When someone you appreciate or even adore dies too soon, not only is it sad, but it feels unfair. Why should someone be able to be taken away from the world at such a young age? Their talent, their life cut so short? You can feel this way whether they are a close friend, a relative of someone you admire from afar. If you feel it, you feel it.
Videos by American Songwriter
Below, we wanted to take a look at three occasions when it was easy to feel remorse and sadness at the passing of a great talent. Indeed, these are three groundbreaking female lead vocalists who passed away far too young.
Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin was one of the greatest vocalists of all time and a victim of the revolutionary 1960s. Like several of her peers, like Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin was a dynamo that was snuffed out far too early. With a voice that could rattle the foundations of houses, Joplin rose to fame thanks to songs like “Piece of My Heart”. Her voice throttled you, shook and stirred you. But sadly, she died on October 4, 1970, at just 27 years old. And with her, the world lost one of the most iconic and rousing rock singers of all time. It just doesn’t seem fair at all.
Amy Winehouse
Looking back on it, the 2000s were a much darker time than we might remember. Not only was there the cloud of 9/11 hanging over everything, but the new millennium also had some real cruelty to it. We saw it up close with Amy Winehouse. The gifted and charming singer was seemingly torn apart in public, right before our eyes. Ridiculed and criticized constantly, propped up for her talent and picked apart for her honesty, Winehouse seemingly passed away right in front of us, each paparazzi shot taking a bit more of her soul. She died at just 27 years old on July 23, 2011.
Aaliyah
Born on January 16, 1979, it didn’t take long for the gifted artist Aaliyah, one of the greatest female vocalists of her generation, to become famous. By her early 20s, she had music videos playing all over MTV, songs on all the pop music radio stations, and she was the apple of many a music fan’s eye. Sadly, though, it couldn’t last. And the pop star Aaliyah died at just 22 years old in a plane crash. Her crew was rushing from one place to the next and overfilled the plane, and it crashed shortly after takeoff. Everyone on board died in the accident, including Aaliyah. Known for songs like “Are You That Somebody”, the pop star passed away far too young on August 25, 2001.
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