14 Music Greats Who Died Mysterious Deaths

From Jim Morrison to Biggie and Tupac, there's a long line of musicians who've shuffled off the mortal coil under less-than-clear circumstances

Sam Cooke (1964)

Possibly the greatest "pure" soul singer in American history, Cooke's career was on the rise after a string of hits when he was shot to death in a seedy L.A. motel, allegedly by the hotel's manager in self-defense. A great number of alternate theories abound, however, most of which circle around the idea that Cooke may have been murdered: Etta James, for instance, saw Cooke's body before he was buried and maintained his injuries were more consistent with those of a beating than a shooting.

Bobby Fuller (1966)

The "I Fought the Law" singer was found dead in his car only a few months after the song became a hit. His body had apparently been doused in gasoline, and several people indicated the presence of bruises on his body. Initially considered a suicide, Fuller's death was eventually ruled accidental, though rumors circulated that he'd been killed by the Mafia, or, in one more outlandish theory, the Manson Family.

Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones (1969)

The eccentric genius behind some of the most daring sounds on the early Rolling Stones records—including the marimba on "Under My Thumb"—Jones' death was ruled an accidental drowning in his pool (and labeled "Death by Misadventure" by the coroner as a nod to his alcohol and drug abuse), but U.K. investigative journalist Scott Jones pinned Jones' death on a builder named Frank Thorogood, the last person to see the musician alive. Sussex police reviewed the case in 2009 based on his evidence, but decided none of the new information was enough to overrule their initial decision.

Jim Morrison (1971)

Given Morrison's legendary hedonism, considering his death "mysterious" might seem odd. But no autopsy was ever performed on the Doors frontman, and in 2014, Marianne Faithful fingered late drug dealer Jean de Breiteuil as the man behind Morrison's death, administering a too-strong dose of heroin to Morrison.

Paul Williams of the Temptations (1973)

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Williams (top left) was found dead in an alleyway with a gun nearby shortly after an argument with his girlfriend, and had reportedly spoken of suicide to friends in recent months. That said, the coroner's report states that Williams used his right hand to shoot himself in the left side of his head — think about the logistics of that — and the gun used in the shooting had fired two shots that night, only one of which killed Williams.

Donny Hathaway (1979)

Hathaway suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and was known to be not particularly attentive about adhering to his medication routine. Though his career was rebounding from a low point in 1979, he was behaving erratically during a recording session in January, after which he went back to his 15th-floor room at the Essex House Hotel and jumped to his death. Rumors persist that Hathaway owed money to the mob around this time, though it would have been hard to separate his ravings about "white men being after him" from the symptoms of his mental illness.

Gary Driscoll of Rainbow (1987)

Driscoll (left) was found murdered in his Ithaca, New York, home, with no apparent motive. Separating fact from invention is difficult, but there are rumors that there was more than one murderer, the killing was drug-related and perhaps most disturbingly, that Driscoll was either dismembered or flayed alive. It remains an unsolved case to this day.

Chet Baker (1988)

Baker fell to his death from the balcony of a hotel in Amsterdam in 1988. A notorious junkie who was therefore usually in some kind financial struggle, it was easy to assume that Baker's death had some malicious aspect to it. (After all, he was beaten over drugs so badly in the late 1960s that most of his teeth were knocked out.) Drugs were found in his system, and at this point, it is widely assumed that his death was accidental, but given Baker's enduring legend, it's likely to remain a point of rumor circulation.

Cornell Gunter of the Coasters (1990)

Gunter was shot and killed in his car in Las Vegas in 1990. He was shot through the windshield at an intersection, and witnesses reported Gunter arguing with a man from his car shortly before the shooting. No arrests were made and the murder remains unsolved.

Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls (1991)

Like Morrison, Thunders' death was hardly a surprise. But though it was ruled officially drug related, toxicology reports later determined the drugs in his system were not at a fatal level. (Thunders had also been suffering from advanced leukemia at the time.) The room, however, had been ransacked, and Dee Dee Ramone wrote in his autobiography that, "Johnny had gotten mixed up with some bastards … who ripped him off for his methadone supply. They had given him LSD and then murdered him."

Richey Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers (1995)

Edwards had a long history of mental health issues, and went missing in February 1995, just before his band was supposed to fly to the U.S. for a promotional tour. Though his car was found abandoned near a bridge that was a common suicide spot in the U.K., Edwards become one of rock's most famous missing persons for a time, with sightings in tropical islands and India. His sister criticized the police's handling of the case, and his family never had him declared legally dead until 2008, when his status was changed to "missing, presumed dead."

Tupac Shakur (1996)

Shakur's death by shooting incurred its own spate of conspiracy theories. Often rumored as the victim of an inter-gang dispute, some have even fingered hip hop mega moguls of ordering the deed. In his 2011 self-published book, Murder Rap, former LAPD detective Greg Kading claimed to have proof that Sean "Puffy" Combs and Suge Knight were responsible for Shakur's death, and the Los Angeles authorities suppressed the evidence. Combs, however denied the allegations in a 2011 email to L.A. Weekly, writing, "This story is pure fiction and completely ridiculous." Though supposedly one of Shakur's songs contains the hidden message "Suge shot me," there has never been any conclusive evidence linking the rap tycoon to Shakur's death. Knight himself has denied killing Shakur, and even claimed (presumably jokingly) to TMZ in 2014 that the rapper is, in fact, still alive.

Most bizarrely, FBI files released in 2011 revealed that Shakur had received death threats from the Jewish Defense League, an organization characterized as a terrorist cell. In any event, Shakur's murder remains unsolved.

Elliott Smith (2003)

Smith died of what were two seemingly self-inflicted stabs to the heart. However, there were wounds on his hands consistent with defensive marks, and the coroner's report made no mention of typical "hesitation wounds" seen in suicides by stabbing. Detectives concluded his death was "possibly suspicious" at the time, though nothing ever came of a further investigation.