Many musicians have been murdered during their active career. Most of the musicians had been shot or stabbed to death. Some of them have received extensive media attention, including the
murder of John Lennon
On the evening of 8 December 1980, English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of the Dakota, his residence in New York City. The killer was Mark David Chapman, an American Beatles fan wh ...
in 1980, the
murder of Selena
Selena Quintanilla Pérez was an American singer who achieved international fame as a member of Selena y Los Dinos and for her subsequent solo career in both Spanish and English. Her father and manager, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., appointe ...
in 1995, the
murder of Tupac Shakur
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
in 1996, the
murder of the Notorious B.I.G.
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...
in 1997, and the
murder of XXXTentacion
During the afternoon of June 18, 2018, American rapper Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, known professionally as XXXTentacion, was murdered in an apparent attempted robbery just outside RIVA Motorsports, an upscale seller of motorcycles and watercr ...
in 2018. Others have received less media attention, including the murder of
Bryan Harvey
Bryan Stanley Harvey (born June 2, 1963) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to for the California Angels of the American League and the Florida Marlins of the National Lea ...
, who was killed during the
2006 Richmond spree murders
The 2006 Richmond spree murders took place during a seven-day period in January 2006 in and around Richmond, Virginia, United States; seven people—four members of the Harvey family and three members of the Baskerville–Tucker family—were k ...
.
Murdered musicians
Below is a list of notable murders of musicians.
See also
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List of murdered hip hop musicians
This is a list of rappers and hip hop musicians murdered since 1987.
Two studies in the mid-2010s concluded that murder was the cause of 51.5% of hip hop musician deaths. The average age of death is between 25–30 years of age. Hip hop has a ...
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List of deaths in rock and roll
The following is a list of notable performers of rock and roll music or rock music, and others directly associated with the music as producers, songwriters or in other closely related roles, who have died. The list gives their date, cause and l ...
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List of pop musicians who died of drug overdose
Drug overdose and intoxication are significant causes of accidental death, and can also be used as a form of suicide. Death can occur from overdosing on a single or multiple drugs, or from combined drug intoxication (CDI) due to poly drug use. ...
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27 Club
The 27 Club is an informal list consisting mostly of popular musicians, artists, actors, and other celebrities who died at age 27. Although the claim of a "statistical spike" for the death of musicians at that age has been refuted by scientific ...
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Curse of the ninth The curse of the ninth is a superstition connected with the history of classical music. It is the belief that a ninth symphony is destined to be a composer's last and that the composer will be fated to die while or after writing it, or before compl ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murdered musicians
Lists of musicians
Musicians
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
Lists of victims of crimes
Crime-related lists
Death-related lists