Dying young is a sure fire way to ensure you become engrained in musical folklore for eternity, partly because it somehow adds to the myth of an exotic lifestyle but also because you can't make a crap record when you're a gonner. Here are ten popstars whose deaths have come to be seen as somewhat iconic...
10. Tupac Shakur
The 25 year old rapper was shot four times in a drive-by after attenting a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas in 1996. He died a few days later in hospital.
9. Notoriosu B.I.G
Shot dead on the way home from an LA awards ceremony in 1997. The murder remains unsolved.
8. Gram Parsons
The country rocker and buddy of Keith Richards was found dead at the Joshua Tree Motel in California in September 1973. He had overdosed on morphine while drinking. His body was famously stolen from a hearse at LAX by his road manager and driven out into the Mojave Desert and burned.
7. Jim Morrison
The charismatic Doors frontman was found dead in the bath of a Paris apartment in 1971. Although drugs are thought to be behind it, there was no autopsy leaving many unanswered questions. He was just 27 when he died
6. Jimi Hendrix
Choked on his own vomit in a London flat after mixing red win and sleeping pills in September 1970, also at just 27 years of age.
5. Janis Joplin
Another one who bought it at 27, also in 1970. She was found dead on the floor of an LA motel room by her road manager after overdosing on herion.
4. Brian Jones
The Rolling Stones guitarist had not long been sacked from the band for excessive drug use when he was found at the bottom of his swimming pool. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure
3. Ian Curtis
The troubled Joy Divison singer was struggling to cope with the success of his band while having a wife and young baby at home and took his life the night before the band's first American tour was due to begin. He was 23.
2. Michael Hutchence
The INXS singer was found dead in a Sydney hotel room in November 1997. The coroner's report revealed that a combination of recreational and prescription drugs were involved but allegations of autoerotic asphyxiation also circulated.
1. Kurt Cobain
The Nirvana frontman never managed to reconcile his desire for self expression with the commercial success of his band and after a previous suicide overdose attempt failed, he shot himself. He was 27.
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