The other day, I blogged about blues great Robert Johnson. He died at the very young age of 27. And, 27 is actually a very scary age for a musician. Did you know there is a “27 Club” – a group of rock and blues musicians who all died at the age of 27? Some of the greatest musicians of all times never made it past this tender age.
Let’s take a look at those who lived more in 27 years than many of us will in 80:
Brian Jones
A foundering member of the Rolling Stones, you would think Brian Jones would have had it all. He was a very talented musician and in one of the most popular bands of the time, but Jones had many demons. He drank, used drugs, and many questioned his mental state. Even fellow band members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards begin to grow hostile towards him. Of course, it didn’t help matters when his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg ran off with Keith Richards while Jones was hospitalized.
By 1968, Jones interest in making music seemed to have waned. His last appearance with the Stones was in December 1968 when they filmed The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. The film featured other bands such as Jethro Tull, The Who, and Taj Mahal, but Jagger was so unhappy with the Stones performance, the film would not be released until 1996. It showed Jones in what appeared to be an inebriated state, with inarticulate speech. Even The Who’s Pete Townshend said he thought it would be Jones’ last live performance.
Sure enough, it was. On June 8th, Richards, Jagger, and fellow Rolling Stone Charlie Watts visited Jones and told him they would continue the band without him.
On July 3, 1969, Jones was found at the bottom of his swimming pool. His girlfriend Anna Wohlin said he had a pulse when they pulled him out of the pool, but the doctors pronounced him dead on the scene. Some thought it was suicide, thinking he was unhappy at having been ostracized from the band by Jagger and Richards. But, in 1999, Anna Wohlin claimed that Jones was murdered by a man who had been renovating the house in which they were living. Allegedly, the builder, Frank Thorogood, confessed to the Rolling Stone’s driver Tom Keylock of the murder on his deathbed, but no one else witnessed it.
Regardless, at the age of 27, Brian Jones was dead. Who else is in the 27 Club? My next blog will be about Jimi Hendrix.