Roy Buchanan: Age 47
(b.23 September 1939, Ozark, Alabama, USA, d. August 1988).
The son of a preacher, Buchanan discovered gospel music through the influence of
travelling revivalists. LOADING ZONE was an accomplished album and contained
two of his finest (and longest) outings; the pulsating Green Onions featured shared solos
with the song's co-composer Steve Cropper and the extraordinary Ramon's Blues(again
with Cropper). His trademark was a battered Fender Telecaster guitar.  Buchanan was
never comfortable with the role of virtuoso. A shy, reticent individual, he made several
unsuccessful suicide attempts before hanging himself in a police cell in 1988, following his
arrest on a drunk-driving charge.

Kurt Cobain: Age 27
Nirvana
(b. Kurt Donald Cobain, 20 February 1967, Hoquiam, Seattle, d. 5 April 1994, Seattle).
His descent into self-destruction accelerated in 1994 as he went into a coma during dates
in Italy (it was later confirmed that this had all the markings of a failed suicide attempt), before
returning to Seattle to shoot himself on April 5, 1994.

Ian Curtis: Age 33
Joy Division
(b.15 July 1956, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, d. 18 May 1980).
On 18 May 1980, the eve of Joy Division's proposed visit to America, Ian Curtis
was found hanged. The verdict was suicide. A note was allegedly found bearing the
words: ‘At this moment I wish I were dead. I just can't cope anymore’.

Nick Drake: Age 26
(b. 19 June 1948, Burma, d. 25 November 1974).
Born into an upper middle-class background, Drake was raised in Tanworth-in-Arden,
near Birmingham. FIVE LEAVES LEFT was a mature, melodic collection which
invoked the mood of Van Morrison's ASTRAL WEEKS or Tim Buckley's HAPPY
SAD.  By contrast BRYTER LAYTER was altogether more worldly, and featured
support from emphatic, rather than intuitive, musicians.  Indisputably Drake's most
commercial album, the singer was reportedly stunned when it failed to reap due reward.
On 25 November 1974, Nick Drake was found dead in his bedroom. Although the
coroner's verdict was suicide, relatives and acquaintances feel that his overdose
of a prescribed drugwas accidental. Interest in this ill-fated performer has increased
over the years and his catalogue contains some of the era's most accomplished music.
Drake is now seen as a hugely influential artist.

Tom Evans: Age 36
BadFinger
Joey Molland and Tom Evans reformed the group, changing the subsidiary members frequently
over the next few years. Commercial success proved elusive and in November 1983, history
repeated itself in the most bizarre scenario possible when Tom Evans committed suicide [by hanging]
at his Surrey home. Like Pete Ham he had been suffering from depression and financial worries.
The Badfinger story is uniquely tragic and among its greater ironies is the now morbid chorus of the
song with which Pete Ham and Tom Evans are best associated: ‘I can't live, I can't live anymore’
(Without You).

Pete Ham: Age 27
Badfinger
(b. 27 April 1947, d. 23 April 1975; vocals).
Worse was to follow the next year when Pete Ham took his own life [by hanging],
after a long period of personal and professional worries.

Michael Hutchence: Age 37
INXS
(b.  22 January 1960, Australia, d. November 20?, 1997, Sydney, Australia).
Hutchence hanged himself in Ritz-Carlton Hotel room with his leather belt.  The body was
discovered around noon by a hotel employee.  INXS had been rehearsing for their 20th anniversary
tour.  All those close to the singer report that he had been in high spirits in the days prior to his suicide,
although he had been linked with a notorious reputation of cocaine and opium use.  He was also planning
to marry his girlfriend, Paula Yates, the mother of his 18 month old daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.

