Amy Winehouse Joins "The 27 Club" - - The Mystery Behind Music Stars Died at 27

Amy Winehouse: The Latest Entry in "The 27 Club"

LONDON - British singer Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her London home. She was 27. Police confirmed that a 27-year-old, having drugs and alcohol problems, was marked dead at the aprtment in Camden Square northern London; the cause of death is ‘unexplained’ right now.

The reported death of troubled singer Amy Winehouse at the age of 27 is a sad reminder of several other musical stars who also passed away at the same age.

Known in pop culture as "The 27 Club," this unfortunate collective of stars remains forever frozen in fans minds at that age, with many of them believed to have had their best work yet ahead of them.

But now that Amy Winehouse has passed away at the age of 27, she joins a more illustrious, but sadder group. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison all died at age 27. Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain committed suicide at age 27. And the bluesman Robert Johnson also passed away at that age.

What is it about rock martyrdom and the age of 27? Twenty seven (27) is an age when one is no longer childishly youthful, but one is generally not preoccupied with the ravages of aging. Rock stars who have died at age 27 seem to have packed in a lot of living into a few years, almost as if they were aware that time was catching up to them. Hendrix is still releasing new material, and no doubt we’ll hear something as-yet-unreleased from Winehouse.