Why the 27 Club Myth Perpetuates

The so-called 27 Club, made up of famous people who died at age 27, gives the perception that it's an especially dangerous age for those in the public eye. Time and time again, research has shown that isn't the case. (A 2011 study of 522 musical artists found a nearly identical mortality rate for those ages 25, 27, and 32.) But "just because a myth has no basis in fact doesn't mean it isn't important," says UC Davis sociologist Zackary Okun Dunivin, whose research shows the real-world consequences of the public buying into the myth, which began with the deaths of rockers Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison, all age 27, between 1969 and 1971, per the Los Angeles Times.

The deaths of four 27-year-olds superstars in a two-year span was a "coincidence," a 1 in 100,000 chance, according to the study published Monday in PNAS. But humans are "meaning-making machines," Dunivin tells Scientific American. "You look at that and say, 'It can't be a coincidence!'" Subsequent deaths of 27-year-olds, including Kurt Cobain (1994) and Amy Winehouse (2011), only added to the myth. Now, as it persists, those who die at 27 receive "more visibility than those who die at adjacent ages," Dunivin writes at the Conversation, based on his analysis of 344,156 notable deceased individuals listed on Wikipedia, completed with fellow sociologist Patrick Kaminski.

The study found the 27 Club members ranking in the top 1% of notability became 170% more notable by dying at age 27, while members ranking in the top 10% of notability became 35% more notable (based on page views), per the Times. "Even if you don't know about the 27 Club, you encounter more famous dead people who died at 27," Dunivin tells Scientific American. "We've made this myth appear to be true because the appearance that more people ... die at 27 is real." So is it time to abandon the myth? Dunivin says no. "The story of the 27 Club is poetic, encapsulating the fleeting nature of genius and the fragility of life," he writes at the Conversation. "It's a story that begs to be told and retold, regardless of its veracity." (More rock stars stories.)