They Rock Out Young and Bite the Dust Early: Study Shows Life Spans for Rock and Pop Stars Shorter Than Average
Dreaming of becoming a rock or pop star? Be careful what you wish for because you may end up as one of the many rock and pop stars who flame out too early.
A study by researchers at London’s Liverpool John Moores University compared the age of death of North American and British pop and rock musicians to average citizens of the same age and found that rock and pop stars are two to three times more likely to die at a young age, according to an Associated Press article (“Study: Rock Stars More Likely to Die Younger than Ordinary Citizens,” Sep. 4, 2007).
The study drew from the Virgin book All Time Top 1,000 Albums published in 2000 and compared 100 of the rock and pop stars from the list who had since died against average citizens of similar backgrounds, sex and ethnicity.
The study found that 7.3 percent of the female stars and 9.6 percent of the male rockers died earlier than expected. The risk of death was two to three times higher for rock stars of both sexes during the first two and 25 years of fame, and North American artists died at an older age (42), on average, than European musicians (35).
So in honor of all the late, great rock stars who went before their time, here’s a list of 15 U.S. and 15 British no-longer-with-us notables, and a reminder of all the music we’re missing out on.
(And, math people, before you take out your calculators, we already know: Contrary to the study findings, our completely unscientifically selected short lists show the Brits with a slightly higher average age of death.)
Beware of the Business
The Americans
The Brits
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