Forgotten Rock Musicians You Didn't Know Had Died

The music world has suffered the loss of many of rock's most influential figures. Back in the 1960s, fans mourned the untimely deaths of Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix, all of whom were among the many stars to die at the age of 27. More recently, music lovers have grieved losing such icons as David Bowie, Tina Turner, and Prince. But while big stars make big headlines when they shuffle off this mortal coil, that isn't necessarily the case for artists who never quite reached the same heights of fame. Their passing may not have made front-page news, while their musical accomplishments sadly faded into the mists of time. As the result, their names often become footnotes in the larger fabric of rock history.

From a near-forgotten guitar legend who made history with Bob Dylan to a long-gone singer who fronted a band whose members included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, here are some largely forgotten rock musicians you may not know had died.

The following article includes allegations and descriptions of addiction, mental health issues, and death by suicide.

As a guitarist for The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Mike Bloomfield was a pioneer in popularizing electric blues music in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s, after Bloomfield joined the Chicago band, the group's raw, electrified blues — Bloomfield's guitar solos in particular — caught the attention of Bob Dylan. Bloomfield was hand-picked by Dylan for the band he assembled to back him during the sessions for "Highway 61 Revisited," his groundbreaking 1965 album that melded folk and electric rock. Dylan then tapped Butterfield's band to back him for his controversial first-ever electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, with Bloomfield firing off scorching solos in "Maggie's Farm" and other songs from the recently released album. 

Bloomfield went on to form his own band in 1967, The Electric Flag, with The Butterfield Blues Band's Mike Gravenitas on vocals. The band broke up in 1969, but reformed in 1974 to release a second album that, sadly, attracted little attention.

Bloomfield should have been one of the hottest guitarists of the 1970s, but his success was hampered by his substance misuse. In 1981, he was found dead in a car on a San Francisco street, his body dumped there, likely by his drug dealer. According to the medical examiner, Bloomfield's death had resulted from heroin and cocaine poisoning. He was 37 years old.

Blending traditional Celtic sounds with a punk rock ethos, Irish band The Pogues broke through in 1985 with their second album, the memorably titled "Rum, Sodomy & the Lash." These days, The Pogues are best remembered for their venomous 1987 Christmastime ditty, "Fairytale of New York," with front man Shane MacGowan joined by singer Kirsty MacColl. While MacColl wasn't officially a member of the band, she toured with the band after the success of "Fairytale." 

MacColl had previously experienced her own success as a solo artist, most notably with 1981's "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis." She was also in high demand as a backing singer, lending her pipes to such bands as Happy Mondays, The Smiths, and even The Rolling Stones. Meanwhile, MacGowan maintained his association with The Pogues over the ensuing decades through several breakups and reunions. 

MacColl tragically died at age 41 in a boating accident while vacationing in Mexico in 2000. McGowan died of pneumonia in 2023 at the age of 65. Despite their deaths occurring more than two decades apart, both McColl and MacGowan continue to be immortalized during each Christmas season, as "Fairytale in New York" has long since cemented its status as a dark holiday classic.

Keith Relf's name may be long forgotten in the annals of rock history, but it's not hyperbole to point out that he was once backed by a holy trinity of British guitar heroes. As lead singer of the Yardbirds, Relf's voice was accompanied by the guitar solos of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page, and his vocals can be heard on such psychedelic freak-out classics as "Shapes of Things," "Heart Full of Soul," "For Your Love," and "Over Under Sideways Down." 

After the Yardbirds split up in 1968, Jimmy Page fulfilled the band's outstanding gigs with a new band he'd assembled, initially called The New Yardbirds before adopting the now-iconic moniker of Led Zeppelin. While Page skyrocketed to rock superstardom with his new group, Relf founded his own band, a far less successful prog-rock outfit called Renaissance. He then formed another since-forgotten outfit, dubbed Armageddon. 

In 1974, Relf was playing an electric guitar in the cellar of his home, his foot resting on a metal gas pipe. His guitar, plugged into an amplifier, was not grounded, and a high-voltage current of electricity fatally surged into his body. Relf's lifeless body was reportedly discovered by his son, aged eight.

Blind Melon was swept up in the massive Seattle grunge wave that overtook the music scene in the early 1990s, charting such hits as "Change," and "Tones of Home." It was the band's 1992 single "No Rain," however, which put the band on the map, hitting No. 1 in the rock charts and taking over MTV with a quirky music video featuring the dancing "Bee Girl," who appeared on the cover of the band's self-titled debut album. 

It's fair to say that Blind Melon owed at least a bit of its meteoric success to Guns N' Roses. Front man Shannon Hoon and GNR singer Axl Rose were childhood friends growing up in Lafayette, Indiana, and Rose invited Hoon to provide backing vocals on several songs on the "Use Your Illusion" album. 

