Musicians often lead crazy lives, full of excess and unique experiences, so it's only natural that their deaths should be just as memorable. Here are ten examples that prove it.
10. Keith Relf
These days, the '60s London rock band The Yardbirds are best remembered for launching the careers of not one, not two, but three of the greatest guitarists in music history: Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck. And yet, none of them interests us today. Instead, we'll focus on the Yardbirds' original lead singer, Keith Relf, who accidentally electrocuted himself while playing his electric guitar.
It happened in 1976, years after Relf had left the band. The 33-year-old rocker was in the basement of his home when he accidentally electrocuted himself with an ungrounded guitar. Relf was in poor health, which might further explain why the shock killed him, but the truth is that we simply don’t know any details about how his death actually occurred. His family was fiercely secretive about Relf’s passing, which only led to rumors and legends, especially the idea that he died playing guitar in the bathtub.
9. Bobby Fuller
In 1966, the Bobby Fuller Four had their biggest hit yet when their cover of “I Fought the Law” hit the Top 10. Unfortunately, the band never had the chance to capitalize on their newfound fame. Just a few months later, frontman Bobby Fuller was sitting dead in his car outside his apartment under rather suspicious circumstances.
Fuller's death was allegedly ruled a suicide, albeit with some serious question marks. Some claim his body was found doused in gasoline. Others that he had multiple stab wounds. Either way, it's not something one would inflict on oneself before committing suicide. And some also accuse the police of quickly closing the case without a proper investigation, not even bothering to look for fingerprints or interview possible witnesses. Last but not least, there were also reports that Fuller's body was in an advanced state of rigor mortis, suggesting he had been dead for hours, even though his car had only been parked for 30 minutes.
We don’t know how many of these claims are true, but they seem to point to something more sinister happening to Bobby Fuller. As for who could have done it, ideas have been all over the place – an angry nightclub owner, the Mafia, and even Charles Manson has gotten a mention. But there’s not enough hard evidence to point the finger at any of them.
8. Steve Peregrin Took
The rock band T. Rex couldn't get over the death of their frontman Marc Bolan and broke up shortly after his untimely death in a car crash in 1977. But just a few years later, another of the band's founders, Steve Peregrin Took, passed away in a much more bizarre and unique way - by choking on a cocktail cherry.
By the time of his death, Took had long been estranged from T. Rex. He was fired from the band in 1969 due to his excessive drug use and partying, which was apparently too much even for a '60s rocker. However, after leaving T. Rex, Took embarked on various solo and group musical projects, the most notable of which was probably the band Shagrat, which featured original Motörhead member Larry Wallis.
Took, 31, died on October 27, 1980, at his home in London, as we've said, after choking on a cherry. Some versions of the story reported it was the cocktail onion, and drugs were also involved, leading to his official cause of death being listed as "death by accident involving drugs."
7. Al Jackson Jr.
In the 1960s, Booker T & the MG's were one of the funkiest instrumental bands, consisting of a group of seasoned session musicians signed to Stax Records who decided to form their own group after playing on hundreds of records for other artists. The original lineup included Al Jackson, Jr. on drums, known as the "Timekeeper Man" for his intuitive ability to keep time.
Unfortunately, Jackson's time with the band came to a tragic end in 1975 when he was murdered in his Memphis home. It was September 30th, and Jackson was scheduled to fly to Detroit that night for a recording session. However, it was the night of the iconic "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Ali and Frazier. Jackson didn't want to miss it, so he postponed his trip and went to the Mid-South Coliseum to watch the fight on television. When he returned home, he found an intruder in his home. The intruder forced Jackson to his knees and shot him five times in the back. Later, his wife Barbara ran outside screaming for help, saying that her husband had been killed by an intruder.
Since Jackson's murder remains unsolved, it has fueled speculation that all may not be what it seems. After all, the robber was in complete control of the situation, and yet he shot Jackson five times. Even police noted that the attacker genuinely wanted to make sure Jackson was dead. And his wife testified that she heard the killer address Jackson by name, indicating that they knew each other. There are rumors that Jackson's record label or even his wife may have had a hand in it, as they were in the midst of a divorce and she had already shot him once months earlier.
6. Licorice McKechnie
Many artists die by giving in to their demons, which is usually a nicer way of saying they die from drugs. Another significant chunk are taken away by planes and car crashes, while some die and their murders go unsolved, like the aforementioned Al Jackson Jr. And every now and then, a few just disappear, never to be heard from again.
The latter was the fate of Christine "Licorice" McKechnie, a Scottish singer with The Incredible String Band. They reached their peak when they performed at Woodstock in 1969, but a bad breakup with one of the other members forced McKechnie to leave the group in 1972.
After this, her movements become much more obscure. At one point, she moved to California. She married and later divorced another musician named Brian Lambert. She once returned to her native Edinburgh to see her family, but around 1990, McKechnie seemed to disappear from the face of the earth. All reports claim that she was last seen traveling in the Arizona desert.
