Random Most Suspicious Musician Deaths (12 items)

• 

  (#1) Elliott Smith

  • Dec. at 34 (1969-2003)

  Despite the singer's history of suicide attempts and substance abuse, Elliott Smith's death continues to raise questions years later. Smith's girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba, found the musician in their Los Angeles apartment in October 2003. He had two stab wounds in his chest and a nearby note.

  Although authorities ruled his death a suicide, some believe Smith may have been murdered. Smith's friends, including club owner Mark Flannigan, have expressed suspicions over his death.

  "I don't believe the guy stabbed himself in the chest," Flannigan said in an interview with The Guardian. "It just doesn't add up. I wouldn't be surprised if someone else did this. He was doing drugs with lowlife scum. He was around a lot of creepy people - some very negative, dangerous people." 

  After reviewing the coroner's report, many began to wonder whether Chiba stabbed him to death. The couple was in the middle of an argument when Smith allegedly committed suicide. The coroner noted wounds on his hands that could indicate self-defense and also said there were no "hesitation wounds" before the chest trauma that took his life.

  Chiba insists that she locked herself in the bathroom while they were arguing, opening the door when she heard a scream to find him with a knife in his chest. Authorities still consider Smith's death a suicide. 
• 

  (#2) Bobby Fuller

  • Dec. at 23 (1942-1966)

  Bobby Fuller, who wrote and recorded the hit, "I Fought The Law," died under suspicious circumstances on July 18, 1966. The singer's mother found him unresponsive in the front seat of her car. Authorities ruled the death accidental asphyxiation, though fans continue to debate whether it was a tragic mishap or something more sinister.  

  Fuller's body had been doused in gasoline and there was a gas can nearby. The medical examiner marked both accident and suicide on the death report, though several questions about Fuller's suspicious state remained unanswered. 

  Years later, Fuller's brother and bass player, Randy, claimed Roulette Records owner Morris Levy, who had mafia ties, was responsible for Bobby's death. Randy Fuller believes his brother was trying to get out of a deal with the label and lost his life because of it. 
• 

  (#3) Sam Cooke

  • Dec. at 33 (1931-1964)

  Hotel manager Bertha Franklin shot and killed legendary R&B singer Sam Cooke under suspicious circumstances at a Los Angeles motel in 1964. Franklin claimed Cooke barged into the reception office and attacked her - causing her to shoot him in self-defense.

  On the night of the shooting, a young woman named Elisa Boyer met Cooke at a restaurant and accompanied him to the Hacienda Motel, where she claimed the singer tried to sexually assault her. She allegedly fled to the manager's office with Cooke in pursuit. He demanded that Franklin tell him where the young woman went. When a fight broke out, Franklin fired three times, shooting Cooke once in the chest. Authorities ruled the death a justifiable homicide.

  After Cooke's death, many questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. A month later, Boyer was arrested for prostitution. Franklin, whose own criminal record included time as a madam, unsuccessfully sued Cooke's family.

  To this day, many believe Cooke's death was a pre-planned murder. Some suspect his wife, Barbara, of being involved, while others think that Boyer and Franklin plotted to kill the singer together.
• 

  (#4) Brian Jones

  • Dec. at 27 (1942-1969)

  Former Rolling Stones rocker Brian Jones was famously found dead in a swimming pool at his home in Sussex, England, in 1969, shortly after the band booted him. At the time, medical examiners ruled the incident "death by misadventure," citing a liver swollen from years of alcohol and drug abuse as a partial factor.

  One theory among fans asserts that Frank Thorogood, a builder working on Jones's property, may have killed him. The theory gained popularity after Thorogood allegedly confessed to the murder on his deathbed in 1993. 

  Investigators reviewed the investigation in 2009 after journalist Scott Jones (no relation to the musician) handed over 600 pages of documents related to Brian Jones's death. The reporter asserted the death "was not fully investigated." 
• 

  (#5) Donny Hathaway

  • Dec. at 33 (1945-1979)

  Soul singer Donny Hathaway had a long life ahead of him when he died at age 33. The singer earned notoriety for his collaborations with Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield before releasing his first solo single in 1969. The coroner's office ruled his January 1979 death a suicide, though rumors quickly swirled that he may not have killed himself.

  Hathaway, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, allegedly jumped from the 15th floor of the Essex House hotel in New York, dying upon impact. Friends said he was in good spirits that day after working with his frequent collaborator Roberta Flack.