However, becoming an overnight sensation proved unsettling for Hoon, who retreated from the spotlight and turned to substance misuse. Hoon would eventually spend two stints in rehab, both of which were ultimately unsuccessful. Hoon died in New Orleans while in the midst of a tour, two months after the release of Blind Melon's second album, "Soup." He was just 28; he was survived by his girlfriend Lisa Crouse, and their daughter, Nico Blue, who was around 5 months old at the time. His death was the result of a heart attack brought about by an overdose of cocaine.

When Courtney Love put together her Seattle-based rock band, Hole, she selected Kristen Pfaff as bass player. A founding member of Hole, Pfaff toured with the band and played on two albums, 1991's "Pretty on the Inside" and its 1994 follow-up, "Live Through This." Pfaff was found dead in the bathtub of her Seattle home in June 1994, just two months after the suicide of Love's husband, tragic Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain. Initial reports stated that her purse contained syringes and drug-related paraphernalia. Pfaff's friends told police that she'd been using heroin, while a rep for Hole's record label revealed she'd recently gone to rehab. The conclusions drawn were obvious.

However, mystery continues to surround Pfaff's death, with some believing she didn't overdose, but instead was murdered. That theory emerged from Ian Halperin's book "Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain," which claims that Cobain's death was a homicide, not a death by suicide. In Halperin's book, Pfaff's mother, Janet Pfaff, maintained that her daughter was not using drugs after returning from rehab. She called for police to open a murder investigation, a request that police denied due to lack of evidence. Rumors still swirl, though, as not only did others corroborate that Pfaff was clean post-rehab, but a journal was found in her apartment with several pages torn out.

After a stint as bass player for British band King Crimson, John Wetton jumped from prog-rock cult favorite to pop-rock hitmaker when he co-founded the supergroup Asia in 1982. Joined by keyboardist Geoff Downes (The Buggles), guitarist Steve Howe (Yes), and drummer Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Asia's self-titled debut was the biggest-selling album of the year. With Wetton also handling lead vocals, "Asia" spawned such radio-friendly hits as "Sole Survivor," "Only Time Will Tell," and the mega-smash "Heat of the Moment."

Wetton died from colon cancer in 2017 at the age of 67. His legacy, however, continues to live on in the likes of The Aurora Project, a cover band dedicated to Wetton, and the 2022 tribute album "Celebrating the Dragon." Wetton was also honored with a 2023 tribute concert, featuring such musicians as Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera, Yes alum Rick Wakeman, Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, and Asia bandmate Downes.

Jonathan Melvoin is best remembered as the original keyboard player for the venerable and storied alt-rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, but his musical legacy extended far beyond that. His father, Mike Melvoin, was also a keyboardist, a studio musician who was a member of the legendary Wrecking Crew, the group of musicians who played on some of the biggest hits of the 1960s and '70s. Meanwhile, Melvoin's sister, Wendy Melvoin, also came to prominence as half of Wendy & Lisa, part of the band that backed the late rock icon Prince during the early 1980s.

In July 1996, Melvoin and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin embarked on a night of hard partying in New York City in the midst of a tour. Heroin was involved, and both passed out; Chamberlin survived, Melvoin did not. At the time, the cause of death was reported as an apparent overdose, while the subsequent toxicology report confirmed that his death resulted from a combination of heroin and alcohol. The band's leader, Billy Corgan, fired Chamberlin days later.

After Melvoin's body was discovered, the other members of the band were viewed by police as suspects and were taken to NYC's 19th precinct for questioning. "It was just kind of absurd," then-Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'Arcy Wretzky recalled during an interview with MTV News. "They split us up like on the TV shows, and took us in separate rooms and questioned us to see if our answers would match up. We're like, this isn't real ..."

No band better embodied the spirit of the early days of the emerging punk rock scene than the Ramones. Formed in New York City in 1974, all four members of the band took on the Ramone surname. Led by singer Joey Ramone, the original lineup included Dee Dee Ramone on bass, Johnny Ramone on guitar, and Tommy Ramone behind the drums. While the band may not have generated a lot of radio airplay, the Ramones were as influential as they were legendary, thanks to such rapid-fire hits as "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Sheena is a Punk Rocker," "Rock and Roll High School" (which was written for the soundtrack of the movie of the same name), and so many more.

Interpersonal clashes between the band members led to a constantly changing roster of Ramones, with several others becoming part of the band over the years. These included C.J. Ramone, Marky Ramone, Richie Ramone, and even Elvis Ramone (aka Clem Burke, the drummer for Blondie and who was briefly part of the band in 1987). 

