Pick a Day

Music History Events: Died Young

July 11, 2016 Country singer Craig Morgan mourns the death of his son Jerry Greer after the 19-year-old's body is discovered the day after he goes missing while tubing on the Tennessee River. Jerry is one of four sons born to Morgan and his wife, Karen.

February 13, 2016 All four members of the promising English group Viola Beach are killed, along with their manager, when their car crashes on a bridge near Stockholm. Coldplay pay tribute by covering their song "Boys That Sing" at the Glastonbury Festival.

July 26, 2015 Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, dies at age 22. She is found unconscious in her bathtub, and the cause of death is eventually revealed as "immersion associated with drug intoxication."

September 5, 2014 Pop singer Simone Battle (of G.R.L.) dies of an apparent suicide in Los Angeles, California, at age 25.

May 23, 2014 Malik Bendjelloul, who directed the Sixto Rodriguez documentary Searching For Sugar Man, commits suicide at age 36.

May 15, 2014 Rapper Evan Plunkett, who performed as Hollywood Will, is shot dead at a Las Vegas casino.

April 7, 2014 25-year-old Peaches Geldof, daughter of the Live Aid mastermind Bob Geldof, is found dead in Kent, England, after overdosing on heroin. Her mother, Paula Yates, died in 2000 when Peaches was 11.

February 17, 2013 Country singer Mindy McCready dies of a self-inflicted gunshot at age 37.

January 7, 2013 Seattle hip-hop artist Freddy E dies at age 22 of an apparent suicide.

October 19, 2011 Blues guitarist John-Alex Mason, age 35, dies of complications after surgery to remove cancerous tissue.

April 20, 2011 Indie rocker Gerard Smith (of TV on the Radio) dies at age 36 of lung cancer.

September 8, 2010 Rich Cronin (of LFO) dies of a stroke while battling leukemia in Boston, Massuchusetts, at age 36.

May 24, 2010 Slipknot bass player Paul Gray dies at age 38 from an accidental overdose in his Iowa hotel room.

February 14, 2010 Blues musician Lil' Dave Thompson dies in a car accident at age 40.

February 25, 2008 Stephen "Static Major" Garrett, who co-wrote Ginuwine's "Pony," Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" and many tracks for Aaliyah, dies at age 32 after contracting a rare autoimmune disorder.

January 4, 2007 Nikki Bacharach, daughter of popular composer Burt Bacharach and actress Angie Dickinson, commits suicide at age 40 after a lifelong battle with Asperger's syndrome. She was the inspiration for her dad's 1969 song "Nikki."

February 2, 2002 Paul Baloff, who sang on Exodus' 1985 debut album, Bonded Blood, dies of a heart attack at age 41.

December 3, 2000 Kevin Mills, Newsboys' former bassist, is killed in a motorbike accident. He was 32.

January 6, 1999 Jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani dies at age 36. Born with a debilitating genetic condition, he became a top performer in his native France.

November 2, 1996 Eva Cassidy dies of cancer at age 33. Over the next few years, her music is discovered in the UK and becomes wildly popular, with her album Songbird reaching #1 in 2001.

December 10, 1995 During a recording session, Fat Boys member Darren Robinson, known as "The Human Beatbox," dies of a heart attack at age 28.

April 1, 1992 Nigel Preston, drummer and founding member of The Cult, dies of a heroin overdose at age 28.

April 23, 1991 Johnny Thunders of The Heartbreakers and New York Dolls dies from a drug overdose at age 38.

January 8, 1991 Jeremy Delle, a 15-year-old student at Richardson High School in Texas, shoots himself in his English class. When Eddie Vedder reads about it, he writes the song "Jeremy" about Delle and other young people who have committed suicide in schools.

December 14, 1989 It's a Beautiful Day vocalist Pattie Santos dies in a car accident in California at age 40.

September 8, 1989 Rapper Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five dies at age 28 from a crack cocaine addiction.

June 25, 1988 Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak dies of a drug overdose at age 26.

November 23, 1979 Having retreated from the public eye after the commercial failures of her first two albums, folk singer Judee Sill dies of a drug overdose at age 35.

February 6, 1976 Just hours after finishing the soundtrack for It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, longtime Peanuts composer Vince Guaraldi dies suddenly of a heart attack (or a possible aortic aneurysm) at age 47. At the jazz pianist's funeral, Charlie Brown music is played over the church's sound system.

December 8, 1975 Gary Thain, bassist for Uriah Heep, dies of respiratory failure after a heroin overdose in Norwood Green, London, at age 27.