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 normal 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.

• Dave Alexander[?]
• Rick Allen[?] - of Asylum[?]
• G.G. Allin[?] - punk musician, heroin
• West Arkeen[?] - of Outpatience[?]
• Howard Arkley[?] - painter
• Arlus[?] - of the Blunt Stitches[?]
• Deford Bailey[?] - country musician
• Dwayne Goettel[?] - heroin
• 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
• 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
• 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 - British blues musician
• 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
• Brian Cole[?] - of the Association[?]
• 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
• Dalida - singer, barbituates[?]
• Dorothy Dandridge - actress, singer
• Jesse Ed Davis[?] - guitarist, session musician[?], heroin
• Jeanine Deckers - the Singing Nun
• Rick Dey[?] - of the Vejtables[?], February Sunshine[?], the Wilde Knights[?] and the Merry-Go-Round[?]
• DJ Screw[?] - musician, codeine
• Tommy Dorsey - blues musician, choked to death while sleeping with the aid of drugs
• John Dougherty[?] - of Flipper[?]
• Nick Drake - musician
• Jeanne Eagels - actress
• John Entwhistle[?] - of the Who
• Rick Evers[?] - drummer and songwriter
• 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[?]
• 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 - of the Bee Gees
• Candy Givens[?] - of Zephyr[?]
• Rob Graves[?] - of Thelonius Monster[?]
• Stacy Guess[?] - of the Squirrel Nut Zippers[?]
• Paul Hammond[?] - of Atomic Rooster
• Tim Hardin[?] - heroin
• George Harrison - of the Beatles, heavy tobacco user, died of lung cancer
• 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 drug use
• Gregory Herbet[?] - of Blood, Sweat & Tears
• 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
• Lorri Jackson[?] - musician
• Tom Jans[?] - musician
• Brian Jones - of the Rolling Stones, drowned, very likely due to alcohol intoxication
• Rob Jones[?] - of Wonder Stuff[?]
• Janis Joplin - rock and roll and blues musician
• John Kahn - of the Jerry Garcia Band[?]
• Jeff Kaplan[?] - of Kaleidoscope[?]
• Wells Kelly[?] - of Orleans
• Beverly Kenney[?] - singer
• Kenny Kirkland[?] - noted pianist
• Hoi Klinskih[?] - of Sector Gaza[?]
• Paul Kossoff[?] - of Free[?]
• Lance Krantz[?] - drummer of Detox[?]
• Eddie Kurdziel[?] - of Red Kross[?]
• Peter Laughner[?] - of Pere Ubu
• Bruce Lee - actor, of The Green Hornet
• Rudy Lewis[?] - of the Drifters
• Frankie Lymon - doo wop singer, heroin
• Phil Lynott[?] - of Thin Lizzy
• Steve MacKay[?]
• Billy MacKenzie[?] - of the Associates
• Mike MacTavish[?] - of the Lost Souls[?]
• 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
• Jonathan Melvoin[?] - of the Smashing Pumpkins, heroin
• Mighty Spoiler - calypso music singer
• Miss Christine[?] - of the GTO's[?]
• 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
• Papoose Nelson[?] - blues musician
• Bradley Nowell - of Sublime, heroin
• Hugh O'Connor[?] - actor, of In the Heat of the Night
• Lani O'Grady[?] - actress, of Eight Is Enough[?]
• Frank O'Keefe[?] - of the Outlaws[?]
• Brian O'Leary[?] - actor
• Charlie Ondras[?] - of Unsane[?]
• Michael Owen[?] - of the Ruts[?]
• 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 & the Papas
• River Phoenix - actor
• Jeffrey Lee Pierce[?] - of the Gun Club[?]
• Rob Pilatus[?] - of Milli Vanilli
• Dana Plato - actress, of Different Strokes[?]
• Elvis Presley - singer
• Glenn Quinn - actor, of Roseanne
• 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
• 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 the Red Hot Chili Peppers, heroin
• 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
• Dallas Taylor[?] - of the Danderliers[?]
• Vinnie Taylor[?] - of Sha Na Na[?], heroin
• Gary Thain[?] - of Uriah Heep
• Johnny Thunders[?] - of the New York Dolls, heroin
• Georg Trakl - playwright
• Steven James Turner[?] - of Clock DVA[?]
• Dick Twardzick[?] - pianist
• Townes Van Zandt[?] - musician
• Sid Vicious - of the Sex Pistols, heroin
• Gene Vincent - rock and roll musician
• Dave Waller[?] - musician
• Dinah Washington - singer
• John Wayne - actor
• Freddie Webster[?] - jazz trumpeter
• Brett Whiteley[?] - painter
• Keith Whitley[?] - country musician
• 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