Music Blogs

This Is It. Maybe...

This is the week the world may find out the cause of Michael Jackson's death. A coroner report is expected midweek and law enforcement is hot on the trail of Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray who is now the chief suspect in a criminal probe.

The mysterious circumstances surrounding the King of Pop's demise put him at the top of another celebrity list: suspicious musician deaths. For every pop star who dies in a simple plane crash or ODs without controversy in a hotel room, there is the inverse pop star death. These are the passings that stir debate ten, twenty, thirty years later. The ones that create questions like, "Maybe he didn't really die?" or "it was part of a conspiracy."

Some deaths are bigger than life. Here are a few.

GALLERY: See the musicians who died under dubious circumstamces

Elvis Presley
The (other) King died on August 16, 1977. His fiancee, Ginger Alden, found him on the bathroom floor. Controversy and craziness have swirled around his death from the moment the news was released. Supposedly, an on-duty nurse who received Presley when he was brought to the hospital said the patient on the bed was not the King. And so the "Elvis Is Alive" industry was born. Maria Columbus, president of Presley's fan club, claims to have received hand written cards from him a month and a half after his reported death. And what about those Vegas impersonators? They can't ALL be fakes.

Jimi Hendrix
Hendrix's body was found in the London hotel room of his German girlfriend Monika Dannemann, on September 18, 1970. Dannemann claimed that Hendrix had taken nine of her sleeping pills but was alive when placed in the ambulance that morning. Paramedics said Dannemann was nowhere to be found when they arrived and Hendrix was dead. To add to the controversy, the doctor on the scene stated this year that Hendrix was literally drowned in red wine, lending credence to a claim that he was killed for wanting to end a management contract.

Jim Morrison
The Doors singer was found dead in the bathtub of his Paris apartment. No autopsy was performed (French law only allows autopsies in the event of foul play). The lack of a medical exam has created a cottage industry of conspiracy theorists, who claim everything from an accidental heroin overdose (the most probable cause) to a faked death in order to avoid a pending lawsuit in the United States.

Michael Hutchence
The INXS frontman owed much of his stagecraft to Jim Morrison and his 1997 death has spurred nearly as much controversy. Hutchence's body was discovered in an Australian hotel room and the cause of death was immediately ruled a suicide. However, others expect autoerotic asphyxiation was to blame since no note was found and Hutchence was found naked.

Tupac Shakur
Tupac fell victim to the late-nineties East Coast/West Coast rap wars raging between his Los Angeles based Death Row Records and New York label Bad Boy. Four bullets were lodged in his chest, pelvis, hand, and thigh during a Las Vegas drive-by. He was pronounced dead six days later on September 13, 1996 from internal bleeding. While the cause of death is indisputable, the murder case remains open to this day.

The Notorious B.I.G.
Bad Boy recording artist Biggie Smalls was gunned down after leaving a Soul Train Music Awards after-party in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997. Like Tupac, he was shot four times. While theories range from a Crips gang retaliation to a Death Row Records paid hit man, the case remains unsolved.

Elliott Smith
The famously depressive singer-songwriter died on October 21, 2003 with anti-depressant and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder meds in his body - both at normally prescribed levels. No controversy there. However, Smith's two self-inflicted stab wounds have been the cause of much speculation. His girlfriend at the time claims Smith stabbed himself after an argument, collapsing after she pulled the knife out of him. Others question why someone who was planning to finish his next album would commit suicide. The official autopsy report leaves open the possibility of homicide but no investigation has been launched.

Brian Jones
The guitarist who formed The Rolling Stones was fired by his band on June 8, 1969. His drug use and erratic behavior were wreaking havoc on an already chaotic group. Less than a month later Jones was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool. The official cause was ruled "death by misadventure" but many claim he was murdered by a builder who had been renovating Jones' house (formerly owned by "Winnie-The-Pooh" author A.A. Milne).

Jam-Master Jay
After Run-DMC's breakup, Jam Master Jay (real name, Jason William Mizell) turned to producing up-and-coming hip hop acts. One of the rappers who came through his studio was a young 50 Cent. Mizell was shot and killed on October 30, 2002 in a Queens recording studio by an unknown assailant. Rumors persist that he was murdered for working with 50 Cent, who was blacklisted at the time for writing a disparaging song about a friend of Irv Gotti, head of the Murder Inc. record label.

Follow me on Twitter.