Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll really do take a toll. Rock stars live up to 25 years less than average, an Australian researcher has found.
Sydney University professor of psychology Dianna Kenny said the music industry needs to stop glamourising destructive lifestyles.
Her study examined the lives and deaths of 12665 musicians and stars from all popular genres who died between 1950 and June 2014.
The chance of an accidental death for well-known musicians was found to be between five and 10 times greater than for the general population. The average musician lives into his late 50s or early 60s.
The study found that the suicide rate among pop stars was between two and seven times greater than that of the average person. The murder rate was up to eight times greater.
On a positive note, the study suggested that most musicians live well beyond 27, the age at which many stars have died, including Amy Winehouse, who died of accidental alcohol poisoning in 2011, and Kurt Cobain, who killed himself in 1994.
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