(NEW YORK) -- Though their music may never die, rock, pop and
rap artists do. And according to a new report in the British
Medical Journal, they die young. The study, led by Mark Bellis
of the Centre for Public Health in Liverpool, found that the
average lifespan of American musical superstars in these three
genres is only 45. European stars, meanwhile, don't even make it
to 40 -- they die, on average, at age 39. You don't have to
think very hard to come up with high-profile examples of
musicians who lived fast and died young: Amy Winehouse, Jimmy
Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain are all part of "the 27
Club" -- famous musicians who died at age 27. Whitney Houston
passed away earlier this year at the age of 48. And the King of
Pop, Michael Jackson, lived to celebrate his 50th birthday --
apparently a ripe old age by pop star standards. Bellis said
it's hard to pin down exactly how many years someone's life may
be cut short when he or she shoots to fame in the music world.
That's because "rock god" and "r