35 Musicians With Legendarily Long Careers
Musicians especially in the rock and jazz genres don’t always have long lifespans. Accidents, drugs, random violence, suicide, and disease have claimed far too many talented lives too early.
Rock and roll pioneer Buddy Holly died at 22. For Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, and Amy Whitehouse, 27 was as far as they got. Jazz great Charlie Parker died at 33 (though the coroner conducting his autopsy originally guessed that he was about 60), and John Coltrane only made it to 40.
On the other hand.Some musicians seem to beat the odds and make it to 75, 85, or more; some have even achieved 100 or beyond, like country singer Slim Bryant, jazz vocalist Herb Jeffries, and bandleader Orrin Tucker. These are 35 rock stars who are now 75 or older.