Phil Ochs: Age 35
(b. 19 December 1940, El Paso, Texas, d. 7 April 1976).
A superior singer/songwriter, particularly adept at the topical song, He was attacked during a tour
of Africa and an attempted strangulation permanently impaired his singing voice. Beset by a
chronic songwriting block, Phil sought solace in alcohol and although a rally/concert in aid of
Chile, AN EVENING WITH SALVADOR ALLENDE, succeeded through his considerable
entreaties, he later succumbed to schizophrenia. Phil Ochs’ was found hanged at his sister's
home on 7 April 1976.

Richard Manuel: Age 42
The Band
(b. 3 April 1943, Stratford, Canada, d. 7 March 1986; piano/drums/vocals).
A  tour ended in tragedy when, on 7 March 1986, Richard Manuel hanged himself in a
motel room. His death inspired Fallen Angel on Robertson's outstanding ‘comeback’ album,
but despite the presence of Hudson and Danko elsewhere on the record, the guitarist refused
to join his colleagues when they regrouped again in 1991. Their first studio album in 17 years
was released in 1993.

Danny Rapp: Age 41
Danny & The Juniors
(b. 10 May 1941, d. 4 April 1983).
Formed in 1955 as the Juvenairs, their song Do The Bop came to the attention of Dick Clark
who suggested it be changed to At The Hop.  In 1976 a re-issue of their classic At The Hop
returned them to the UK Top 40. After a few quiet years, leader Rapp was found dead in Arizona
in 1983—he had apparently committed suicide by gunshot.

Del Shannon: Age 55
(b.Charles Westover, 30 December 1934, Coopersville, Michigan, USA, d. 8 February 1990).
From the plethora of clean, American, post doo-wop male vocalists to find enormous success in the
early '60s, only a small handful retained musical credibility. Shannon was undoubtedly from this pedigree...
Ultimately however, he was branded to rock ‘n’ roll revival tours which finally took their toll on 8 February
1990, when a severely depressed Shannon pointed a .22 calibre rifle to his head and pulled the trigger,
ending the misery echoed in his catalogue of hits.

Mel Street: Age 45
(b. King Malachi Street, 21 October 1933, near Grundy, West Virginia, d. 12 October 1978).
Street began performing on local radio in the '50s and then he moved to Niagara Falls and New York,
making his living on building sites. He later wrote and recorded the song, The High Line Man, about
working on radio station masts. He returned to West Virginia,  played clubs and honky tonks, and he
recorded his song, Borrowed Angel, for a small label in 1970. Two years later it was reissued and
became a US country hit. Street became an alcoholic and, beset by personal problems, he shot
himself on his 45th birthday in Hendersonville, Tennessee. His US single at the time was
Just Hangin' On. George Jones sang Amazing Grace at his funeral.

Paul Williams: Age 34
The Temptations
(b. 1939, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, d. 17 August 1973).
Paul Williams left the group in 1971, to be replaced by another former Distant member,
Richard Street; Paul Williams shot himself in 1973, after years of depression and drug abuse.

Wendy O. Williams: Age 48
Plasmatics
(b.  1949, d. April 7, 1998, CT, USA) The Plasmatics
Formed in 1979 in New York City, USA, the Plasmatics were a theatrical hardcore band which
incorporated such violent acts as blowing up Cadillacs and chainsawing guitars in half into its
performances. Assembled by and masterminded by former pornography entrepreneur Rod
Swenson, the original personnel of the group included vocalist Wendy O. Williams, a former star
of sex shows, who wore see-through lingerie, but for the most part, appeared topless with
strategically-placed masking tape. After releasing two EPs on the independent Vice Squad
label in 1979, the Plasmatics signed with Stiff Records in the USA and the UK, releasing NEW
HOPE FOR THE WRETCHED in 1980.  Williams  recorded solo albums following the Plasmatics’
mid-80s break-up. Wendy shot herself in the woods by her home.

Alan Wilson:
Canned Heat
(b. 4 July 1943, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; vocals/harmonica/guitar).
The band members were rocked by the suicide of Alan Wilson, whose body was found in Hite's backyard on 3 September 1970.