List of artists who died of drug-related causes

Many people believe that artists stand a higher chance of suffering and dying from drug overdoses and related health issues than the rest of the population. Evidence supporting this has been controversial, and many believe that there is little or no connection. This is a list of artists who died from drug overdoses, drug abuse–related illnesses, and accidents caused largely by intoxication. (Deaths caused by alcohol and caffeine are included.)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

• Nick Adams - actor
• Dave Alexander - of The Stooges
• Rick Allen - of Asylum
• G.G. Allin - punk musician, heroin
• West Arkeen - of Outpatience, and songwriter, heroin
• Howard Arkley - painter
• Arlus - of the Blunt Stitches

B

• Deford Bailey - country musician
• Chet Baker - jazz trumpeter and singer
• Florence Ballard - of The Supremes, cardiac arrest strongly exacerbated by long-term drug abuse
• Honoré de Balzac - caffeine poisoning from drinking over forty cups of coffee a day
• Lester Bangs - musician, writer, overdose of painkillers, possibly accidental
• Jean-Michel Basquiat - painter
• Ludwig van Beethoven - classical musician, note: alcohol abuse led to the serious health problems that caused his death
• Bix Beiderbecke - jazz musician
• John Belushi - of the Blues Brothers,actor, and comedian - heroin and cocaine
• Bunny Berigan
• Sonny Berman - jazz musician
• Wes Berggren - of Tripping Daisy
• Dave Bidwell - of the Pink Fairies, Chicken Shack, Savoy Brown
• Matty Blag - of Blaggers I.T.A
• Mike Bloomfield - blues guitarist, heroin
• Tommy Bolin - of Deep Purple
• John Bonham - of Led Zeppelin, inhalation of own vomit; believed to be alcohol-related
• James Booker - musician, heroin
• Erik Brodreskift - of Borknagar
• Herman Brood - musician
• Dennis Brown - musician
• Lenny Bruce - comedian, heroin, found dead with a needle in his arm
• Robert Buck - of 10,000 Maniacs
• Tim Buckley - rock and roll musician, heroin
• Lester Butler - harpist, of the Red Devils, heroin
• Paul Butterfield - American blues musician

C

• Toy Caldwell - of Marshall Tucker Band
• Alex Campbell - musician
• Skip Candelori - of Turning Point
• Herb Caro - saxophoneist, clarinetist, heroin
• Leroy Carr - blues musician
• Michael Clarke - of the Byrds
• Steve Clarke - of Def Leppard
• Will Clay - of The Toys
• Montgomery Clift - actor
• Kurt Cobain - Nirvana singer and guitarist, heroin and gunshot wounds
• Brian Cole - of the Association
• Allen Collins - of Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Cowboy - of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
• Carl Crack - of Atari Teenage Riot
• Darby Crash - punk musician, of the Germs, heroin
• Todd Crew - of the Drunk Fux and Jetboy
• Robbin Crosby - of Ratt, contracted and died of HIV as a result of long-time heroin addiction

D

• Dalida - singer, barbiturates
• Dorothy Dandridge - actress, singer
• Jesse Ed Davis - guitarist, session musician, heroin
• Jeanine Deckers - the Singing Nun
• Sheik Sayid Darwish, Egyptian composer and father of Arab popular music, cocaine
• Rick Dey - of the Vejtables, February Sunshine, the Wilde Knights and the Merry-Go-Round
• DJ Screw - musician, codeine
• Tommy Dorsey - jazz musician and bandleader, choked to death while sleeping with the aid of drugs
• John Dougherty - of Flipper
• Nick Drake - musician

E

• Jeanne Eagels - actress
• John Entwistle - of the Who
• Rick Evers - drummer and songwriter

F

• Chris Farley - comedian
• Pete Farnden - of the Pretenders
• Rainer Fassbinder - playwright, director
• Keith Ferguson - of the Fabulous Thunderbirds
• Zach Foley - of EMF and Carrie
• Tom Foote - of the Devices and the Loco Gringos

G

• Rory Gallagher - of Taste
• Jerry Garcia - of the Grateful Dead, cardiac arrest strongly exacerbated by longtime heroin abuse
• Paul Gardiner - of Gary Numan's Tubeway Army
• Judy Garland - American actress
• Duck Geottel - of Skinny Puppy, heroin
• Andy Gibb - singer, younger brother of the Bee Gees; cardiac damage strongly exacerbated by cocaine and alcohol abuse
• Candy Givens - of Zephyr
• Dwayne Goettel - heroin
• Stacy Guess - of the Squirrel Nut Zippers

H

• Paul Hammond - of Atomic Rooster
• Bobby Hatfield - of the Righteous Brothers, heart attack triggered by cocaine overdose
• Tim Hardin - heroin
• Wynonie Harris - blues singer, alcohol poisoning
• George Harrison - of the Beatles, heavy tobacco user, died of lung cancer
• Alex Harvey - of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, liver damage caused by alcohol abuse
• Eddie Hazel - guitarist, of the P-funk collective
• Helno - of Les Negresses Vertes
• Margaux Hemingway - actress
• Jimi Hendrix - rock and roll musician, respiratory arrest caused by barbiturate overdose
• Gregory Herbet - of Blood, Sweat & Tears
• Bob Hite - of Canned Heat
• Randy Jo Hobbs - musician
• El Duce Hoke - of the Mentors
• Michael Holiday - singer
• Billie Holiday - jazz singer
• Hollywood Fats - musician
• Gary Holton - of Heavy Metal Kids
• James Honeyman-Scott - of the Pretenders
• Shannon Hoon - of Blind Melon
• Tim Hovey - actor
• Baby Huey - singer
• Phyllis Hyman - singer

