Joey Ramone

popular name: Janis Joplin

date_of_death: October 4, 1970

age: 27

cause_of_death: Drug overdose - heroin

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: A permanent member of the "27 Club" (rock stars who died at age 27) Janis Joplin was premier white female blues vocalist of the 1960s, who performed with a fierce and uninhibited musical style before dying of a drug overdose in a Hollywood hotel. And despite her limited artistic output, she will forever be known as rock 'n' roll's first female superstar.

popular name: Jerome Kern

date_of_death: November 11, 1945

age: 60

cause_of_death: Cerebral hemorrhage

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: If he had only written the score for Showboat, Jerome Kern's position as a musical genius would be secure. Instead he also wrote Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Way You Look Tonight and countless other songs for Broadway and the movies. Later in life he worked in Hollywood with Dorothy Fields and Johnny Mercer, creating Oscar-winning works with the films Swingtime and Lady Be Good. While in Hollywood Kern wrote hit songs for Dinah Shore, Glenn Miller, Peggy Lee and Bing Crosby. It all came to a sudden end when while walking to rehearsals for a revival of Showboat he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while walking at the corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street. He never regained consciousness and his long-time friend Oscar Hammerstein II remained at his side until his death six days later, all the while humming one of Kern’s favorite songs they had written together, “I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star”.

popular name: Dalida

date_of_death: May 3, 1987

age: 54

cause_of_death: Suicide - drug overdose (barbiturates)

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Dalida (aka Yolande Christina Gigliotti) was born in Shoudra, a district of Cairo the child of Italian immigrants from Calabria. Her father played the violin at Cairo Opera House. In 1950 she won the beauty contest Miss Ondina, but her career really started when in 1955 21-year-old Yolande was selected as Miss Egypt. Dalida sang in 11 languages and sold nearly 2 million records internationally. Her best known songs are "Bambino", Les enfants du Pirée" "Le temps des fleurs", "Darla dirladada", "J'attendrai", and "Paroles, paroles" featuring spoken word by Alain Delon. After a successful career marred by personal tragedies, by 1987 Dalida was entering into severe depression while trying to overcome it. Although no new songs had been recorded, she toured internationally from Los Angeles to the Middle East. Being part of the music spotlight in 1978, many of her songs appeared daily on TV, as well as many notable TV appearances on talk shows from 1986 to 1987. Her last live TV appearance was hosting the Nuit des César on March 7, 1987. Her last live performance took place in Antalya, Turkey from April 27-29, 1987, just before her suicide. Sadly those performances were not recorded by the national television of Turkey which was the only TV channel in the country.