The Curse of 27

Jimi Hendrix

The Curse of 27

Jimi Hendrix

Not much remains to be said about the primal genius of Jimi Hendrix. He could play any style. He reinvented the electric guitar as an instrument of musical expression. He wrote several of the most enduring and important songs of the rock 'n' roll era — including "Purple Haze," "Foxey Lady," "Are You Experienced?" and "Crosstown Traffic" (and so many others) — helping to define several generations of music and popular culture. He was impossibly cool. He was impossibly great. And he died a most gruesome death, choking on his own vomit after taking too many prescription sleeping pills and drinking too much wine on September 18, 1970.

"the Curse of 27 on some of the great talents in the United States has validity, but like prophecy it can change." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Jim Morrison of the Doors

The Curse of 27

Jim Morrison

Third — though in many ways first — in the trifecta of '60s icons who died within a year of one another at the same tender age, Jim Morrison is the one whose death remains the most mysterious. This much we know (or think we know): The Doors' frontman died in a bathtub in his Paris apartment. He had been drinking whiskey. He had been shooting heroin. His girlfriend Pamela Courson was in the apartment with him. She found his body. No autopsy was performed. The conspiracy theories attending his death run a staggering range from "he was murdered" to "he never actually died." We'll never be sure. One thing was certain: When his death was reported to the world, on July 3, 1971, Morrison was 27 years old.