I

J

• Lorri Jackson - musician
• Tom Jans - musician
• Brian Jones - of the Rolling Stones, drowned, very likely due to alcohol and barbiturate intoxication
• Rob Jones - of Wonder Stuff
• Janis Joplin - rock and roll and blues musician, heroin

K

• John Kahn - of the Jerry Garcia Band
• Jeff Kaplan - of Kaleidoscope
• Wells Kelly - of Orleans
• Beverly Kenney - singer
• Kenny Kirkland - noted pianist, heroin
• Hoi Klinskih - of Sector Gaza
• Paul Kossoff - of Free
• Lance Krantz - drummer of Detox
• Eddie Kurdziel - of Redd Kross

L

• Peter Laughner - of Pere Ubu; acute pancreatitis
• Bruce Lee - actor, of The Green Hornet, possible drug use - disputed.
• Rudy Lewis - of the Drifters
• Bela Lugosi- actor
• Frankie Lymon - doo wop singer, heroin
• Phil Lynott - of Thin Lizzy

M

• Steve MacKay
• Billy MacKenzie - of the Associates
• Mike MacTavish - of the Lost Souls
• Steve Marriott - of The Small Faces and Humble Pie, drug related fire
• Big Maybelle
• Jad McAdam - of Lino
• David McComb - of Traffic
• David McCombs - of the Triffids, heroin
• Jimmy McCulloch - guitarist
• Pig Pen McKernan - of the Grateful Dead
• Robbie McIntosh - of the Average White Band, heroin
• Clyde McPhatter - singer
• Joe Meek - record producer
• Jonathan Melvoin - of the Smashing Pumpkins, heroin
• Mighty Spoiler - calypso music singer
• Miss Christine - of the GTO's
• Amadeo Modigliani - painter, alcohol poisoning
• Marilyn Monroe - actress, singer
• Ken Montgomery - of D.O.A
• Roy Montrell - session guitarist
• Keith Moon - of the Who
• Jim Morrison - of the Doors, heroin and alcohol (cause and fact of death disputed)
• Billy Murcia - of the New York Dolls
• Brent Mydland - keyboardist, of the Grateful Dead

N

• Papoose Nelson - blues musician
• Jerry Nolan - of The New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers
• Bradley Nowell - of Sublime, heroin

O

• Hugh O'Connor - actor, of In the Heat of the Night TV series
• Lani O'Grady - actress, of Eight Is Enough
• Frank O'Keefe - of the Outlaws
• Johnny O'Keefe - singer
• Brian O'Leary - actor
• Charlie Ondras - of Unsane
• Michael Owen - of the Ruts

P

• Charlie Parker - jazz musician
• Gram Parsons - country musician, of the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers
• Joe Pass - jazz musician
• Jon-Jon Paulos - of the Buckinghams
• Art Pepper - jazz musician
• Kristen Pfaff - of Hole, heroin
• Esther Phillips - singer
• John Phillips - musician, of the Mamas and the Papas
• River Phoenix - actor
• Jeffrey Lee Pierce - of the Gun Club
• Rob Pilatus - of Milli Vanilli
• Dana Plato - actress, of Diff'rent Strokes
• Elvis Presley - singer
• Freddie Prinze - comic, actor (Chico and the Man), self-inflicted gunshot wound while under the influence of Quaaludes

Q

• Glenn Quinn - actor (Roseanne, Angel)

R

• Dee Dee Ramone - of the Ramones
• Alex Ramsdell - jaz pianist
• Johnny Ray - musician
• Wallace Reid - actor
• Elis Regina - singer
• Rob Graves Ritter - of Thelonius Monster, Gun Club, the Bags, 45 Grave
• Peter Rosen - War
• Michael Rudetski - keyboardist, Culture Club
• David Ruffin - of the Temptations

S

• Stefanie Sargent - of 7 Year Bitch
• Bon Scott - of AC/DC, inhalation of own vomit
• George Scott III - bass guitarist
• Phil Seaman - singer
• Jean Seberg - actress
• Edie Sedgewick - actress
• Will Shatter - of Flipper, heroin
• Eddy Shaver - of Shaver
• Bobby Sheehan - of Blues Traveler
• Judee Sill - musician
• Hillel Slovak - of Red Hot Chili Peppers, heroin
• Elliott Smith - singer
• Richard Sohl - of The Patti Smith Group
• Epic Soundtracks - of Swell Maps
• Layne Staley - of Alice in Chains
• Willian Stewart - doo wop singer, of Johnny Bragg & the Prisonaires
• Bob Stinson - of the Replacements
• Neil Storey - of the Dragon
• Rory Storm - musician
• Screaming Lord Sutch - singer

T

• Dallas Taylor - of the Danderliers
• Vinnie Taylor - of Sha Na Na, heroin
• Gary Thain - of Uriah Heep
• Johnny Thunders - of the New York Dolls, alcohol and methadone
• Georg Trakl - playwright
• Steven James Turner - of Clock DVA
• Dick Twardzick - pianist

U

V

• Townes Van Zandt - musician
• Sid Vicious - of the Sex Pistols, heroin
• Gene Vincent - rock and roll musician, liver damage caused by alcohol

W

• Dave Waller - musician
• Dinah Washington - singer
• Freddie Webster - jazz trumpeter
• Brett Whiteley - painter
• Keith Whitley - country musician, alcohol poisoning
• Danny Whitten - of Crazy Horse, heroin
• Hank Williams - country musician, overdose of painkillers, born with painful back deformation
• Alan Wilson - of Canned Heat
• Dennis Wilson - of the Beach Boys, exact cause of death unknown, alcohol-related drowning is a strong possibility
• Andrew Wood - of Mother Love Bone

X

Y

Z