Michael Shofi

Title: “The 27 Club”

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience on the myth of the 27 Club and have everyone form

their own opinions on whether it is coincidence or not.

Thesis Statement: Over the years, dozens of beloved musicians, actors, and creatives have died

mysteriously and ominously at the young age of 27. It is said that they have all fallen victim to

the “27 Club,” but is it a tragic coincidence or malicious curse?

I. Intro

a. Show video of Jimi Hendricks before he died… ask class how old they think he

is. Do the same with Amy Winehouse.

b. Commonly associated with the “White Lighter Curse” (debunked)… 27 Club is

very real, though. Over the years, dozens of beloved musicians, actors, and

creatives have died mysteriously and ominously at the young age of 27. It is said

that they have all fallen victim to the “27 Club,” but is it a tragic coincidence or

malicious curse?

c. I bet everyone in this room knows at least someone affected… (list 27 club

members)

d. Last year, I wrote a paper entitled “The Creative Brain and Mental Illness”

addressing the frightening motif of young, famous artists who collapse under their

depression, anxieties, etc. I referenced the “27 Club” many times in said paper.

e. In this paper I’m going to discuss who is in the 27 Club, similarities in these

individual’s life and death, and possible explanations for the phenomenon
Transition: So other than Jimi Hendricks and Amy Winehouse, who died at the tragically young

age of 27?

I. Janis Joplin- shot up heroin, fell and hit her head on the nightstand, and died.

II. Jim Morrison (lead singer/songwriter of The Doors)- found in his apartment in France

and died of “heart failure”

III. Kurt Cobaine- shot himself in his home

IV. Anton Yelchin- car accident

Biblio: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-lists/the-27-club-a-brief-history-

17853/brian-jones-3-240385/

Transition: What did each of these people share?

I. Fame, wealth, creativity… and largely: mental illness. The 27 club is compiled of

creatives (in some way or another) who died too young in the spotlight of the nation.

II. “the risk of death for famous musicians throughout their 20s and 30s was two to three

times higher than the general UK population.”

Biblio: Wolkewitz, Martin, et al. “Does the 27 Club Exist?” BMJ: British Medical Journal, vol.

343, no. 7837, 2011, pp. 1284–1286. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23066612.

Transition: So what connects the dots andf brings these people together?

I. Creative minds and fame are ingredients that further push mentally ill minds to the

brink.

II. “Some people argue that creativity and creative outlets are actually therapeutic to

the mentally ill brain”

Biblio: Parr, Hester. “Mental Health, the Arts and Belongings.” Transactions of the Institute of

British Geographers, vol. 31, no. 2, 2006, pp. 150–166. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3804378.

Transition: There are obviously a number of factors that play into the tragedies I’ve talked about

the past few minutes.

Conclusion: It is up to you to draw your own conclusions about the 27 Club, but to me it is

nothing more than a perfect storm of over-exposure, drugs to numb the pain, empathy and stigma

surrounding mental illness and the desire to get help.

Interesting ending: One artist almost eerily foreshadowed his own death when putting this lyric

in “Brand Name”: "To everyone who sell me drugs / Don't mix it with that bullshit / I'm hoping

not to join the 27 Club / Just want the coke dealer house with the velvet rug.”

…but he died at 26.