Fast living: Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, struggled with drug addiction and ended his own life, aged 27, in 1994
Credit: DGC Records
SYDNEY: Rock and pop stars are more than twice as likely to suffer from an early death as the population at large, according to new epidemiological research.
The phenomenon of 'live fast and die young' among musicians is well known. Take Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Hendrix, Michael Hutchence, Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley as examples; all died before they reached 42.
The new study is based on 1,064 North American and European musicians who shot to fame between 1956 and 1999. Epidemiologists Mark Bellis and John Ashton, from Liverpool John Moores University in England, examined how long stars survived once they'd achieved chart success and compared this with longevity of the general population, matched for age, sex, ethnicity and nationality.
Drug and alcohol abuse
Of the 100 of those performers who died between 1956 and 2005, the average age of death was 42 years for North American stars and 35 for European. And most died within a few years of becoming famous.
As they detail in the October issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the experts found that the causes of death varied from accidental to suicide and murder. However, the biggest killer was long-term drug or alcohol abuse – which accounted for more than one in four of the deaths.
"Public health consideration needs to be given to preventing music icons promoting health-damaging behaviour amongst their emulators and fans," write the authors "the music business would do well to take the health risks of substance abuse and risk taking behaviours more seriously, not only because of the long term effects on the stars themselves, but also because of the influence these stars exert on others".
One in 10 children in the U.K. alone aspires to becoming a pop star and this has prompted researchers to highlight the link between early death and substance abuse in the music industry as a serious public health issue. They point to the "droves of eager hopefuls" applying to take part in talent scouting television series such as X Factor, American Idol and Australian Idol.
Hero worship
Kate Conigrave, an expert in addiction medicine from the University of Sydney in Australia said that she is concerned because young people tend to emulate the behaviours of their heroes.
"There are many themes in the lyrics of pop songs that talk about and encourage drug and alcohol use," said Conigrave. "Also we see sports stars, such as footballers and motor racing drivers, celebrating wins with alcohol which reinforces in young peoples' minds that you unwind and celebrate with alcohol".
The authors add that stars could do more to actively promote positive health messages, but these need to be backed up by example. "Where pop star behaviour remains typified by risk taking and substance use, it is unlikely that young people will see any positive health messages they champion as credible," they said.
Intriguingly, the researchers found that in Europe at least, if the music stars survived 25 years of fame then their life expectancy returned to normal levels.