  "We had just left her Central Park West apartment and were back in our rooms for the evening. He hadn't been drinking heavily or taking drugs of any sort," Hathaway's business associate Edward Howard said at the time. 
• 

  (#6) Tupac Shakur

  • Dec. at 25 (1971-1996)

  Tupac Shakur's death is one of the most legendary unsolved murders of all time - and remains a fascinating chapter in the East Coast-West Coast rap war. In 1996, an unknown assailant shot and killed Shakur in a storm of gunfire in Las Vegas. Numerous theories have attempted to explain the murder, but one confession has shed light on the case.

  Keffe D, a former gang member whose real name is Duane Keith Davis, claims to have been in the car with the killer on the night of Shakur's death.

  "People have been pursuing me for 20 years. I’m coming out now because I have cancer, and I have nothing else to lose. All I care about now is the truth," he explained in an interview. When asked who shot the gun, Davis kept his mouth shut.

  "Going to keep it for the code of the streets," he said. "It just came from the backseat, bro." 
• 

  (#7) The Notorious B.I.G.

  • Dec. at 24 (1972-1997)

  Christopher Wallace, AKA The Notorious B.I.G., was Tupac Shakur's biggest rival - and was eerily murdered just a few months after his former friend. Biggie's case also remains unsolved, though his mother told the Daily Mail she knows who killed her son:

  I have a very good idea who murdered Christopher, and I genuinely believe that the LAPD knows exactly who did, too. They’ve done their investigation, but they just refuse to move forward. I don’t know why they haven’t arrested who was involved. It seems to me that it’s one giant conspiracy, and someone is definitely being protected somewhere down the line. 

  Despite the theories surrounding Biggie's death, the rapper's killer has never been caught, and the case remains unsolved. 
• 

  (#8) Richey Edwards

  • Dec. at 27 (1967-1995)

  Manic Street Preachers' Richey Edwards mysteriously disappeared on February 1, 1995, and was never seen or heard from again. For over two decades, his family and former bandmates anguished over his disappearance - even though he was legally declared dead in 2008. Authorities believe he took his own life by jumping from a toll bridge, although his body was never found.

  Police told the family that Edwards paid the bridge toll at 2:55 p.m. before jumping to his death. Decades later, investigators determined that the toll receipt was actually for 2:55 a.m.

  "We were appealing to people to have seen him at certain times that day when actually those times are meaningless now," sister Rachel Edwards explained. "We are hoping that it will establish a new line of inquiry because this is vital information that changes everything and turns it all on its head and needs to be looked at again." 

  Edwards' body was never recovered, and the case remains open despite the rocker being legally assumed dead. 
• 

  (#9) Darrell Banks

  • Dec. at 32 (1937-1970)

  Stax Records artist Darrell Banks was just gaining fame when an off-duty police officer killed him in 1970. The soul singer was shot by officer Aaron Bullock, who was reportedly sleeping with Banks' girlfriend.

  Bullock and Banks crossed paths when the officer dropped Marjorie Bozeman off at work - and Banks was there waiting for her. A struggle ensued and ended with Bullock fatally shooting the singer in the neck. Banks, who had two full-length albums out at the time and was moving up the Billboard charts, died in the hospital. 

  The singer's grave was unmarked until 2004, when the founder of a soul music website raised money to provide a headstone. 
• 

  (#10) Gary Driscoll

  • Dec. at 41 (1946-1987)

  In 1987, Rainbow drummer Gary Driscoll was found dead at a friend's house in Upstate New York. Various reports claim that Driscoll's body had been dismembered and possibly flayed.

  Other rumors point to a satanic ritual or drug deal gone wrong. Investigators' lead suspect fled the country after questioning, and the murder remains unsolved. 
• 

  (#11) Kurt Cobain

  • Dec. at 27 (1967-1994)

  In the two decades since the incident, Kurt Cobain's alleged suicide has become one of the most talked-about musician deaths of all time. Recently, a longtime Cobain conspiracy theorist attempted to acquire photos of the rock star's death scene, but was rejected by the Washington Court of Appeals.

  "I have never seen these graphic and disturbing images, nor do I ever want to," Cobain's wife, Courtney Love, said in a statement. "Certainly, public disclosure would reopen all my old wounds, and cause me and my family permanent - indeed, endless and needless - pain and suffering, and would be a gross violation of our privacy interests."

  The conspiracy theorist in question, Richard Lee, has tried to prove for years that the Nirvana frontman was killed. 
• 

  (#12) Paul Williams

  • Dec. at 34 (1939-1973)

  Paul Williams, the co-founder of The Temptations, died in 1973 just after beginning work on a solo album. He was found in a Detroit alley with a gun near his body. While authorities ruled his death a suicide, theories have floated for years that he was murdered. 

  Williams, who suffered from sickle cell anemia, also abused alcohol later in life. His death remains a mystery to this day, although some look to his health struggles and alcoholism as possible factors in his suicide - if it was suicide.

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