Fame can take as many years off a musician’s life as occasionally smoking cigarettes, a new study has found, after comparing data between famous singers and less well-known artists.
Stardom can shorten lives by 4.6 years, according to research published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
Touring, performing, and rock’n’roll lifestyles have previously been found to lower life expectancy for musicians.
However, the new analysis shows a direct link between fame and mortality for the first time.
Researchers from the University Witten Herdecke based in Witten, Germany, examined data of 648 singers, half of whom were dubbed famous and the other half less famous. These included a mix of solo artists, lead and back-up singers in a band.
Famous stars were selected from the top 2,000 Artists of All Time, a list collated by the ranking website Acclaimed Music. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Bruce Springstein round out the site’s top five most recognised names.
Academics matched each famous singer to a less famous one, paired up based on their characteristics such as gender, nationality, and genre of music.
They found that famous singers lived to an average age of 75 while less famous singers lived to 79.
“The increased mortality risk associated with fame is comparable to other well-known health risks such as occasional smoking,” the authors wrote.
By isolating fame as a risk factor, the study shows achieving stardom can be a “turning point” in bringing about greater health concerns.
Solo artists also carried a higher mortality risk, the study found, compared with singers who could turn to band members for “emotional and practical support”.
Loss of privacy, intense public scrutiny, and performance pressure are all mooted contributing factors, although the study notes it is not conclusively linked.
“Being famous is an important factor influencing longevity and underscores the need for targeted interventions to mitigate its detrimental effects on longevity.”
The study was however gender-skewed, 83.5% male to 16.5% female.
“Live fast, die young” lifestyles have been the focus of previous research into mortality risks associated with fame, including greater chance of drug and alcohol abuse.
Pop stars experiencing fame between the ages of two and 25 were found to be two to three times more likely to experience risks of mortality compared to the general population, a US-based study found in 2007.
Popular culture has made reference to the 27 Club, made up of rock stars who died at the age of 27, including Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, and Brian Jones.
In 2011, a study published in the British Medical Journal concluded there was no heightened risk of death for famous musicians at the specific age of 27, finding instead that young rock stars have a “generally increased risk throughout their 20s and 30s”.
In recent years, fans and loved ones have been left devastated by the deaths of young popular artists such as rapper Mac Miller (26), DJ Avicii (28), and One Direction’s Liam Payne (31).
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