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Life expectancy and cause of death in popular musicians

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Dianna Theadora Kenny
Dianna Theadora Kenny
Anthony Asher at UNSW Sydney
Anthony Asher
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Does a combination of lifestyle pressures and personality, as reflected in genre, lead to the early death of popular musicians? We explored overall mortality, cause of death, and changes in patterns of death over time and by music genre membership in popular musicians who died between 1950 and 2014. The death records of 13,195 popular musicians were coded for age and year of death, cause of death, gender, and music genre. Musician death statistics were compared with age-matched deaths in the US population using actuarial methods. Although the common perception is of a glamorous, freewheeling lifestyle for this occupational group, the figures tell a very different story. Results showed that popular musicians have shortened life expectancy compared with comparable general populations. Results showed excess mortality from violent deaths (suicide, homicide, accidental death, including vehicular deaths and drug overdoses) and liver disease for each age group studied compared with population mortality patterns. These excess deaths were highest for the under-25-year age group and reduced chronologically thereafter. Overall mortality rates were twice as high compared with the population when averaged over the whole age range. Mortality impacts differed by music genre. In particular, excess suicides and liver-related disease were observed in country, metal, and rock musicians; excess homicides were observed in 6 of the 14 genres, in particular hip hop and rap musicians. For accidental death, actual deaths significantly exceeded expected deaths for country, folk, jazz, metal, pop, punk, and rock. Med Probl Perform Art 2016; 31(1):37–44.
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A ge at D eat h by Year
Average
Year of Death < 30 31 to 50 51 to 70 > 70 Age
1955–59 16 30 49 9 50
1960–64 29 38 62 7 47
1965–69 42 62 103 22 50
1970–74 60 84 92 34 49
1975–79 38 124 135 41 51
1980–84 37 169 141 85 53
1985–89 46 158 161 118 55
1990–94 98 207 153 44 47
1995–99 140 272 267 115 50
2000–04 248 545 859 559 56
2005–09 430 784 1250 633 54
2010–15 325 704 1091 821 58
Causes of D eath by Genre for Musicians W ho Died at < 65 yrs*
Hip
Blues W orld Country Folk Gospel Hop Jazz Met al Po p Punk R&B Rap Ro ck Exper. Tot al
A ct u al Deat h s
Violent 65 162 109 59 40 135 185 445 114 124 101 97 760 37 2,433
Nat ural 266 310 176 107 90 55 457 331 189 122 268 33 1158 69 3,631
Liver 21151974233341013101995273
Ex p e ct ed D ea t h s U sing
Po p ul at i o n Mo r tal it y
Violent 61 126 59 39 36 110 137 369 89 99 88 79 590 32 1,915
Nat ural 278 345 233 128 94 79 514 421 213 151 278 51 1360 75 4,219
Liver 1317116532420118132674204
Tot al 352 487 304 173 134 192 675 810 313 259 379 131 2017 111 6,337
Excess D eat hs Co m par ed
With Population
No. 4 49 62 25 6 59 61 140 35 40 17 46 240 7 790
As % o f violent deat hs 7% 30% 57% 43% 15% 43% 33% 31% 31% 32% 17% 47% 32% 18% 27%
*St atistical significance at 2.5% is shown in bold. Exper. = experimental.
Mal e Deat h s at A ge < 65 yr s by Ge nr e and Cau se o f D eat h*
Hip
Blues W o rld Count ry Fol k Go sp el Ho p Jazz M etal Pop Punk R&B Rap Ro ck Ex per.
Actual
Accidental death (incl overdoses) 38 82 77 33 28 32 134 259 80 76 66 20 521 18
Suicide 11 21 26 15 1 16 26 13 7 20 25 8 8 15 3 10
Liver-related death 211519 7 4 23334101310 1 99 5
Homicide 1659 6111187254914232769 86 9
HIV/AIDS - 5- 1154513433223
Heart-related death 102 99 62 24 29 17 131 97 56 36 95 7 328 24
Respiratory diseases 30 23 9 5 - 5 28 12 12 5 11 3 56 6
Diabetes 11 11 5 - 5 2 17 11 2 - 7 - 21 1
Cancer 72 83 69 48 26 16 180 138 66 47 84 10 458 17
All other illnesses 36 64 23 28 21 8 69 51 28 21 37 9 222 15
Cerebrovascular 15258182281712931 1513
Tot al 352 487 304 173 134 192 675 810 313 259 379 131 2,017 111
Ex p e ct e d
Accidental deat h (incl overdo ses) 36 67 27 20 20 43 73 167 47 47 51 29 296 18
Suicide 16 29 12 9 9 17 32 68 20 19 22 11 125 7
Liver-relat ed death 12 15 9 5 5 2 21 16 9 7 13 1 57 4
Homicide 7 17 5 5 5 16 16 55 12 14 12 11 82 5
HIV/A IDS 8 13 6 4 4 5 14 27 9 8 10 3 52 3
Heart-related death 82 92 54 32 27 12 139 85 55 34 81 7 338 20
Respirator y diseases 8 9 5 3 2 1 14 5 5 2 8 0 30 2
Diabetes 11 12 7 4 3 2 18 12 7 4 10 1 45 3
Cancer 86 93 55 33 26 11 145 76 54 31 83 7 339 20
All other illnesses 62 80 42 27 24 23 110 116 51 39 67 14 313 19
Cerebro vascular 10 11 7 4 3 2 17 11 7 4 10 1 42 2
*St atistical significance at 1% is shown in bold. Exper. = experimental.
