Famous Musicians Who Were Almost Murdered

Being a famous musician is a pretty tough gig. Sure, there are plenty of perks, like fame and fortune, but you've got to put in some pretty long hours if you want to succeed. Plus, there's always the chance you could get shot, knifed, or tortured to death. Because when you reach the peak of musical perfection, there's always some lunatic out there who wants to drag you back down ... and bury you six feet under.

If you want to become a hip-hop artist, you should probably buy a Kevlar vest. Ghostface Killah was shot in the neck and arm. The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered in a drive-by shooting. Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times in 1994 before he was killed in 1996. It seems like rapping is a dangerous business, a tragic fact that 50 Cent found out the hard way.

In 2000, while struggling to hit the big times, 50 Cent was sitting in a car outside his grandmother's house in Queens, when an assassin walked up to the vehicle and unloaded his gun. Nine bullets tore into the rapper's body, slamming into his leg, hip, arm, right hand, chest, and the left side of his face. After emptying his clip, the gunman managed to escape, and while he was never arrested, many suspect the attacker was Darryl Baum, a man who worked as Mike Tyson's bodyguard. Before Baum could be brought to justice, however, he was shot down, possibly in retaliation for going after 50 Cent.

As for the rapper, it took six weeks before Fiddy could walk by himself and five months before he'd totally recovered. The attack also permanently altered his speech patterns, as a gunshot destroyed his mouth — in fact, a fragment of a bullet is still lodged in his tongue. As the singer explained to Vanity Fair, doctors didn't remove the bullet as it would've further damaged his nerves. But as Rolling Stone put it, "His lazy tongue and the hole in his jaw gave [50 Cent] a slur like no one in hip hop."

Or as 50 Cent himself put it, "Getting shot just totally fixed my instrument."

The year 1969 was a crazy one for California. While there were some upbeat moments like Woodstock, the groovy vibe was ruined thanks to Charles Manson, the Zodiac Killer ... and the Rolling Stones. Despite their best intentions, the Stones painted everything black at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, a concert that helped kill the hippie movement, as well as a few unfortunate music lovers.

Headlined by Mick Jagger and company, the Altamont Concert featured some of the biggest bands of the '60s, like Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Unfortunately, the concert wasn't exactly peaceful, as the Stones had hired the Hells Angels to provide security. According to the story, the biker gang was given $500 in free beer to whack concertgoers with pool cues — by the end of the night, four people were dead, including 18-year-old Meredith Hunter. After getting roughed up by the Angels, Hunter pulled a gun, only to find himself on the wrong end of a biker's knife.

Captured on film, the stabbing was the death knell for the free-loving 1960s, and on top of that, it almost got Mick Jagger killed. Furious about how things had gone down, Jagger refused to ever use the Hells Angels for security again. This didn't sit well with the biker gang and, according to ex-FBI agent Mark Young, they decided to get some satisfaction by murdering the British rock star. Allegedly, the thugs planned on sailing out to Jagger's Long Island home, avoiding security by sneaking up from the ocean and creeping into his backyard. Things didn't pan out, as a storm capsized their boat, sending the Angels into the sea. So yeah, they probably should've stuck with the motorcycles.

As the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley was one of the most famous musicians to ever walk the Earth. Like any other royal figure, Elvis was constantly surrounded by bodyguards, so getting close to the King was incredibly difficult. But in 1971, Elvis found himself in a tricky situation involving a pistol-packing assassin named Vincent Damon Furnier. You probably know him better as Alice Cooper.

Cooper was hanging out with Liza Minelli, Chubby Checker, and Linda Lovelace one evening when they were all notified that Elvis wanted to meet them. The group was ushered into the king's Vegas apartment — after a few pleasantries, Elvis invited Cooper into his kitchen. And that's when Elvis handed his new buddy a .38 caliber pistol.

Wanting to show off his martial arts prowess, Elvis ordered Cooper to point the gun straight at him. As the rocker trained the snub-nosed pistol at Presley, a little voice appeared in his head. According to Cooper, "For one brief moment, the mischievous little devil on my left shoulder whispered in my ear, 'Shoot him.'" As Cooper explained in his autobiography, if the Godfather of Shock Rock plugged the King of Rock and Roll, it would be the biggest story in music history ... and for a second, he actually considered pulling the trigger.

Fortunately, the good angel on Cooper's right shoulder won the day — moments later, Elvis had disarmed the rocker and put Cooper on the ground. As Elvis removed his foot from Cooper's throat, he continued chatting like nothing strange had just happened. Of course, Cooper was pretty freaked out, describing the whole evening as "weird." And if Alice Cooper thinks you're weird, well ...

As one of the most famous pop stars of the '90s, Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham has had quite a bit of spice in her life. But on top of all the glitz and glamor, this British superstar has been the victim of multiple criminal schemes. For starters, she's received all sorts of disturbing death threats, including altered photos depicting bloody wounds on both her and her child. Of course, that pales in comparison to the events of January 2000, when a group of thugs planned on kidnapping Posh and her eight-month-old son, Brooklyn. Fortunately, the Beckhams were saved in the nick of time, although the crooks managed to escape as well.

Just two years later, five more people were arrested for plotting to kidnap Beckham, although there's a bit of debate surrounding the story. As it turns out, the scheme was exposed after the News of the World paid a hefty sum to a convicted crook, who then ratted out the alleged kidnappers. Thanks to this revelation, the five people in question were released, which probably made Victoria Beckham more than a little anxious.

But perhaps the scariest incident occurred in March 2000. While rehearsing for a Spice Girls performance, Beckham was hustled to safety after a red dot suddenly appeared on her chest. Shortly afterward, a propped-open door was discovered, and it was theorized a sniper had been preparing to take a shot. It just goes to show, while many wannabe a celebrity, dealing with all these thugs just might be too much.

According to Rolling Stone, Frank Zappa is the 22nd best guitarist of all time. The music mag also claimed Zappa was the 71st greatest artist, beating out the likes of Tupac Shakur and Hank Williams. But these bona fides don't matter when you're messing around with a jealous boyfriend, especially one who's a bit deranged.

It was December 1971, and Frank Zappa was having a rough month. While performing at Switzerland's Montreux Casino, some stupid decided to shoot off a flare gun, burning the place to the ground. (If that sounds familiar, it's because this event inspired Deep Purple's beginner's-guitar classic, "Smoke on the Water.") Just a few days later, Zappa was playing at London's Rainbow Theatre — as he wowed the audience with his guitar skills, a 24-year-old man charged the musician and pushed him off the stage.

The assailant was a guy named Trevor Charles Howell, and he was upset because his girlfriend had a crush on Zappa. Thanks to Howell, Zappa took a 15-foot-dive into a concrete orchestra pit, a fall that fractured his ankle and leg, broke a rib, paralyzed an arm, pulverized his larynx, and put a hole in his head. Luckily, Zappa survived, but he was stuck in a wheelchair for nearly a year. When he finally got out, one of his legs was shorter than the other, resulting in chronic back pain.

According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the smashed-up larynx possibly affected Zappa's singing voice, making it much deeper. The whole incident definitely encouraged the singer to keep a bodyguard by his side at all times. Seeing as how he never took another dive into an orchestra pit, the bodyguard thing seems to have paid off.