They were dying to be right
★ GUITAR god Jimi Hendrix would have turned 80 this week. Instead, he became a member of the 27 Club – the group of musicians and other celebs who died at that age.
Now a new book called Jimi, written by his sister Janie and published on Thursday, is celebrating the milestone.
★ It features photos, memorabilia and lyrics from his songs. Spookily,
Hendrix appeared to have foreseen his own death.
Before he hit the big time he recorded The Ballad of Jimi, about a man of that name who would be dead in five years.
★ Five years later in 1970, he died from asphyxiation in a hotel room.
He’s not the only musician who had an eerie premonition of their own death, as NADINE LINGE reveals...
JOHN LENNON: The Beatle was shot and killed by twisted fan Mark David Chapman in 1980. On the 1969 track Come Together Lennon can be heard whispering: “Shoot me.” In a 1965 interview, he said: “We’ll either go in a plane crash or we’ll be popped off by some loony.”
AMY WINEHOUSE: The singer was just 27 when she died in 2011 from alcohol poisoning. Her pal Alex Foden said: “Amy always told me she thought she would die young and that she knew she’d become a part of the 27 Club.”
TUPAC SHAKUR: A few months before he was killed in a 1996 drive-by shooting, the musician featured on a song where he rapped about being shot and murdered. The lyrics were so accurate, they sparked rumours his death was a conspiracy.
KURT COBAIN: As a student, Cobain told a pal he thought he would become a famous musician before committing suicide. After his band Nirvana’s rise to fame, he took his own life in 1994. MARC BOLAN: The T. Rex star died in 1977 aged 29 when the Mini being driven by his girlfriend Gloria Jones crashed into a tree. One of his songs referenced a fox and tree in the same line – Jones’ registration was FOX 661L.
JIM MORRISON: In 1970, The Doors singer was out with friends mourning the death of pal Janis Joplin at 27. Hendrix had recently died at the same age. Morrison said: “You’re drinking with number three.” The following year, Morrison died, also aged 27, probably of a heroin overdose.
BOB MARLEY: When 24, Marley told friends: “I know I’m going to die at 36.” Years later he developed skin cancer and died in 1981 after it spread to his lungs and brain. He had just turned 36.
LISA “LEFT EYE” LOPES: The TLC singer was a passenger in a 2002 car accident that left a young boy dead. Lopes told friends she had a spirit haunting her who had taken the boy by mistake. She died in a car smash in Honduras two weeks later. THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.: Biggie’s fans have speculated the rapper’s death in a 1997 drive-by shooting was foreshadowed in his lyrics, most notably when he sang: “I swear to God I feel like death is f***ing calling me” on the
track Suicidal Thoughts.