Pick a Day

Music History Events: Suicides

July 20, 2017 Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, 41, is found dead, a suicide by hanging. Bennington was close friends with Chris Cornell, who died in similar fashion two months earlier.

May 17, 2017 After performing with Soundgarden in Detroit, Chris Cornell is found dead from an apparent suicide at the age of 52.More

November 22, 1997 Michael Hutchence of INXS dies in a Sydney hotel room in what the coroner rules a suicide. The famous frontman was just 37.More

April 5, 1994 Kurt Cobain of Nirvana kills himself with a shotgun at age 27. His body isn't discovered until three days later when an electrician enters to install an alarm.

December 5, 1993 Onetime Gin Blossoms guitarist Doug Hopkins commits suicide at age 32. Hopkins was fired from the group before the release of their debut album, New Miserable Experience, but the biggest hits from that album, "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You," were songs he wrote.

November 19, 1983 Tom Evans of Badfinger commits suicide. Eight years earlier, his bandmate Pete Ham died in similar fashion. The acclaimed band had extraordinary bad business dealings with their record labels, Apple and Warner Bros., which were a contributing factor in their deaths.

May 18, 1980 Battling epilepsy and depression, Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis hangs himself at his home in England.More

April 9, 1976 Folk singer-songwriter Phil Ochs commits suicide at age 35 in Far Rockaway, New York City, after a long battle with bipolar disorder and alcoholism.

April 24, 1975 Pete Ham of Badfinger hangs himself in his London home. 27-year-old Ham, who was the group's lead singer and primary songwriter, was despondent over the business dealings that saw the band's album Wish You Were Here pulled from stores and his income cut off. He leaves behind a pregnant girlfriend who gives birth to a daughter the following month.

October 18, 1974 Al Green's "Grits Incident": When a stewardess friend of Green's shows up to meet the singer, he ends up at his Memphis home with her and his companion, Mary Woodson, who is dangerously obsessed with the singer. When Green goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth, Woodson bursts in and pours a pot of boiling grits on him, burning him badly before going in the next room and killing herself with his gun. Green takes these disturbing events as a sign from God and focuses his career on gospel music and preaching.More

November 1, 2008 Def Jam executive Shakir Stewart dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 34.

March 9, 2007 Boston lead singer Brad Delp commits suicide at age 55.

January 23, 2007 David "Disco D" Shayman, a hip-hop record producer and composer who rose to prominence with 50 Cent's "Ski Mask Way," commits suicide at age 26.

June 2, 2006 Vince Welnick (keyboardist for The Tubes, Grateful Dead) commits suicide at age 55 after a long battle with depression.

March 26, 2005 Paul Hester (drummer for Crowded House) commits suicide at age 46.

May 31, 2004 Rock guitarist Robert Quine, known for collaborations with Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Tom Waits, commits suicide by heroin overdose at age 61.

October 21, 2003 Elliott Smith, known for his song "Miss Misery" (featured in Good Will Hunting, where it earned an Oscar nomination) dies of self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest at age 34 in Los Angeles, California. Smith battled depression and addiction most of his life.

November 13, 2002 Michael Stewart (guitarist for We Five) commits suicide at age 57, though it was first reported that he died of a long illness.

October 26, 1999 German singer Rex Gildo dies at age 63, three days after jumping from the window of his apartment.

June 17, 1999 Suffering from depression, Screaming Lord Sutch commits suicide at age 58. The singer, who also founded the UK political party Official Monster Raving Loony Party, worked with several artists, including Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck.

May 29, 1999 Photographers taking shots of old cars wrecked at the bottom of Malibu's Decker Canyon discover the body of Iron Butterfly bassist Philip Kramer, who had gone missing on February 12, 1995. His death is ruled a suicide.

May 2, 1998 Heavy metal guitarist Hideto "Hide" Matsumoto (of X-Japan) commits suicide at age 33 by hanging himself.

April 6, 1998 Wendy O. Williams (lead singer of Plasmatics) dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 48 in Storrs, Connecticut.

April 18, 1997 Rock guitarist Jay Hening (of Demolition 23) dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

January 22, 1997 Scottish singer Billy MacKenzie (of The Associates) commits suicide at age 39 by overdosing on prescription drugs.

December 10, 1996 Country singer Faron Young dies a day after shooting himself, possibly due to his failing health, at age 64.

June 14, 1996 Mathew Fletcher, drummer for Heavenly, commits suicide at age 26 just before the release of the band's fourth and final album, Operation Heavenly.

March 8, 1995 Ingo Schwichtenberg (drummer for Helloween), suffering from drug addiction and schizophrenia, commits suicide by jumping in front of a train.

November 23, 1994 Tommy Boyce (of the '60s songwriting duo Boyce and Hart) commits suicide at age 55.

October 4, 1994 Guitarist Danny Gatton commits suicide in Newburg, Maryland, at age 49.