It is an often cited theory that prominent musicians are likely to die at the age of 27.
Artists including Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and most recently Amy Winehouse died at the apparently fateful age.
But researchers Australia's Queensland University have now disproved the theory that 27 is cursed - though they did prove that pop stars are more likely to die young than the rest of the population, according to NME.
Statistician
Adrian Barnett wrote his results in the
British Medical Journal:
"The myth of the 27 club supposes that musicians are more likely to die aged 27, whereas our results show that they have a generally increased risk throughout their 20s and 30s. This finding should be of international concern, as musicians contribute greatly to the populations' quality of life, so there is immense value in keeping them alive (and working) as long as possible."
He says that the theory of a curse around the number 27 is based on both chance and cherry picking deceased artists, as many others have died at different ages.
His team found other patterns while conducting the research, namely that pop stars in the 1980s seemed more likely to survive than those in the decades before it.
"This difference may be due to better treatments for heroin overdose, or the change in the music scene from the hard rock 1970s to the pop dominated 1980s," he said.
Seriously, am I the only one that didn't think 27 was a cursed age but was just a coincidence? People thought it was a curse and not just food for thought? This was a thing?