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With the Passing of Amy Winehouse, Purple Revolver has compiled our Top 5 celebrities who should have gone to rehab.
From actors, musicians to comedians, there is an endless stream of celebrities who OD’d in the prime of their career.
Purple Revolver has picked our top five gone too soon celebrities.
5. Keith Moon
Moon the Loon, one the world’s greatest rock drummers, died of an overdose in 1978.
Battling alcoholism, Moon was prescribed Clomethiazole, a sedative to take every time he felt the urge to have a swig (no more than three times a day).
At the time of his death the eccentric Who drummer had ingested 32 pills, 26 of which were found undigested.
Keith has been immortalised in puppet form, providing the inspiration for Jim Henson’s drum playing muppet, Animal.
4. Heath Ledger
The Australian actor died from abuse of prescription medications in 2008.
Found in his Soho apartment, the Brokeback Mountain and Monster’s Ball actor had consumed a medication cocktail, comprised of over the counter drugs intended to battle insomnia, anxiety, depression and pain.
Ledger was posthumously awarded a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as The Joker in Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
3. Sid Vicious
The Sex Pistols iconic bassist died of a heroin overdose in 1979.
Vicious spent 55 days as a guest at Rykers Island for assault, two months after his girlfriend Nancy Spungen’s death from a stab wound.
After his death an alleged suicide note was found on his person, reading:
We had a death pact, and I have to keep my half of the bargain. Please bury me next to my baby in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots. Goodbye.
2. John Belushi
Jim’s older brother died after taking a Speedball (injecting cocaine and heroin) in 1982.
The SNL comedian was visited by both Robert De Niro and Robin Williams at his Californian home on the night of his death.
In 2004 Belushi was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, after lobbying by his brother, Jim, and his widow.
The Animal House star famously quipped ‘I plan to be dead by 30,’ during a SNL sketch in which he played himself.
1. Jimi Hendrix
When Clapton asks, ‘Is he always that fucking good?’ you know you can pluck a Fender damn well.
The Wild Man of Pop was found dead in a London Apartment in 1970, aged 27. Jimi overdosed on his girlfriend’s prescription sleeping pills, Vesparax.
Hendrix notoriously partook in the use of psychedelic drugs, particularly LSD. The guitar God was also arrested for the possession of heroin and hashish at Toronto Airport, en route to a gig.
In ’92 he was posthumously awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy.
Hendrix’s style and talent influenced a whole generation of musicians. His playing abilities cemented his position as a true great of Rock ‘n’ Roll, helped develop Hard Rock and pave the way for Heavy Metal.