1. Music to die for: Pop musicians are at increased risk of early mortality and morbidity
Dianna T Kenny
Professor of Psychology, Professor of Music
The University of Sydney, Australia

2. “ “Music gives a Soul to the universe, wings to the Mind, flight to the Imagination, and Life to everything." Plato
But what does it give to those who make music?

3. Sample characteristics (n=13,212, 90% male)

4. Decade of death by sex *68% sample died b/w 2000 - 2014
Table 2: Decade of death by sex
Decade of death
Male
%Male
Female
%Female
Total
% Decade
1950
186
1.6% 21
1.7%
207
1960
376
3.3% 28
2.2%
404
3.2%
1970
612
5.3% 73
5.9%
685
5.4%
1980
973
8.4%
106
8.5%
1079
1990
1506
13.1%
164
13.2%
1670
2000
4555
39.5%
457
36.6%
5012
39.3%
2010-Dec 2014
3314
28.8%
398
31.9%
3712
29.1%
11,522
100%
1,247
12,769
Decade of death by sex
*68% sample died b/w
*for decades 1990, 2000 and 2010 male musicians died at significantly younger ages than female musicians
*These sex differences in musician longevity are reflected in male and female life expectancies for the US population for the decades 1990, and 2010 (next slide)

6. Year of death
Average Age
of death
Life Exp
US Males 51 46 49 53 55 47 50 56 54 58

7. Cause of death for male and female popular musicians aged 14-30 years at age of death

9. Distribution of deaths by genre
Blu Wo
Cou
Fol
Gos
Hip
Jaz
Met
Pop
Pun
R&B
Rap
Rock
Exp
Total
ACTUAL DEATHS
Violent 61
165
115 58 41
152
181
443
127
100
751 24
2,437
Natural
259
309
104 92 89
456
326
188
119
264 34
1,120 36
3,587
Liver 17 15 19 7 5 2 33 13 12 1
278
EXCESS DEATHS COMPARED WITH POPULATION
As % of violent deaths 4%
39%
110%
69%
20%
40%
42%
38%
41%
44%
19%
59%
55%
Violent deaths
Suicide
Deliberate overdose, hanging, shot self, carbon monoxide, jump from height
Accidental – drug overdose
Cocaine, heroin, morphine, ice, prescription
Accidental - vehicular
Car, plane, touring van, hit-and-run
Accidental - all other
Drowning, fire, fall, natural disaster, war,
Homicide
Shot, stabbed, bashed, strangled
Natural
Diabetes, cerebrovascular, kidney disease
Liver
Alcohol poisoning, cirrhosis, liver diseases

10. Life expectancy for male musicians and US males
Music genre
Av Yr birth
Av Age death
Max Av Age to 2014
LE (US Males)
Blues
1930
61.7
84.0
55.8
Jazz
1931
65.6
82.7
59.4
Country
1934
64.1
80.4
59.3
Gospel/Spiritual/Christian Rock
1935
63.3
78.9
56.6
R&B/Doo Wop/Soul
1938
58.0
76.0
62.1
Pop
1941
55.7
73.0
64.7
Folk/Ballad/Polka
1944
58.3
69.9
62.4
World music/Reggae
1948
56.8
66.0
64.4
Rock/Rockabilly
1953
48.4
60.9
Electronic/Disco/Funk
1956
49.9
66.7
Punk
1964
40.3
50.0
66.6
Metal
1972
35.5
42.5
67.4
Rap
1975
29.2
38.9
68.8
Hip Hop
1976
29.5
38.0
69.1

11. Excess violent deaths by age group
Excess deaths
Number
% of total
under 25
184
53%
25-34
329
36%
35-44
233
23%
45-54
186
14%
55-64
158
10%
Over 64
150 6%
Overall mortality
This table shows excess musician mortality from excess violent deaths and liver disease at each age group compared with population mortality. The additional deaths are statistically significant at the 1% level in each group, and even more so when combined. There can be little doubt that mortality is higher for this group of musicians.

12. Figure 4: Mortality for male pop musicians and the US male population
*Mortality rates about twice as high as for the population as a whole over the whole age range. *Using the logarithmic scale for the y axis means that parallel lines would imply that musician mortality is a fixed ratio of the population. *The convergence at higher ages suggests that the percentage difference reduced over time, as would be expected.

13. 27 Club??

14. 27 Club – pop music mythology??
Long list
Short list
c. 140 musicians died at 27 b/w 1950 and 2014, incl. Rudy Lewis Alan Wilson Helmut Köllen Kristen Pfaff Dave Alexander
two essential criteria for membership – pop star status and tragic death at 27 (Robert Johnson) Brian Jones Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin Jim Morrison Kurt Cobain Amy Winehouse

16. END