27: A History of the 27 Club through the Lives of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Amy Winehouse
Rolling Stones cofounder Brian Jones drowned in his swimming pool; Jimi Hendrix overdosed and choked on his own vomit in a London hotel; Janis Joplin overdosed on heroin; Jim Morrison died of heart failure while in the bathtub of a Paris hotel room; Kurt Cobain committed suicide by shooting himself; Amy Winehouse drank herself to death. All are members of the notorious 27 Club: they all died prematurely young at the age of 27. Their stories are fascinating pieces of music trivia, but Sounes (Fab, 2010) is interested in why they behaved the way they did. What specifically made them so self-destructive? (Sounes includes an appendix of an additional 44 members of the 27 Club, including the bluesman Robert Johnson.) Although only Cobain deliberately committed suicide, Sounes argues that all six killed themselves. All were intelligent and talented, he maintains, but most had personality problems of some sort, such as depression or bipolar disorder; in addition, many were the children of divorced parents and had low self-esteem. Fans of these musicians will be intrigued and saddened by this fascinating and tragic account. --June Sawyers