Weird Music Deaths: It's Not All About Drug Overdoses At 27 You Know!
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Rock star deaths are part and parcel of the legend of modern music history. Ones that spring immediately to mind are drug overdoses, choking on their own vomit, car crashes, assassinations, and plane crashes. Then there’s the well known 27 Club, otherwise known as ‘the rock and roll age to die’, that has a roll-call of some of the most famous names in rock history. There’s Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison in the late 60s and early 70s. (A lot of J’s going on in those names.) To Kurt Cobain, Richey "Manic" Edwards, and Amy Winehouse in more recent rock history. However there have been a number of weird deaths of musicians. Some inexplicable, some have grown and built to mythological proportions, and some are just simple bizarre. This is a list of some of the weirdest deaths in music history. From accidental gunshots to electrocutions, and suspicious circumstances.
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Johnny Ace was an R’n’B singer, who had a string of hits on the mid-50s. At a concert in Houston, Texas on Christmas Day 1954, Ace was playing around with a .22 caliber revolver. There are versions of the story that say Ace was playing Russian Roulette, something (so legend says) he often did. However, the actual story is a little different. After being warned about waving the gun around, Ace is reported to have said “It’s okay! Gun’s not loaded…see?” At which point he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The gun was loaded. Johnny Ace died instantly. Ace was only 25 years old.
Another gun related accidental death is that of Terry Kath, lead guitarist of Chicago, in 1978. Kath was at a party at a road crew member’s house, in LA, on January 23rd 1978. He too was playing around with revolver, an unloaded .38 which he put to his head and pulled the trigger. Unlike Ace, that particular revolver wasn’t loaded. He next picked up a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, and was warned to put it down. He apparently showed that the clip was empty, to assure people that it was safe. However, unknown to Kath the 9 mm pistol had a round in the barrel. Again putting the pistol to his head, he pulled the trigger. He died instantly. Only a week before his 32nd birthday. Bobby Fuller was a singer songwriter, famous for such hit song I Fought The Law (made globally famous through the cover version by UK punk rock band The Clash). Only a few months after I Fought The Law had become a Top Ten hit for Fuller, he was found dead in a car outside his Hollywood apartment on July the 18th 1966. Officially his death was called an accidental suicide, due to inhalation of gasoline fumes. His body strangely was covered in gasoline. There have been rumours surrounding Fuller’s unusual and untimely death, that range from him being murdered by the religious cult The Manson Family, to the LAPD being involved in his death due to Fuller’s Mafia connections. However he died, it was a bizarre one. Fuller was only 23 years old. Claude François, also known by the nickname Cloclo in France. Regarded as the king of kitsch, loved a sparkly costume and over-the-top stage performances. François is well known for writing "Comme d'habitude", the original French language version of the song made famous by Frank Sinatra "My Way". His death, on March the 11th 1978 was a bizarre and tragic accident. The story goes that he was taking a shower, when he decided to straighten a wonky light fixture on the wall. It’s no great surprise to hear that he electrocuted himself, and died aged 39 years old. Another electrocution death was that Keith Relf, the lead singer with The Yardbirds. A band that featured during their life, line-ups that included three of rock's most famous guitarists, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. On May 14th 1976, Relf was at home, and playing his electric guitar in his basement recording studio. The guitar wasn’t properly earthed, and electrocuted Relf, killing him. He was 33 years old. A somewhat more rock ‘n’ roll electrocution, was the death of Les Harvey, guitarist with the 70s band Stone The Crows. who was killed by an ungrounded microphone. While on stage with at Swansea Top Rank on May 3rd 1972, Harvey grabbed the microphone that had not been earthed, and was immediately electrocuted. He died right there on the stage in front of 1,000 fans. Harvey’s death put him into the 27 Club. Norwegian black metal, is a musical genre that had a short dark history during the early 90s. There are many bizarre stories associated with the artists and bands of that period. The documentary Until the Light Takes Us (2009) recounts them. But one of the weirdest, and truly bizarre stories is the events surrounding the death of Pelle Ohlin (also known as Dead), the lead singer of the band Mayhem. Pelle is believed to have inhaled the remains of a dead raven from a bag before performances. Mayhem would throw the heads of pigs at their audience. Pelle was an introverted character, known to be clinically depressed. Even Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, guitarist with Mayhem once said "I honestly think Dead is mentally insane”. On April the 8th 1991 at the age of only 22, Pelle was alone in the house he shared with Euronymous, and drummer Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg. He slit his wrists and his throat with a knife and then shot himself in the forehead with a shotgun. Leaving a suicide note that merely apologized for the mess his blood would have made. Euronymous who discovered Pelle’s body, took photos of his corpse with a disposable camera. Rumours later spread that the band members made a stew with bits of Pelle's brain, and fashioned necklaces from fragments of his skull. The band later confirmed that they had made the necklaces, which they sent out to members of other bands they thought worthy of such a gift. However they denied the brain stew. Euronymous allegedly sent one of the pictures to the owner of Warmaster Records, and it was used as the cover of the bootleg live album Dawn of the Black Hearts (1995). For Euronymous, it all came to a grisly end two years later when he was stabbed to death on his own doorstep by rival musician Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes. Euronymous was 25 years old. 
Dead (left) and Euronymous (right)
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Johnny Ace
Terry Kath
Bobby Fuller
Claude François
Keith Relf
Les Harvey
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