British and U.S. rock stars are two to three times more likely to die young, mainly because of drug and alcohol abuse, researchers say.
An analysis of mortality rates among 1,064 musicians lends support to the long-held impression that rock stars have below- average life expectancies, especially within the first five years of becoming famous, the scientists said. Drug and alcohol problems accounted for more than one in four of the early deaths, according to the study published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The research represents the first statistical verification of the commonly held view that rock stars have "live fast, die young" lifestyles, the Liverpool and Manchester, England-based researchers said. The findings also underscore the negative effect stars can have as role models, they said.
"The pop industry has a huge influence," John Ashton, a co-author of the report and director of public health for Cumbria, England, said in an interview. Rock stars risk becoming "marketers for a drug lifestyle" he said.
One in 10 children in the U.K. between the ages 7 and 16 aspire to become famous musicians, the researchers said, and more than 100,000 people applied to participate in the British reality music television show the X-Factor in 2006.
"Fame and money protects stars from the social consequences, but it doesn't protect people from the long-term health consequences," Mark Bellis, a professor at Liverpool John Moores University's Centre for Public health and co-author, said in an interview.
Top Albums The musicians used for the survey were drawn from a list of "All-Time Top 1000 Albums" compiled in 2000. The list includes artists from a variety of music genres, including rhythm & blues, punk and rap. For each star, researchers calculated survival rates since becoming famous and compared them with expected mortality of an average person of the same sex, nationality, ethnicity and age.
A total of 100 stars featured on the list have died between 1956 and 2005, including Elvis Presley, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix. The average age of death of European stars was 35, seven years younger than the U.S. average.
There are some signs that musicians are becoming healthier. "If you look at the proportion who died within five years of fame, it was higher pre-1980, so there is some positive signs that the mortality may be dropping off slightly," said Bellis, who specializes in the effects of alcohol, drugs and violence on public health.
The team may conduct similar research on television and movie celebrities, Bellis said.