Musicians Who Died Before Their Music Became Popular

If you've ever watched a rockumentary, you already know the dangers of being a rock star. Famous musicians tend to have short life expectancies. If you're a rock star who makes it to the age of 60 and you get to reminisce about all the crazy things you did that didn't end up killing you, there's clearly a rock star guardian angel out there somewhere who's looking after you. And if you make it to 35, you're still doing okay, considering. 

But what if you don't even make it to the stardom part before walking down the same road as Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain? Well, that extra-sucks. Sometimes, stars who died too young don't even get to become stars until after they're gone, so there isn't even a consolation prize. At least Jim Morrison got to party a lot and hang out with Andy Warhol before making his way to the other kingdom. The musicians who died in obscurity were mostly just worried about paying rent and getting to the bus stop on time.

Eva Cassidy's album "Songbird" sold 5 million copies worldwide, reached six times platinum in England, and was certified platinum in the United States in 2008. By the time that happened, Cassidy had been dead for 12 years. 

According to The New York Times, Eva Cassidy died without a record contract. Her cause of death was a malignant melanoma that spread to her lungs and her bones. The singer had the melanoma removed in 1993, but failed to follow up with her doctor in the months afterward. By 1996, she was experiencing pain in her hip. When she had it X-rayed, doctors learned the cancer had spread. She immediately started aggressive treatments, but it was too late. She died just two months later.

Cassidy gave her last performance less than a month before she died. She was bald from chemotherapy, her head covered in a black velvet cap, and she had to use a walker to get out on stage. Grab your tissues, because she sang "What a Wonderful World." Much of Cassidy's music was released posthumously, and she has since been recognized as "one of the greatest voices of her generation." Too late, of course, for a woman who always worked temporary jobs and lived in rented apartments.

Robert Johnson was such a brilliant blues performer that some people literally accused him of making a deal with the devil. If that was true, though, it really wasn't a very good deal because he died at the age of 27, without experiencing any real success during his lifetime. Before that happened, Johnson was making a living as a traveling performer, booking any gig he could find, mostly playing the same 29 songs he had written and recorded between 1936 and 1937.

The deal-with-the-devil thing isn't just a quip — one of Johnson's contemporaries claimed he'd actually been a less-than-talented guitarist until he took a trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi, and sold his soul at the crossroads of Highways 49 and 61. When he returned a few weeks later, he'd been transformed into an amazing guitarist. A few weeks of guitar lessons seems more plausible than striking a deal with supernatural forces, but the devil-deal is significantly cooler.

Johnson died in 1938, and although there's never been a definitive cause of death, it's likely he was poisoned. It wasn't until a couple of decades later, when his work was reissued, that he finally achieved the fame he'd supposedly sold his soul to achieve.

Sometimes the death of an artist marks not just the end of a creative mind but the beginning of a morbid legend. Suicides in particular are susceptible to turning a victim into a bizarre sort of hero — after the death of Kurt Cobain, fans elevated him to a status of near godhood that he hadn't quite been able to reach before death. And after Joy Division's Ian Curtis died by suicide, he became a sort of prophet — The Independent described the public perception of his suicide as an elevation "into some sort of philosophical victory of life through death." The fact that he was the frontman of a popular goth band probably contributed somewhat to this legend, but the sad truth is that Ian Curtis' death was not a story of triumph over adversity, but a tragedy of a suffering young man who wasn't getting the help he needed, and a small child (his daughter) who was left without a father.

Curtis had epilepsy, and in the months after his death, bandmates remembered the profound negative impact the illness had on his state of mind and on his ability to perform. According to History, he died two days before Joy Division was supposed to embark on a U.S. tour. The band's second album was released just two months later, and the song "Love Will Tear Us Apart" reached the top 20 on Britain's charts.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

As it turns out, music could totally bomb back in the 19th century, too. Biography describes composer Georges Bizet as "moderately successful," apparently not successful enough to marry the daughter of his mentor but successful enough to not be living in poverty. 

In 1873, Bizet was working on an opera called "Carmen," which was based on an 1845 novel of the same name. The project was somewhat risky for the time since the title character was a Roma girl who did offensive things like being provocative and making her own choices. The opera had an initial run of 45 performances, and it was hated by critics and audiences alike. All the seduction and thievery scandalized the polite society ladies, and critics said the opera was "immoral" and "superficial," probably mostly because they didn't want those polite society ladies to know they secretly enjoyed all the seduction and thievery. By the end of the opera's first run, the theater had to give tickets away because they couldn't convince anyone to buy them.

Just after opening night, Bizet became ill. By the 33rd performance of "Carmen" he'd had two heart attacks and died. Five months later, "Carmen" moved to Vienna, where the society ladies were evidently not quite so polite, and the critics felt differently about seduction and thievery. "Carmen" was a hit in Vienna, and it went on to become one of the most-performed operas in the world.

According to The New York Times, Brooklyn-based "drill" — a rap sub-genre in which performers marry menacing beats with audacious and thought-provoking lyrics about harsh street life — began its rise to prominence in 2019, thanks in large part to Pop Smoke. Born Bashar Jackson, Pop Smoke's first release, "Meet the Woo, V.1 Mixtape" brought critical and industry attention, and within months he was working with the likes of Travis Scott and Nicki Minaj. In February 2020, "Meet the Woo 2" opened at No. 7 on the Billboard album chart, suggesting a lot of hit singles and a long career were on the way for Pop Smoke.

Mere days later, in the early morning hours of February 19, 2020, two masked men entered the Hollywood Hills home where Pop Smoke was staying, shot the rapper, and ran off. Medical personnel transported the fatally wounded rapper to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors pronounced him dead. Pop Smoke was 20 years old.

The recordings both just released and left behind by Pop Smoke performed very well. In the six months after the rapper's death, six of his singles reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart, including "For the Night," "What You Know Bout Love," "Mood Swings," and "Got It On Me." In 2021, "Dior" competed for a posthumous Grammy Award in the category of Best Rap Performance.

The Seattle-based "grunge" scene of the 1990s produced bands like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. That Seattle sound defined '90s rock, and one of the first major grunge releases was the 1991 self-titled album by Temple of the Dog, a one-off supergroup made up of members of Soundgarden, a rising act, and Pearl Jam, who'd issue their first LP a few months later. The album, which sold well and generated the hit single "Hunger Strike," was a tribute to the late Andrew Wood. Temple of the Dog's membership included Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, Wood's roommate and close friend, who, until his death had been the lead singer of Seattle grunge band Mother Love Bone, which also included Temple of the Dog and Pearl Jam musicians Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard.

In March 1990, Wood died of a heroin overdose at the age of 24. Not only would he die before he could see the kind of music to which he'd devoted his professional life acquire global popularity, but he didn't even get to witness the release of his band's first album. "Apple" hit stores in July 1990, less than six months after Wood's passing.