Rock Bands That Had Singers Die Early

In the music industry, there are several rock bands that rose to prominence but did not succeed for a long time. The most common reason was that the band members eventually parted ways due to different preferences, but another reason that occurred in some of those groups is that their lead singers passed away at an early age.

Here are some of the rock bands whose singers died way too young,

Alice in Chains
Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley were the first two musicians to front the Seattle-based grunge band, Alice in Chains. Cantrell dominated the guitar playing, while Staley on the other hand, dominated the singing part. Unfortunately, Staley passed away in 2002 at the age of 34.

Soundgarden
The group that brought fans their “Black Hole Sun” and “Fell On Dark Days,” loses its main singer, Chris Cornell in 2017 at the age of 52. Cornell passed away during the time when Soundgarden was just starting to rise to fame again. He passed away in Las Vegas by suicide.

Blind Melon
Undoubtedly, this Los Angeles-based band made a great splash and their iconic tune still rocks out today. However, the band’s existence was tragically cut short when frontman Shannon Hoon passed away in 1995 at the age of 28 due to a cocaine overdose. Although Blind Melon are still active today and are still producing a new album, their presence without Hoon on their side, has changed.

Sublime
Hearing Sublime songs being played on the radio is a popular thing during the 1990s. This Southern California-based band was led by singer-songwriter Bradley Nowell, and was able to produce hit tracks including “Wrong Way,” “Santaria,” “Smoke Two Joints,” “Bad Fish,” and “What I Got.” Sad to say, Nowell died when he was only 28 years old because of a heroin overdose. Although the band tried giving the music a second shot, things didn’t work out the same.

NHC
The band which included Taylor Hawkins on drums and lead vocals, Dave Navarro on guitar, and Chris Chaney on bass did pretty well after releasing their debut EP in 2022. Unfortunately, a few months later, everything came crumbling down when Hawkins passed away while on tour with his other band, the Foo Fighters.

INXS
INXS is an Australian rock band founded in 1977. It was composed of bassist Garry Gary Beers, saxophonist Kirk Pengilly, keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, guitarist Tim Farriss and lead singer Michael Hutchence. Sadly the man who fronted the band for over two decades, Hutchence, died in 1997 from a reported suicide when he hung himself.