Celebrities dying from choking on their own vomit may seem like a peculiar scenario.
However, the cause of death has become so common in celebrity circles, particularly
with rock stars, that it even inspired a running gag in the classic comedy This Is Spinal Tap.
Numerous celebrities have died from choking on their own vomit, and we'll be looking at
the most prominent ones in this video!
Join Facts Verse as we explore celebrities who died choking on vomit.
Jimi Hendrix The first celebrity we’ll be taking a look
at who died from choking on their own vomit is classic rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix.
Jimi died on September 18, 1970, after a long night of partying with his girlfriend.
Jimi had been known to party excessively, and the last night of his life proved to be
no exception.
Sadly, his propensity for partying ended up being what did him in, at the tender young
age of only 27.
Of course, Jimi’s death made him one of the first members of the “27 Club”, which
is a supposed club of celebrities that all passed away at the young age of 27.
Other members of the club include Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, and Amy Winehouse.
In fact, there’s even another person who died at the age of 27 in this video!
While dying at the age of 27 from choking on your own vomit might seem preposterous,
it’s apparently a pretty common thing in the entertainment industry.
In addition to alcohol and marijuana, Jimi Hendrix's body was also found to have contained
sleeping pills at the time of his death.
Sleeping pills seem to have been involved in numerous vomit-induced deaths and may even
be considered a bigger culprit than alcohol and recreational drugs!
After Jimi's autopsy, the authorities questioned whether or not his death had been a suicide,
and also questioned whether or not any foul play had been involved.
Jimi Hendrix had apparently become pretty disillusioned with his life of fame during
the later days of his life, and many wondered if he had taken his own life in an attempt
to escape from this pain.
Alternatively, others speculated that his manager, who was a man by the name of Michael
Jeffrey, might have murdered the legendary musician.
Jimi Hendrix apparently had a life insurance policy out on him worth millions, and Michael
Jeffrey was supposedly the person who got all that money after his death.
Even though Jimi died at the age of only 27, he had lived quite the life!
He joined his first band at the age of 13, and became famous in his early 20s.
Many of Jimi's fellow musicians claimed that he was always fairly shy, and he used drugs
and alcohol as a way to overcome this shyness.
One of Jimi's most fondly remembered performances was at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969,
where the guitarist played a memorably twisted version of the Star-Spangled Banner while
he was said to be high on LSD.
John Bonham Besides Jimi Hendrix, another famous rock
musician that died from choking on his own vomit was John Bonham.
John Bonham was the original drummer of the rock band Led Zeppelin, and it was arguably
his death that was the direct inspiration for the previously mentioned parody in This
Is Spinal Tap.
John’s death occurred almost a decade after Jimi’s on the dot, with his occurring in
September of 1980 while Jimi’s had been in September of 1970.
Obviously, Jimi’s death didn’t teach his compatriots in the music industry much of
a lesson, as otherwise, John Bonham may have decided to keep his partying to a minimum.
Led Zeppelin were preparing for their first North American tour in three years at the
time of John's death.
John had apparently been drinking for a full day beforehand, and the autopsy showed that
there was about 10 times the advised limit of vodka in his system.
John's assistant apparently found him passed out the night of his death and propped him
up with some pillows.
The drummer ended up vomiting in his sleep, and the pillows prevented his body from turning
over and letting the vomit seep out of his mouth.
Instead, the rock musician asphyxiated on it and was found dead the following day.
At the time of his death, John Bonham was 32.
John Bonham had apparently expressed some distaste about his life in the music industry
soon before dying, similar to Jimi Hendrix.
However, it was likewise found that the death had been entirely accidental and that no intention
or foul play have been involved on anybody's part.
The drummer was given a nice funeral with many of his contemporaries in attendance,
including Jeff Lynne and Phil Collins.
Led Zeppelin had already released all of their most iconic material by the time of John Bonham's
death.
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Tommy Dorsey Years before Jimi Hendrix and John Bonham
passed away from choking on their own vomit, another musician from a much different scene
preceded them.
This musician was bandleader Tommy Dorsey, who passed away from choking on his own vomit
in 1956, at the age of 51.
Although no alcohol or recreational drugs were found to be involved in Tommy’s death,
he was found to be under the influence of sleeping pills.
In addition, there was also the fact that he was due in court for a divorce suit only
a couple days later.
Bon Scott Not only is John Bonham far from the only
rock musician to ever pass away from choking on his own vomit, but he wasn’t even the
only rock musician to do so in 1980.
Months before John infamously died from asphyxiating on his own vomit, he was preceded by the original
lead singer of the classic hard rock group AC/DC.
That singer was Bon Scott, who passed away on February 19, 1980.
At the time of Bon’s death, he was 33 years old.
He had apparently been out drinking casually with friends on the night of his death.
He had fallen asleep in his car, and it was here that he ended up choking on his own vomit.
A friend, who was shocked and confused, found his body.
AC/DC was on the rise in popularity at the time of Bon’s death, having recently released
their most successful album up until that point.
That album was 1979’s Highway to Hell, and many pointed out the coincidence that the
man who was singing it may very well have found himself in hell only a year later.
AC/DC had already begun work on their follow-up album to Highway to Hell when Bon Scott died.
They subsequently found a replacement for Bon in singer Brian Johnson.
Brian re-recorded all of the vocals that Bon had recorded for the follow-up album, and
that album ended up being Back in Black.
The album was dedicated to the memory of Bon Scott, and became the band’s biggest hit
of all time.
Kevin Lloyd Not every celebrity that has died from choking
on their own vomit was a famous musician.
Kevin Lloyd was an actor that was best known for his portrayal of the character of Detective
Constable Tosh Lines on the British drama series The Bill.
Kevin passed away in 1998 after battling alcoholism for many years.
Unsurprisingly, it was this alcoholism that led to the television actor choking on his
own vomit.
Despite Kevin’s death, The Bill continued production for many years, with it’s final
episode not ending until over a decade later.
Louie Spicolli The last two vomit victims that we'll be taking
a look at in this video were both professional wrestlers.
Louie Spicolli is the first wrestler we'll be looking at who choked on his own vomit,
and he's also the second member on this list of the aforementioned 27 Club!
Louie was a professional wrestler that had worked with WWF, WCW, and ECW.
In the years leading up to his untimely death, he had a history of battling with substance
abuse problems.
However, those that knew him thought his days battling these demons were over.
Sadly, those close to Louie ended up being wrong about the man overcoming his substance
abuse demons.
After his mother passed away from cancer, Louie relapsed into his old ways and it was
during this period of relapse that he ended up passing away himself.
where he made a name for himself by eventually winning the division’s championship.
Once Crash achieved the title of champion, he defended it relentlessly.
Crash’s time with the WWE was a success, though it had come to an end in 2003.
Mere months after Crash was let go from his contract by the wrestling organization, he
was found dead.
Like all of the previously mentioned celebrities in this video, Crash passed away from choking
on his own vomit.
However, the autopsy actually revealed that Crash’s death had been an intentional one,
with the former wrestler having purposefully overdosed on a drug called Carisoprodol.
While one might have assumed that a celebrity dying from choking on their own vomit was
a rare occurrence, these previously referenced stories prove otherwise!
Now it's time to hear from you: did you know that multiple celebrities have died from choking
on their own vomit, or did you think that was simply a gag from the movie This Is Spinal
Tap?
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