It's almost a blessing to do as the old saying goes and "die doing what you love." Well, sure, that's all well and good, to get to enjoy the things that make you happy up until the bitter end, except for the fact that you're dead at the end. And if it's a musician, actor, or television performer, they die in front of a whole bunch of witnesses who could be traumatized forever. Here are some famous folks who literally worked until the end, dying while on stage or on live television.
It's almost a blessing to do as the old saying goes and "die doing what you love." Well, sure, that's all well and good, to get to enjoy the things that make you happy up until the bitter end, except for the fact that you're dead at the end. And if it's a musician, actor, or television performer, they die in front of a whole bunch of witnesses who could be traumatized forever. Here are some famous folks who literally worked until the end, dying while on stage or on live television.
Air travel has been particularly unkind to the world of music. Despite being a proven and comparatively safe mode of transportation, a cursory examination of the number of famous musicians killed in plane crashes would seem to indicate that flying presents a special risk to the profession. However, that presumption likely has more to do with fame and press coverage than statistics.
The deaths of musicians are often highly publicized and deeply mourned among the wider cultural community. These deaths don't usually come from mid-gig accidents or health and safety disasters, but from problems extending beyond the stage. Drug overdoses, plane crashes, and shootings have been counted among the disasters that have taken some of the world's finest musicians away from us far, far too soon. It may not be the riskiest job out there, but there can be little doubt that there is something about musicians that seems to invite tragedy.
Musicians often live the craziest lives, and far too many have died before hitting 30. Death is a scary subject, and many artists have written songs about it, pondering that eternal question of what's waiting on the "other side." However, some musicians have predicted their own deaths in a way that's weirdly accurate. Many of these cases probably have more to do with coincidence than actual psychic abilities — you be the judge — but perhaps other musicians had some sort of foresight or simply possessed a deep understanding of the social and societal conditions surrounding them.
While many celebrities have access to the finer things in life due to their fame and fortune, there is also a dark side to show business. Fans and critics watch their every move and troll them on social media, and sometimes rumors that a star has died surface even though he or she is perfectly fine and in no danger of passing away. Celebrity death hoaxes gained a lot of traction in the mid-2010s, as people were able to manipulate trending topics on Twitter and Facebook. Plus, many of these alleged death reports were disguised phishing scams intended to steal people's personal information.
