Publisher's Synopsis
KURT COBAIN: A Kurt Cobain Biography
There is a very exclusive "club" in the entertainment industry that no one really wants or intends to belong to - even though its members are some of popular culture's most gifted and important figures. This is the group of artists lost before their time, specifically and coincidentally at the tender age of 27 years old.
It has been nicknamed "The 27 Club" and while they come from various segments of the arts (visual artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and acclaimed young actors Jonathan Brandis and Anton Yelchin among them), a seemingly disproportionate number of them hail from the music industry.
Its too-many tragic figures includes Blues legend, Robert Johnson; Rolling Stones founding member Brian Jones; Jimi Hendrrix; Janis Joplin; The Doors' Jim Morrison; and Amy Winehouse. When someone dies young, and especially when that person is famous, the public cannot help but ruminate on how something so tragic can happen and why.
Differing circumstances underlie the deaths on the so-called "club" (more a Hollywood myth than a statistically supported trend according to reports). There were incidents of self-harm, misbehavior, accidents, illnesses, and the occasional mystery. Some of the deaths offer more answers than others. There are tales of substance abuse coming to a head; of crippling heartbreak; of a lifetime battling illness and / or inner demons ending in tragedy. There are often all sorts of clues left behind - the detritus of a person's final moments.
One particularly famous, tragic figure in a list flush with them is that of Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain.
