The Editors of LIFE - Gone Too Soon: The 27 Club--Rock Icons Who Died Too Soon

CONTENTS

Kurt Cobain in 1992

GONE TOO SOON

The 27 Club: Rock Icons Who Died Too Young

Amy Winehouse in 2007

INTRODUCTION

LIVING ON THE EDGE

This is a story of brilliance: precious, fragile, and amazing to behold. The six musical artists who all happened to die at the same early age27did more than perform memorable songs. They expressed ideas and emotions that were shared by enthralled followers from their generations and beyond. The stories of these luminous artists lead to tragic ends. But the lives they led were transformativeto music, to culture, and to countless lives.

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BRIAN JONES OCTOBER 1969 LONDON The Rolling Stones were quickly becoming rock sensations when this portrait was taken. The band had just performed on two of Britains most popular music television programs Top of the Pops and Ready Steady Go! Their newest hit single, Get Off of My Cloud, had just been released, and in a few days theyd be off to New York for the start of their fourth North American tour. While in New York, Jones would jam with Bob Dylan and meet Lou Reed, who was in the midst of forming the Velvet Underground.

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JIMI HENDRIX FEBRUARY 24, 1969 LONDON Playing the second of two sold-out shows at Royal Albert Hall, Hendrix was facing a transition when this classic photo was taken. Tensions were mounting with bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, and after this performance Hendrix would return to New York City for a much-needed break. The Albert Hall show was also notable for the inclusion of an encoresomething Hendrix didnt typically do. The song he played was Room Full of Mirrors, for which he was joined onstage by Dave Mason and Chris Wood of the band Traffic and percussionist Rocky Dzidzornu.

JIM MARSHALL PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

JANIS JOPLIN 1968 SAN FRANCISCO Rock-and-roll photographer Jim Marshall had a wonderful relationship with Joplin, which partly explains why he was able to capture her in her most unguarded moments. You could just call her at home and be like, We have to take some pictures, and shed say, Okay! Come over! Marshall told Rolling Stone in October 2009, less than a year before his death. She trusted me. The trust shows in this candid portrait, taken in the bedroom of Joplins San Francisco apartment.

JIM MARSHALL PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

JIM MORRISON JANUARY 1, 1968 LOS ANGELES Morrisons angular face and dark, brooding eyes made him a natural teen idolthe classic bad boy. But it wasnt the role he wanted to play. Morrison was really an intellectual, burying himself in philosophy and poetry books. I see myself as an intelligent, sensitive human, with the soul of a clown, said Morrison, which forces me to blow it at the most important moments.

MICHEL LINSSEN/REDFERNS/GETTY

KURT COBAIN NOVEMBER 25, 1991 HILVERSUM, HOLLAND While recording live radio performances in Holland, Cobain struck a pensive pose. His band, Nirvana, was in the early days of massive fame, having released their breakthrough album Nevermind just two months earlier. The album would sell 30 million copies worldwide.

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AMY WINEHOUSE 2006 NEW YORK CITY Winehouse didnt live in the 1960s, but for her album Back to Black , she assumed the look and sound of Phil Spectorera girl groups. On the strength of the albums success, Winehouse won numerous Grammy awards, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year (Rehab), and Best New Artist.

19421969

BRIAN JONES

Brian was the first person I ever heard playing slide electric guitar. Mick and I both thought he was incredible.

KEITH RICHARDS

JIM MARSHALL PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

At the beginningthe spring of 1962, to be exactthe Rolling Stones was Brian Joness band.

Jones was only 20 years old, but the path of his life was already set. As a child, Jones was an excellent student and his test scores were high enough to place him well on his way to university. His father, Lewis, was an engineer who played the organ, and his homemaker mother, Louisa, taught piano lessons so Jones was encouraged to study the piano and saxophone. Brian was a perfectly normal, contented little boy, his father later recalled. [He] behaved well and was well liked. Then there came this peculiar change.

The change was that Jones became a teenagera reckless teenager with little regard for consequences, especially if they stood in the way of his freedom. His two passions were girls and music, and both preoccupations became a source of worry for his parents. With girls, the concern was that Jones was fickle and too successful at wooing them. With music, the problem was that his tastes were veering away from classical and jazz and toward what his father called the devils musicthe blues. His parents believed they were losing control of their son and that he was going to blow his promising future. Jones thought they were being too strict and stifling.

At the age of 16, Jones got a 14-year-old girl named Valerie Corbett pregnant. Arrangements were made for the baby, a boy, to be put up for adoption so that the two teens could continue their education. Soon after, Joness parents shipped him 100 miles away from his native Cheltenham to London so he could train to be an optometrist. Joness apprenticeship lasted just two weeks. Another attempt to send him away to studythis time to Germanyalso failed. It was soon clear to Lewis and Louisa that their dreams for their son were not to be. He was intent on finding his own way in the world.

With university out, Jones decided to pursue music professionally. He started by playing in pubs with a London band called Blues Incorporated alongside Alexis Korner and Paul Pond (later to be known as Paul Jones when he became lead singer of Manfred Mann). Korner was the leader, but Jones didnt see much in him that he wasnt capable of himself so he began efforts to start his own group with a lineup that started with drummer Charlie Watts, keyboardist Ian Stewart, and two fellow blues lovers who had known each other since childhood: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.