'27 Club' members you might not have heard of

One of the first members to join the 27 Club, Jesse Belvin, a singer and songwriter known for writing hits like “Earth Angel,” died in a tragic car accident, and many believe it was due to someone damaging his tires. Belvin was highly revered by legends like Etta James, who believed he would’ve been more famous than Sam Cooke and Nat King Cole had he lived longer. 

Rudy Lewis grew to fame as a singer. He dabbled in gospel, sang lead in the band Drifters, and released solo work. Friends of Lewis suspected he was suffering from an eating disorder, and they knew he was addicted to heroin. The singer was found dead in a hotel room in Harlem from an apparent drug overdose. 

For a few years in the late ‘60s and again in 1975, there existed a band called Spanky and Our Gang. The group started in Chicago and sang pop songs, but tragedy struck in 1968 when a member of their band, Malcolm Hale, died at age 27. Initially, his death was believed to be from bronchial pneumonia, but it was later discovered that he died from carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards went on to become some of the most famous musicians of all time, but another founding member of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones, had a much different tale. Jones had some conflicts with the band’s manager and his bandmates, and troubles with addiction affected his musical performance, eventually leading him to be replaced in the band. He died in a drowning accident just a month later. 

Jim Morrison is one of the most famous members of the 27 Club, but his partner, Pamela Courson, is a member, too. Courson was an artist, and her relationship with Morrison was toxic at times. Just three years after Morrison died from heart failure, Courson died from a heroin overdose. 

Pete Ham is another musician in the 27 Club. The Welsh singer and guitarist for the band Badfinger took his own life in 1975 after struggling with his mental health because of various issues with his band. Eight years later, his former band member Tom Evans also took his own life.

Gary Thain was a member of multiple bands during his lifetime, most notably Uriah Heep. In 1975, Thain died from a heroin overdose at his home in London. Before his death, Thain had the opportunity to play music with another member of the 27 Club, Jimi Hendrix. 

Cecilia, born Evangelina Sobredo Galanes, was a Spanish musician whose stage name was inspired by the Simon and Garfunkel song of the same name. She was inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, among others, and had fans on multiple continents. The musician died at age 27 in a car accident the morning after a concert in Spain. 

Perhaps you haven’t heard of Big Star, but you’ve definitely heard of R.E.M. The latter band has stated how it’s drawn much inspiration from Big Star, as well as its former member Chris Bell. Bell, a talented musician, died in 1978 in a car accident. Though his life was short, his work influenced many. 

D. Boon’s claim to fame was his membership in the band Minutemen. He died in a car accident in 1985, but his legacy lives on. Boon is remembered as one of the greatest guitar players of all time, and he’s influenced many a punk rocker with his contributions to the genre. 

Chris Austin never went on to gain widespread fame of his own, but he did help others, namely Ricky Skaggs and Reba McEntire, by playing multiple instruments for their bands. Austin died in 1991 in a plane crash. McEntire’s road manager, as well as six other members of her band, were on the plane and died, too. 

Mia Zapata was the lead singer of The Gits. Her band was a part of the grunge music scene in Seattle in the early ‘90s. In 1993, Zapata was murdered, but the case went cold and remained so until 10 years after her death when her murderer was sentenced to 36 years in prison. The events surrounding her death were later profiled on an episode of Forensic Files. 

Kurt Cobain wasn’t the only member of the 27 Club that Courtney Love knew. Kristen Pfaff, a guitarist for Love’s band, Hole, moved to Seattle to join the band, and it was there that she developed a close friendship with Cobain and an addiction to drugs. Just two months after Cobain’s death, Pfaff died from a drug overdose. 

Richey Edwards, a former member of Manic Street Preachers, is a member of the 27 Club, but his membership wasn’t declared certain for decades after his death. In February of 1995, Edwards disappeared, and it wasn’t until 2008 that his status changed to presumed dead. Although he’s thought to be dead, many have stated that they’ve seen him in various places worldwide since his disappearance. 

In the early ‘90s, rapper Stretch met Tupac Shakur. The two, along with others, formed the group Thug Life, but it disbanded when Shakur was shot in 1994. Just a year later, Stretch was shot and killed at 27. The following year, Shakur was shot again, this time fatally. He was only 25. 

Fat Pat was another rapper involved in the ‘90s hip-hop scene. A member of the group DEA, Fat Pat was shot outside an apartment in Houston in 1998, but his murder went unsolved. Most of Fat Pat’s music, however, was released posthumously, his last album coming out in 2008. 

Jeremy Ward was quite a prolific musician who helped several different acts, like De Facto and The Mars Volta, with their music. He died in 2003 from a heroin overdose, but his death was not in vain. Two other musicians he worked with said that Ward’s death was what caused them to get clean themselves. 

Jade Goody rose to fame thanks to her time on the British version of Big Brother, as well as other programs. Goody was not met with favor, and the British media tore her apart. In 2008, Goody was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and by 2009, she died from the illness. 

Dash Snow was a native New Yorker who rose to prominence in the city thanks to his work as an artist. He was involved in media like photography, much of which showed his lifestyle and the lifestyle of his contemporaries. In 2009 at the age of 27, Snow died from a drug overdose.

Tyler Skaggs was a talented MLB pitcher for the Diamondbacks and the Angels. Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room in Texas while there to play the Rangers. His cause of death was asphyxia due to drug use.