The death of Amy Winehouse at the age of 27 was a tragedy. She was one of the brightest music stars in years -a brilliant original song writer with a mighty voice & great personal charm. Amy was loveable but troubled. She was as notorious for her messy personal life drug addiction & alcoholism as she was celebrated for her songs & her death in 2011 while shocking was not unexpected. Amy was also the latest in a series of iconic music stars who died at the same young age; starting with Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones whose death in 1969 was followed by Jimi Hendrix & Janis Joplin in 1970 Jim Morrison in 1971 & Kurt Cobain in 1994. All were gifted. All were dissipated. All were 27. The 27 Club was first used as a collective term for these lost souls after a comment by Kurt Cobain's mother. ' He's gone & joined that stupid club ' she said after Kurt shot himself. 'I told him not to.. .' In this ground-breaking book Howard Sounes delivers a detailed & insightful study of Amy Winehouse's life & sets that life in the context of the 27 Club. That six big music stars died at 27 -- along with 44 less well-known names -- is on one level a coincidence. But behind this coincidence Sounes reveals is a disturbing common narrative that explains how these artists met their fate & casts new light on Amy's death in particular.