December 23, 2011
Are rock stars more likely to die at 27?
After British singer Amy Winehouse died in July aged 27, out popped various lists of those music stars who had died at the same age, among them Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain.
An enterprising Aussie stat-man has now looked at the numbers and has found that rock stars are three times more likely to die in their 20s and 30s than everyone else – but age 27 is not particularly doom-laden.
The full story is originally from the Telegraph, and was reprinted in today’s New Zealand Herald.
Atakohu Middleton is an Auckland journalist with a keen interest in the way the media uses/abuses data. She happens to be married to a statistician. See all posts by Atakohu Middleton »