5. Alessandro Stradella
Unusual deaths of musicians are not limited to modern times. We travel back almost 350 years to 17th-century Genoa to explore the strange demise of Baroque composer Alessandro Stradella.
Stradella was undoubtedly a talented and prolific artist, producing hundreds of works, but he was also a rather questionable character. “He led a dissolute life” is a polite way of saying it, and he saw his share of scandals, which ended in not one but two assassination attempts.
Stradella's first brush with death occurred in Venice. He was working as a freelance music teacher, but he attempted to seduce and kidnap a student named Agnese van Uffele. Unfortunately for him, she also happened to be the Doge's niece, and he did not approve of Stradella's actions. In fact, the Doge sent his thugs after the music teacher, who beat him, stabbed him, and left him for dead.
Stradella survived this first encounter and wisely decided it was time for a change of scenery. He fled to Genoa, but made no apparent attempt to reform. He soon made new enemies, and they attacked the composer more successfully. Stradella was attacked again and stabbed again in the street, and died at the age of 42.
4. Gram Parsons
The death of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons is not particularly remarkable. The artist died of a drug overdose, which is not unheard of in the world of music. But what happened next makes this record unique.
Parsons was a big fan of Joshua Tree National Park in southeastern California. After visiting the site several times, he expressed to his closest friends that when he died, his ashes would be scattered there. His road manager, Phil Kaufman, wanted to honor Graham's final wishes, but there was one problem: Parsons' family wanted a standard cemetery burial, and, by law, they had the final say. So Kaufman did what any true friend would do in that situation: he stole the body.
Kaufman and another friend, Michael Martin, arrived in Los Angeles as Parsons' remains were being prepared to be shipped to New Orleans. The duo rented a Cadillac hearse and pretended to work for a funeral home, claiming that plans had changed and that the body would be flown from Van Nuys Airport. LAX officials were a little hesitant, but they eventually released the body. The pair then sped to Joshua Tree National Park, where they set the casket on fire.
Unfortunately, they failed to accomplish their goal. Some tourists spotted them and alerted the authorities. Kaufman and Martin were arrested before the body was fully cremated, and what was left of it was eventually returned to Parsons' family and buried. For their role in this little escapade, Kaufman and Martin were each fined $300.
3. Terry Cat
"What do you think I'm going to do? Blow my brains out?"
Those were reportedly the last words of Terry Kath, guitarist and founding member of the rock band Chicago. And you can probably guess what happened next. That's right, Kath had a heart attack. No, not quite, he shot himself.
Kat was a big gun enthusiast, which is a good thing, but he was also a big drug enthusiast, and he often enjoyed combining his two favorite activities. Many of his friends thought it was only a matter of time before this ended in tragedy, and they were right. It was January 23, 1978, just a week before Kat's 32nd birthday, and the guitarist was hanging out with one of the band's roadies, Don Johnson, at his Los Angeles home.
As usual, Kat had several guns with him, and he was playing with them, spinning them, pointing them at his head, and even pulling the trigger. Understandably, this made Johnson a little nervous, so to calm him down, Kat wanted to show him that all his guns were empty. He picked up a 9mm, showed the technician the empty clip, inserted it into the gun, put it to his temple, and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, he forgot to chamber a bullet, and Kat simply shot herself in the head.
2. Glenn Miller
There was a time in the early 1940s when conductor Glenn Miller had the best-selling musical act in America. Yet when World War II broke out, Miller chose to sacrifice the safety of his country to entertain the troops, and paid for it with his life.
On December 15, 1944, Miller boarded a small plane to fly across the English Channel from London to Paris. He was never seen again, and the wreckage of the plane was never found.
As for what exactly happened, the most obvious answer is that Miller died in a plane crash, along with two other officers on board the plane. The cause of the crash is debated. Some believe it was due to bad weather that forced the pilot to fly low and caused the fuel intakes to freeze. Others think he may have been killed by friendly fire, specifically Allied bombers dropping their bombs after returning from a failed raid on Germany.
And that's assuming, of course, that Miller actually died in a plane crash. More outlandish versions suggest that the big-band leader faked his death and moved to South America, or that he actually died in a Paris brothel and the Army made up the story to protect his image. Or even that he was killed while on a secret U.S. government mission to negotiate with Nazi Germany.
1. Mike Edwards
As far as bizarre musician deaths go, it's hard to top the "freak" accident that claimed the life of Mike Edwards in 2010, when he was crushed by a giant bale of hay.
Edwards was best known as the cellist for 1970s rock band Electric Light Orchestra, playing with them in their early years before leaving the band in 1975. Fast forward to September 3, 2010, and 62-year-old Edwards was in rural Devon when a bale of hay fell down a hill and hit the front of his van. The bale, weighing more than 600 kg, killed Edwards instantly.
The two men were investigated by police for possible criminal negligence for allowing the hay bale to get out of control, but an inquest jury cleared them of any wrongdoing, calling Edwards' death "a farm accident, but one that was easily preventable."
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