All four founding members of the Ramones have tragically died, with none making it to old age. Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman) died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer at 49; Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin) died the following year of a heroin overdose, aged 50; Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) died of prostate cancer in 2004 at 55, and Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi) died in 2014 at the age of 65, after undergoing treatment for bile duct cancer.

Formed in Liverpool in 1980, Dead or Alive was at the forefront of Britain's new romantic movement, a synth-pop new wave subgenre that included acts including Culture Club, Duran Duran, Adam and the Ants, Human League, and many more. Building on the androgyny personified by artists such as David Bowie and The New York Dolls in the previous decade, Dead or Alive lead singer Pete Burns played an iconic role in the music video for the band's biggest hit, the 1985 dance-floor favorite "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)." The group had some minor hits in the years that followed, but nothing near the success of "You Spin Me Round." 

As the 1980s gave way to the '90s, the band dwindled to just Burns and drummer Steve Coy, the duo slogging on through the rest of the decade until their final studio album of new material arrived in 2000. Burns subsequently found fame as a U.K. reality TV star after joining "Celebrity Big Brother" in 2006. He appeared on other British reality shows and made headlines in 2015 for less glamorous reasons, when he was evicted for being behind on his rent to the tune of £34,000.

Burns had also been candid about the numerous cosmetic surgery procedures he'd undergone, reportedly more than 300. Some of those surgeries led to infections, requiring further surgical intervention, and he wound up with blood clots in his lungs, legs, and heart. Burns died in 2016 at the age of 57, due to a fatal heart attack.

As the front man and driving force behind metal band Quiet Riot, Kevin DuBrow led the group to huge success with the 1983 hit "Cum on Feel the Noize." On the strength of that single, the band's debut album "Metal Health" hit No.1, the first time a metal group had done so. In November 2007, former Quiet Riot bassist Kelli Garni became concerned when he hadn't heard back from DuBrow, and his voicemail was full. He reached out to DuBrow's two girlfriends (yes, two), who also hadn't heard from him. When a paramedic broke into DuBrow's home, the singer was found dead in his bed. In a statement issued to Rolling Stone, Garni said that police had "found no signs of foul play and are ruling this an accidental death."

Mystery continued to cloak the circumstances surrounding DuBrow's death until the coroner's report was issued the following month. Ultimately, the coroner attributed his demise to an accidental cocaine overdose.

After spending two years as a New York City beat cop, Edward Mahoney renamed himself Eddie Money and embarked on a music career. He attracted the attention of legendary music promoter Bill Graham, who became his manager, and Money broke through in 1978 with the single "Baby Hold On," followed by the hit "Two Tickets to Paradise." Nearly a decade later, he released what became his highest-charting single, 1986's "Take Me Home Tonight." 

Money was not immune to the temptation that has brought down so many rockers. "I had a drinking problem, because alcoholism is hereditary and I'm an Irishman, so I was always knocking down a lot of vodka," he said in an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock. "And of course they said cocaine wasn't addicting back in the '80s, which was a bunch of bulls***. So I had my problems with substance abuse and stuff like that." During one night of excessive drinking in 1980, he added a barbiturate to the mix and fell into a coma. When he awoke, the sciatic nerve in his leg was severely damaged. "The doctors told me I wouldn't walk again," he told the Marin Independent Journal. He proved them wrong, but was left with a pronounced limp.

During his late '60s, he shifted to reality television, starring in the AXS TV reality show "Real Money." In August 2019, he announced that he'd been diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer. Less than a month later, he died at age 70.

Peaking in the early 1980s, Survivor really only had one major hit, but it was a doozy. Thanks to being featured in Sylvester Stallone's big-screen blockbuster "Rocky III," their 1982 single "Eye of the Tiger" became a monster hit that continues to be used in film, TV, and commercials due to its hugely recognizable opening guitar riff. The singer on that single was Dave Bickler, the band's original singer, who was forced to leave Survivor at the height of the band's success after surgery for throat polyps had impacted his voice. Bickler was replaced by Jimi Jamison, who'd previously been fronting a heavy metal band called Cobra.

Jamison remained Survivor's singer until 1989, when he left the band and Bickler returned. Jamison was offered a spot as front man for Deep Purple, but was forced to down the offer because he was contractually obligated to promote the solo album he'd just released. During the 1990s, confusion reigned and lawsuits flew as two versions of Survivor toured, one fronted by Jamison and the other by Bickler. In 2013, the band settled its legal issues and hit the road with both Bickler and Jamison as singers.

The following year, Jamison died at 63. His death was initially attributed to a heart attack, but was later determined to be caused by a stroke, with a post-mortem examination determining that methamphetamine intoxication was a contributing factor.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, is dealing with mental health issues, is struggling, or in a crisis, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

• The Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

• Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org