. Milne. The official verdict was ‘death by misadventure’.  

Dennis Wilson: Age 39 Beach Boys 

Wilson drowned after diving from his yacht in the harbour at Marina Del Ray, California.  As the only Beach Boy to have actually surfed, special dispensation was given to the Wilson family to bury Dennis at sea.   

Randy California: Age 45  Spirit

Randy California died tragically in January of 1997, when he was gripped by an undertow when swimming on the coast of the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Before he died, he was able to save his 12 year-old son, Quinn. 

John Rostill: Age 31 The Shadows

John joined the shadows in November 1963 as replacement for Brian Locking. Staying with them until the break up in December 1968, and being part of the ´re-formed Shadows` in 1969/70 makes him the longest serving bass playing member of the Shadows.  Tragically, John didn't live to see the enormous success of his songs. On November 26th 1973, Bruce called at his house to work on some songs. When He and John's wife Margaret gained access to the studio, they found that John had been electrocuted.

Bing Crosby:
Towards the end of his life Crosby's star had waned but he was still capable of pulling in sell-out crowds for his occasional public appearances, even though he preferred to spend as much time as he could on the golf course. It was while playing golf in Spain that he collapsed and died.

Jimi Hendrix:  Age 27

On 18 September 1970, his girlfriend, Monika Danneman, became alarmed when she was unable to rouse him from sleep. An ambulance was called, but Hendrix was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. The inquest recorded an open verdict, with death caused by suffocation due to inhalation of vomit.

John Bonham:Age 32 Led Zeppelin

In September 1980, Bonham was found dead following a lengthy drinking bout. On 4 December, Swan Song announced that the group had officially retired. 

Sam Cooke Age 33

On 11 December 1964, following an altercation with a girl he had picked up, the singer was fatally shot by the manageress of a Los Angeles motel. 

Tupac Shakur Age 25

Shakur was shot on the Las Vegas strip as he was riding in the passenger seat of Knight's car. They had just seen the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight at the MGM Grand, and as they were leaving the hotel, 2-Pac got into a fight with an unnamed young black man. It has been suggested that this was the cause of the drive-by- shooting; it has also been suggested that Knight's ties to the mob and to gangs were the reason behind the shooting; another theory is that the Notorious B.I.G. arranged the shooting as retaliation for 2-Pac's comments that he slept with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans. Either way, Shakur was shot four times and he was admitted to University of Nevada Medical Center. Six days later, he died from his wounds.  

Robert Johnson:  Age 27

For a subject upon which it is dangerous to generalise, it hardly strains credulity to suggest that  Johnson was the fulcrum upon which post-war Chicago blues turned…His lifestyle, that of an itinerant with a ready facility to impress his female audience… One such dalliance brought about his end a year after his last session, poisoned by a jealous husband while performing in a jook joint at Three Forks, outside Greenwood, Mississippi.

Terry Kath:   Age 31 Chicago

Chicago was a consistent hit-making group throughout the '70s and '80s.   On 23 January 1978 founding member Kath was killed by a self-inflicted accidental gunshot wound.

Mr. Johnson asked him to stop playing with the gun, the account continued, and Mr. Kath replied, "Don't worry, it's not loaded, see?" Mr. Kath put the pistol to his head and pulled the trigger, killing himself instantly, Mr. Johnson told police.

Johnny Ace: Age 25    

 Ace began his professional career as an R&B singer in 1949 playing piano in a band that eventually evolved into the Beale Streeters, which included at various times B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Roscoe Gordon and Earl Forest.  Ace, by committing a spectacular suicide playing Russian Roulette behind stage at a concert on Christmas Day, 1954.

Elvis Aron Presley: Age 42

Elvis collapsed onstage on a couple of occasions and finally on 16 August 1977 his tired, burnt-out body expired. The official cause of death was a heart attack, no doubt brought on by barbiturate usage over a long period.

Gene Vincent: Age 36

One of the original bad boys of rock ‘n’ roll, the self-destructive Vincent was involved in a motorcycle crash in 1955 and his left leg was permanently damaged.  Although he failed to retrieve past glories on record, he toured frequently and survived the car crash which killed Eddie Cochran. The often intolerable pain he suffered due to his festering leg merely exacerbated his alcoholism, which in turn devastated his health. On 12 October 1971, his abused body finally succumbed to a fatal seizure and rock ‘n’ roll lost one of its genuinely great rebellious spirits.

Hank Williams: Age 29

An 18-year-old taxi driver, Charles Carr, was hired to drive Williams’ Cadillac. They set off with Hank having a bottle of whiskey for company. He sank into a deep sleep. A policeman who stopped the car for ignoring speed restrictions remarked, ‘That guy looks dead’. Five hours later, Carr discovered that his passenger was indeed dead. Death was officially due to ‘severe heart attack with haemorrhage’ but alcohol and pills played their part.