The entertainment world has always been a hotbed for conspiracy theory and amateur detectives, and rock and roll is no exception. From the Buddy Holly plane crash to the suicide of Kurt Cobain, the deaths of rock idols have often attracted speculation. Among rock’s many mysteries that remain unresolved, the five below have stirred some of the more imaginative conjectures.
Bobby Fuller Is Found Dead in His Car
On July 18, 1966, months after scoring a massive hit with “I Fought the Law,” Bobby Fuller was found hunched dead over his steering wheel. His body had been doused with gasoline, his chest and shoulders were severely bruised, and a finger on his right hand was broken. Investigators somehow reached the conclusion that his death was self-inflicted. Speculation has abounded ever since, centered on the likelihood Fuller was murdered. One theory asserts that he died in a fall during an LSD party, after which his fellow partygoers arranged the setting to establish the appearance of a suicide. Another theory suggests that Fuller's record company had him killed in order to collect on an insurance policy. A 2002 novel by writer John Kaye wove the death into its plot, asserting that Fuller was murdered by the Mafia as some sort of goodwill gesture to Frank Sinatra.
Jim Morrison Dies in a Bathtub in Paris
The official report by Paris police that Jim Morrison died of natural causes (specifically, from a heart attack) is of course ludicrous. But just how did the Doors lead singer meet his end? Conventional thought says that Morrison’s girlfriend, Pamela Courson, discovered Morrison’s body in the bathtub of their Paris apartment. Longtime Doors associate Danny Sugerman says Courson later told him Morrison had mistakenly snorted heroin, believing the powder to be cocaine, and had hemorrhaged from the overdose. But just last year, in a widely circulated interview, Morrison acquaintance Sam Bernett substantiated a long-standing rumor that Morrison died in the restroom of a Paris club called Rock n Roll Circus. According to Bernett, who was present at the scene, a physician at the club determined that Morrison had overdosed. Bernett himself lobbied to call the police, but Morrison's dealers (who were also present) insisted the singer be taken to his apartment, where his body was placed in the bathtub. Bernett’s account has since been confirmed by another club attendant, photographer Patrick Chauvel. Courson herself died from a heroin overdose three years after Morrison succumbed.
Robert Johnson at the Crossroads
The entire life of Delta blues legend Robert Johnson is shrouded in mystery, but two aspects of his brief stay on earth have drawn special scrutiny. The first of these centers on how he learned to play guitar with such brilliance, in such a short time. The assertion that he made a pact with the devil―during an encounter at a crossroads―has been ridiculed as nonsense by Johnson peers Johnny Shines and Honeyboy Edwards. The true explanation behind Johnson’s extraordinary talents is more pedestrian, and more poignant. Devastated by the loss of his young wife, who died while giving birth to their child, Johnson retreated deeply into his art, emerging with transcendent skills that bordered on the preternatural. “His songs are laments of souls too sensitive to face up to the brutal realities of existence,” author Julio Finn has written. “Johnson was a creative genius in every sense of the word, by which I mean he came to embody the art he practiced.” The shadowy circumstances of Johnson’s death, at age 27, have long confounded researchers as well. Edwards and others have maintained that Johnson was poisoned by whisky that had been laced with the pesticide strychnine, and indeed that appears to have been the cause. Pre-eminent Johnson researcher Mack McCormick claims to have once interviewed the jealous husband who allegedly poisoned Johnson, obtaining from the man an implicit admission of guilt.
Brian Jones Drowns in His Swimming Pool
In July 1969, one month after he was fired from the band he started, Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones was found dead in a swimming pool at his home in Sussex, England. The official cause was “death by misadventure.” (Specifically, it was determined that Jones drowned accidentally while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.) As time passed, however, rumors of criminality began to take hold. The most credible centered on speculation that Jones was murdered by a building contractor named Frank Thorogood, who at the time was overseeing renovations to Jones’ residence. That theory gained further credibility when Thorogood purportedly made a deathbed confession in 1994. “It was me that did Brian,” Thorogood reportedly said. “I just finally snapped.” Five years later, in 1999, Thorogood’s alleged confession was further buttressed when Anna Wohlin, Jones’ girlfriend at the time of his death, wrote a book titled The Murder of Brian Jones. Wohlin’s account asserted that Thorogood killed Jones―either accidentally or deliberately―during a dispute over money.
Phil Spector Charged with Second Degree Murder
On February 3, 2003, producer Phil Spector was arrested on suspicion of murdering a 40-year-old nightclub hostess named Lana Clarkson. Clarkson was working as a hostess at the House of Blues in Los Angeles when she met Spector and accompanied him to his home. The fatal gunshot occurred while she was seated in the foyer of Spector's mansion. While awaiting the trial, which began in March 2007, Spector remained free on $1 million bail. When the proceedings got underway, it came to light that on several previous occasions the producer had threatened women at gunpoint. His former chauffeur also testified that, after the shooting, Spector emerged from the doorway clutching a pistol and said, “I think I killed somebody.” The producer’s defense team argued, however, that Clarkson shot herself, and indeed none of Spector’s DNA was found on the discharged weapon. Ultimately, the 12-member jury could not reach a unanimous verdict, although 10 were persuaded of Spector’s guilt. A motion for a retrial is currently being considered by prosecution attorneys.