causes of musicians' death by genre

[cedar]

I realize this is morbid, but still interesting I think.

 

From Wonkblog:

 

Dianna Theadora Kenny, a professor of psychology and music at the University of Sydney, is conducting a statistical study of premature death among musicians. She found that musicians from older genres including blues, jazz, country and gospel have similar lifespans to American people their own age. The life expectancy for R&B musicians is slightly lower, while the life expectancy for newer genres like rock, techno, punk, metal, rap and hip hop is significantly shorter.

Within each genre, the cause of an early death varies significantly. Kenny found that the music genre was more closely associated with the causes of mortality than gender or age suggesting that the genre has a very strong influence on how a musician lives his or her life. The chart below shows those correlations. Red indicates causes of death that are significantly above the overall average, while blue shows those that are above the overall average. Green represents those significantly below average.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kenny finds that accidents including car crashes and drug overdoses are a huge cause of premature death for musicians, accounting for almost 20 percent of all deaths across genres. But accidents are much more likely to kill rock, metal and punk musicians. Punk and metal musicians also appear susceptible to suicide, while gospel musicians had the lowest suicide rate of all genres. Homicide accounted for 6 percent of deaths, but was the cause of death for an incredible half of rap and hip hop musicians in Kennys sample.

Older genres tend to have different causes of death, in part because of the older average age of their musicians. Around 17 percent of all musicians died from heart-related fatalities, but that figure rose to 28 percent for blues musicians. Similarly, around 23 percent of musicians in the sample died of cancer, but the rates were higher for folk (32.3 percent) and jazz (30.6 percent) musicians.

Here's the chart:

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y140/wynton/deaths.png

[nadroj]

I'm surprised it hasn't been a headline in the tabloids yet: "STUDY SHOWS CANCER LINK TO JAZZ AND FOLK MUSIC".

 

Very interesting though.

[TommyS]

Hmmm,, not to mention death from boredom listening to twenty minute guitar solos from egocentric guitar players.

[yamarolorg]

You'd probably have higher rates of cancer amongst rap and hip hop players if they didn't kill each other, long before the cancer set in.

[Annuello]

Blues & Country die of a broken heart. Now scientifically confirmed.

[MathOfInsects]

Jazz bass players are in comparatively few car accidents.

 

Because they're always walking.

 

Thank you, thank you very much.

[J. Dan]

Prog drummers usually die at odd times.

[I-missRichardTee]

Jazz bass players are in comparatively few car accidents.

 

Because they're always walking.

 

Thank you, thank you very much.

 

And the crowd roars with mirth, nearly Dying of laughter.

Encore encore

[cedar]

And to think I was worried that this thread would be too morbid.

[Michael Wright]

I had better go to sleep now.

[Brettymike]

Ha Ha!!, good one , don't go to sleep - more!

(As long as it's not the big sleep ).

 

Brett

[WillNeverPost]

Prog drummers usually die at odd times.

Especially if they have the nickname "Stumpy".

[GovernorSilver]

Classical musicians must be immortal then, since their genre is not on the chart at all.