Excess Death Rates from Unnatural Causes
Age Group No. % of Total
< 25 169 47%
25–34 337 38%
35–44 219 21%
45–54 179 14%
55–64 160 10%
> 64 143 5%
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Dying to be famous: Retrospective cohort study of rock and pop star mortality and its association with adverse childhood experiences
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  • SUICIDE LIFE-THREAT
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The enduring effects of abuse and related adverse experiences in childhood. A convergence of evidence from neurobiology and epidemiology . Anda R.F., Felitti V.J., Bremner J.D., Walker J.D., Whitfield C., Perry B.D., Dube S.R. & Giles W.H. ( 2005 ) European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience , ePub, posted online 29 November 2005 . Background Childhood maltreatment has been linked to a variety of changes in brain structure and function and stress–responsive neurobiological systems. Epidemiological studies have documented the impact of childhood maltreatment on health and emotional well-being. Methods After a brief review of the neurobiology of childhood trauma, we use the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study as an epidemiological ‘case example’ of the convergence between epidemiological and neurobiological evidence of the effects of childhood trauma. The ACE Study included 17 337 adult HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) members and assessed eight adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) including abuse, witnessing domestic violence, and serious household dysfunction. We used the number of ACEs (ACE score) as a measure of cumulative childhood stress and hypothesized a ‘dose–response’ relationship of the ACE score to 18 selected outcomes and to the total number of these outcomes (comorbidity). Results Based upon logistic regression analysis, the risk of every outcome in the affective, somatic, substance abuse, memory, sexual, and aggression-related domains increased in a graded fashion as the ACE score increased (P < 0.001). The mean number of comorbid outcomes tripled across the range of the ACE score. Conclusions The graded relationship of the ACE score to 18 different outcomes in multiple domains theoretically parallels the cumulative exposure of the developing brain to the stress response with resulting impairment in multiple brain structures and functions.
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  • May 2014
  • AGGRESS VIOLENT BEH
Literature on musical preferences and their influence on behavior and ideation has primarily focused on specific musical preferences and linked certain music genres with psychological vulnerability and social deviance. The aim of this review was to: (a) gather information about musical preferences and their influence on behavior and thoughts in order to determine both positive and negative influences of each music genre on listeners; (b) present the main literature about genres that have negative influence on listeners; and (c) provide theoretical explanations for the psychological and sociological functions of those genres. A systematic review of the literature identified the following genres as having negative influence on listeners: alternative rock, hard rock, heavy metal, hip-hop/rap, punk rock, rock and trance/house/electronic/techno. Research showed that those genres were associated with substance and alcohol abuse, opposing authority and rebelliousness, impulsive and antisocial traits, violent behavior, and delinquency. Of the few studies that investigated positive aspects of the above genres, some focused on the role of those genres in regulating negative feelings and constructing personal and social identity, while other studies stressed the importance of those genres in constructing group and cultural identity and educating listeners.
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Heavy Metal, Religiosity, and Suicide Acceptability
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  • Dec 1998
  • SUICIDE LIFE-THREAT
There has been little work at the national level on the subject of musical subcultures and suicide acceptability. The present work explores the link between “heavy metal” rock fanship and suicide acceptability. Metal fanship is thought to elevate suicide acceptability through such means as exposure to a culture of personal and societal chaos marked by hopelessness, and through its associations with demographic risk factors such as gender, socioeconomic status, and education. Data are taken from the General Social Survey. A link between heavy metal fanship and suicide acceptability is found. However, this relationship becomes nonsignificant once level of religiosity is controlled. Metal fans are low in religiosity, which contributes, in turn, to greater suicide acceptability.
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