What is the ‘27 Club’ and is it a real phenomenon?

Amy Winehouse and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain both died at 27. Does dying at that age make a celebrity's death more famous? Photos / Getty Images / James McCauley

“There is something special” about stars who died at that age, study finds.

The 27 Club is a “real phenomenon” that makes the deaths of celebrities more famous, a study has found.

When rock stars Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison died within two years of one another, all aged 27, the myth their ages had a fatal connection was born.

Other notable members of the so-called 27 Club include Amy Winehouse, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kurt Cobain.

A statistical analysis has revealed there is no link between the age 27 and an increased risk of death for celebrities.

Amy Winehouse is a notable member of the so-called 27 Club.

However, the study found the cultural phenomenon around the 27 Club meant if well-known people died aged 27, it made their deaths more notable.

“Our investigation shows that the 27 Club is a real phenomenon: those who died at 27 are more famous than we should expect by chance,” the scientists from Indiana University wrote in their study.

They add there is now a self-fulfilling prophecy element to the myth because the deaths of people aged 27 make the stars more well-known, which in turn boosts the renown of a 27-year-old’s death.

Scientists analysed the Wikipedia articles of more than 340,000 people and found musicians tend to die younger than other famous people but there is no specific link to age 27.

But analysis of the 944 people in the dataset that did die aged 27 revealed more attention on their demise.

There is also a dedicated “27 Club” Wikipedia page, the scientists say, which is unique and serves to amplify the profile of the lives and deaths of people in the list, even if people were not searching for it, which can further propagate the myth of an increased risk of death.

There was a one in 100,000 chance of the founding members of the 27 Club, including Janis Joplin (pictured), all dying within two years of one another.

The researchers, writing in their study published in the journal PNAS, calculate there was a one in 100,000 chance the founding members of the 27 Club (Jones, Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison) would all die within two years of one another.

This “genuinely uncanny” event, they say, “gives a sense for the improbability of the 27 Club’s origin, and in turn part of the event’s mystique”.

Zackary Dunivin, the study’s lead author and a PhD student at Indiana University, said: “I study culture, but I’ve never worked on folklore before this. The project was inspired by watching a film about Jean-Michel Basquiat, whom I had forgotten was a member of the 27 Club.

“After seeing the film, I was talking to my housemate, and I realised that we almost certainly pay more attention to 27 Club members simply because of the club, and that I figured we could measure it with Wikipedia data.”

He added the data show the age of 27 is an outlier in terms of interest in celebrity deaths, and this is not driven just by levels of fame or tragedy.

The club's effect suggests Liam Payne’s death would have drawn more attention if he had died four years earlier. Photo / Getty Images

“The idea is definitely that there is something special about 27 above and beyond the extra attention we give to young deaths,” he said.

“Young deaths are especially tragic and often are caused by shocking circumstances like accidental death and overdose, which also draws more attention.

“But the 27 Club effect suggests that, at least over time, Liam Payne’s recent death would have drawn more attention if he had died four years earlier.”