Q Why haven't Nirvana released an album since In Utero

asks emberta.

A.� Click here for a full answer�- the simple reason is the death of guitarist and songwriter Kurt Cobain.

�< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Q.� So rock and pop has its fair share of untimely deaths then

A.� It does, and because rock and pop makes stars of some of its artists, their deaths are more often newsworthy.

�

Q.� Why should rock and pop stars die young more often than other sections of the community

A.� They don't necessarily, but certain factors combine to increase the chances of musicians dying before their allotted time.

�

Q.� What are those factors

A.� The first and most obvious factor is fame. Being famous causes a number of seriously life-changing events, which can have disastrous effects on the minds of musicians and artists who are often poorly well-equipped to deal with the physical and emotional roller coaster that constitutes life in the proverbial fast lane.

�

Q.� For example
A.� Well, take something as simple as travel. Being a rock and pop star means you go on tour, so the 'miles travelled' quotient is way above the average couple of trips a year if we are lucky that the rest of us get. It's no surprise that Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Otis Redding, Jim Croce, and Paul Jeffries, bass player with Cockney Rebel, were all killed in plane crashes, the last perished in the Lockerbie tragedy. Most famous of course were Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper, who all died in the same light aircraft crash. Travelling by road can be just as hazardous�- Marc Bolan, Eddie Cochran, Billy Stewart and Duane Allman all perished when various forms of motor transport proved less than reliable.

�

Q. That's just fate, or bad luck, what about musicians who take their own lives

A.� A tragically large list of names includes pop stars that couldn't handle the pressures of fame, and succumbed to the final curtain far too early. The list includes the aforementioned Kurt Cobain who shot himself in the head, Tom Evans and Pete Ham who wrote the Nilsson / Maria Carey hit Without You both hanged themselves, Graham Bond, an influential British blues musician threw himself under a tube train, and Michael Hutchence from INXS, about who's death questions are still being asked, hanged himself from a hotel room door coat hook.

�

Q.� So not every pop star's death can be put down to too much rock and roll then

A.� Not really, although free access to various chemical stimulants, combined with a bank balance large enough to buy more than enough, and an ever willing list of suppliers willing to extend credit has seen a reasonable number of musicians not making it to their pipes and slippers. Some deaths are suspicious to say the least. Jimi Hendrix immediately springs to mind, but he's not the only one. Blues legend Roy Buchanan was found hanging by his own shirt in a police cell after being arrested for being drunk and disorderly, a tragedy his family have refused to accept as deliberate. Fellow blues pioneer Robert Johnson may, or may not have died from drinking whiskey poisoned by a jealous girlfriend. Denis Wilson, drummer with The Beach Boys died in a drowning incident which may, or may not have been deliberate, and the ultimate unexplained death has to be Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, reports of suicide, murder and accident are all equally inconclusive.

�

Q. So what might have happened if some deceased rock and pop stars had lived

A.� That is the big question. Who knows if John Lennon would have returned to live performance, although he always vetoed a Beatles reunion, had his life not been cut short by an assassin's bullet The direction of pop music might have been completely different had Buddy Holly lived to fulfil the massive talent he displayed when his life was cut short.

�

Q.� Is being a musician�a dangerous occupation

A. Not at all. Because pop stars' deaths are newsworthy, it can look as though they all succumb to drink or drugs or suicide, but if you take an objective look at the statistics, far more of them die of natural causes or simple accidents, the kind of unplanned event that can happen to anyone else.

�

Have you got a question about music you'd like to find an answer to Click here.

�

By Andy Hughes

