Most people would probably prefer to die doing what they love,
but when that thing is on stage, in front of a crowd, things can get pretty dark, pretty fast.
French singer Barbara Weldens was a rising star before her life was
cut short by a freak stage accident in 2017. The singer had just released her first album,
and was appearing at the Léo Ferré Festival in Goudron, France.
According to eyewitnesses, Weldens put on a terrific show and earned a standing ovation.
She was soaking it all in when she suddenly lurched forward and fell lifeless to the ground.
The singer, who performed barefoot, had stepped on a malfunctioning piece of electrical equipment,
and the resulting shock sent her into fatal cardiac arrest. She was only 35 years old.
One of the most popular and dynamic wrestlers of the 1990s, Owen Hart was part of a wrestling
legacy alongside his brother, Bret "The Hitman" Hart. In May 1999, he was set to
make an elaborate entrance at the "Over the Edge" pay-per-view event as "Blue Blazer",
being lowered from the rafters into the ring via an elaborate wire system. When it came time to do
the stunt, the rigging tragically malfunctioned, sending the Blue Blazer plunging to the mat.
He fell onto the top rope, and then into the ring, which ended his life in front of a live audience.
Britney Spears wasn't the first or last performer to dance with a giant snake
draped around her shoulders, but not all of these singers have survived.
An Indonesian singer named Irma Bule similarly used snakes in her performances,
but one show had tragic results. While performing in Karawang, Indonesia,
in 2016, the 29-year-old was handling a live cobra she'd used for years as a stage prop.
During her second song, the snake bit Bule on the thigh. Assuming that someone
had de-venomized the cobra, she continued performing, and reportedly turned down an
antivenom offered to her. Around 45 minutes later, Bule was still doing
her show when she vomited and began seizing. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Johnny Watson was so skilled at playing his instrument that his nickname was literally "Guitar."
After starting out as a blues piano player in Houston,
he switched to guitar in the 1950s and climbed the R&B charts. Watson
reinvented himself again in the '70s as both a funk pioneer and a '70s style icon.
"Sometimes I feel like the Godfather of Funk because I've been
funkin' so long, you know what I'm saying?"
Always an innovator,
Watson's 1980 single "Telephone Bill" is one of the first-ever rap songs.
Watson toured in 1996, and on May 17th of that year, played a gig in Yokohama, Japan.
Shortly after taking the stage, Watson collapsed and died from
what was later determined to be a heart attack. He was 61.
In March 2015, two of Mexico's biggest stars met in the ring:
Hijo del Perro Aguayo vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. During the match, the legendary Mysterio
delivered a powerful flying kick that sent Aguayo flying. The wrestler's body hit the ropes,
and he collapsed, unresponsive. It took over a minute to realize that it wasn't an act,
and when the on-call doctor reached Aguayo, it was already too late. Unbelievably,
the match continued on with Aguayo still in the ring.
The cause of death was a heart attack, triggered by a cervical stroke, which occurred when the wrestler's neck broke.
Aguayo was arguably the most well-known villain in the AAA. He was 35 years old.
Morphine was one of the most unique alternative rock bands of the '90s,
playing music that was funky, groovy, and vaguely unsettling.
That memorable style was due in large part to singer and bassist Mark Sandman,
who pioneered bizarre, extra-low bass tunings that added a spooky element to Morphine's songs.
The band was performing at an Italian music festival in 1999 when the 46-year-old suddenly
stopped playing and fell to the ground. He was rushed to a hospital, but pronounced dead of a
heart attack in an ambulance on the way there.
He was influential enough that today, a square in Massachusetts is named after him,
as well as a staircase in Palestrina Italy, where he died.
In April 1984, Welsh prop comedian and magician Tommy Cooper appeared on the UK variety show
Live from Her Majesty's. But unfortunately, his act was quickly derailed after an
attractive magician's assistant came onto the stage during his performance.
Cooper suddenly fell backwards, which many took to be an act of impromptu physical humor. But this
wasn't comedy — it was tragedy. The 63-year-old Cooper had suffered a heart attack on live TV.
The director sent the show to an unscheduled commercial break as Cooper was pulled off stage.
He was taken to a hospital, and pronounced dead upon arrival.