Jimi Hendrix

The picture of this iconic figure in a deep pink bandana playing the Star Spangled Banner at the Woodstock music festival in 1969 remains one of the most enduring images in the history of rock music. The American guitarist, singer and songwriter had to his credit runaway hits like Purple Haze, Foxy Lady and Bold As Love. On September 18, 1970, Hendrix was found dead in a London hotel. He was believed to have died in bed after consuming wine and nine Vesperax sleeping pills and then said to have asphyxiated on his own vomit. Hendrix was 27.

Jim Morrison

When this sexy rock star sang Come On Baby Light My Fire with his eyes closed and the shock of curly hair like a halo around his face, thousands sighed and more dreamed of being him. They still do. The singer, poet and filmmaker front-man of The Doors is widely believed to have killed himself with a heroin overdose. Morrison was 27 when he died on July 3, 1971. The official account states that his girlfriend Pamela Courson found him dead in a bathtub in his apartment in Paris. However, no autopsy was performed as French law deemed it unnecessary if there was no evidence of foul play. The medical examiner claimed to have found no such evidence. Courson was later said to have confessed that Morrison had inhaled heroin thinking it was cocaine. Morrison’s unassuming grave at the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise in Paris continues to be the most visited place in the cemetery.

Judy Garland

The Minnesota-born Grammy, Tony and Special Academy award winning songster and actress, best remembered for her endearing performances in films like The Wizard of Oz and Easter Parade and several on-stage shows, died at the age of 47 in London in 1969. The killer: “accidental barbiturate poisoning” — an overdose of sleeping pills. Garland’s life was one big roller-coaster ride that saw her climb the peaks of stardom during her MGM days and descend to a hellish abyss of depression, probably resulting from “money problems”.

Elvis Presley

The King of Rock and Roll. The King. The man with a smooth voice that still sends a shiver down your spine when he sings Can’t help falling in love with you in the background of a romantic comedy. The King was known to abuse prescription drugs and was dependent on pills like placidyl and dexedrine. On August 16, 1977, Elvis was found lifeless on the floor of his bathroom by his fiancee Ginger Alden. According to the medical investigator, he had “stumbled or crawled several feet before he died”. One report on his death said that 14 drugs were found in his system out of which 10 were present in large quantities. Some of his followers still believe he is alive and is often sighted in different parts of the world. Such is the way of faith.

So was Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, when he died in 1994. But it was not from an overdose, though he was a heroin addict. The official reason behind his death was that he shot himself, but there is still speculation about whether it was suicide or murder.

Janis Joplin

The wild-haired woman with a wide grin and a voice to die for. The one who convinced you that it was okay to ask the lord to buy you a Mercedes Benz. Joplin with her funky bracelets and a heart tattooed on her left breast made the girl rocker cool. Her powerful, raspy voice was behind classics like Summertime and Bye Bye Baby. She was found dead in her room in a Los Angeles hotel in 1970. She had overdosed on heroin and had possibly combined it with alcohol. And yes, Joplin was 27 when she died.

Marilyn Monroe

The legend among sex symbols. The first among blonde bombshells. A stylish cloud of golden hair, bright red lips and that mole on her left cheek. The Los Angeles-born Norma Jeane Mortenson remains an enigma till date, her death adding to it. The star of films like The Seven Year Itch and Bus Stop was found dead in her Brentwood house in 1962, with an empty bottle of Nembutal sleeping pills by her side and the phone in her hand. Though the cause of her death was drug overdose, no one seems to know under what circumstances she died, with speculation still going on about whether it was murder or suicide, for many important men had a stake in her life — or death. She was 36.

Anna Nicole Smith

Hers is the classic case of a slow but early burnout. The 39-year-old buxom blonde, best known as a Playboy Playmate, breathed her last at a hospital in South Florida in February 2007 after an “accidental overdose of prescription drugs”. She was found unconscious at a Hollywood hotel. Autopsy reports said that she had consumed a concoction of nine different kinds of drugs. Then began the murky drama about the paternity of her child.