Billie Holiday died in the Metropolitan Hospital, New York, on Friday, July 17, 1959, in the bed in which she had been arrested for illegal possession of narcotics a little more than a month before, as she lay mortally ill; in the room from which a police guard had been removed by court order only a few hours before her death, she was 44.
1962: American actress, singer, and model Marilyn Monroe reportedly died of a barbiturate overdose, a class of drugs that artificially induces relaxation and sleep. Though the precise details of her death are still disputed, her death was officially declared to be “acute barbiturate poisoning.”
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones (February 28 1942 – July 3 1969), was an English musician and a founder member of the Rolling Stones. At around midnight on the night of 2–3 July 1969, Jones was discovered motionless at the bottom of his swimming pool, the coroner’s report stated “death by misadventure”, and noted his liver and heart were heavily enlarged by drug and alcohol abuse. As Jones was 27 at the time of his death
1977: Iconic singer Elvis Presley had a long history of prescription drug abuse, having developed an addiction to stimulants during his days in the military. His personal physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos, reportedly supplied pills to Presley during his singing career “without concern for his health,” which eventually led to his overdose-induced death.
On March 5, 1982, John Belushi was found dead in his room, Bungalow #3 at the Chateau Marmount on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California The cause of death was a speedball the combined injection of cocaine and heroin.
Leonard Kevin “Len” Bias (November 18, 1963 – June 19, 1986) was a first team All-American college basketball forward at the University of Maryland. He was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft on June 17, but died two days later from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose. He is considered by some sportswriters to be one of the greatest players not to play at the professional level.
1994: Kurt Cobain, former lead singer and guitarist of the band Nirvana, reportedly died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head that many reports link to a lethal dose of heroin. Like many of the others, Cobain had a history of illicit drug abuse, but upon his death, reports indicated that traces of diazepam, an anti-anxiety medication marketed under the name Valium, was also found in his blood.
1997: Famous comedian and actor Chris Farley was found dead in his apartment of an apparent drug overdose. But according to some reports, no illegal narcotics were found on the premesis, while plenty of prescription drugs were found. A later autopsy revealed morphine and cocaine intoxication as the cause of his “accidental” death.
Michael Kelland John Hutchence (22 January 1960 – 22 November 1997) was an Australian musician and actor. He was a founding member and the lead singer and songwriter of rock band INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997. Hutchence and INXS went on a world tour to support the April 1997 release of Elegantly Wasted, both the album and its related singles having had less chart success than their prior releases. The final leg of their 20th anniversary tour was to be in Australia in November and December. However, on the morning of 22 November 1997, Hutchence, aged 37, was found dead in Room 524 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Double Bay, Sydney
Rapper and producer Russell Tyrone Jones, better known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard, one of the founders of the Wu-Tang Clan, he died two days before he would have celebrated his 36th birthday after collapsing at RZA’s recording studio in NYC. His death was ruled an accident, with the cause a lethal overdose of cocaine and the prescription opiate Tramadol.
Harold Atkins Hunter (April 2, 1974 – February 17, 2006) was an American professional skateboarder and actor. He was best known on screen for his part in Larry Clark’s 1995 film Kids, playing the role of Harold. On February 17, 2006, Hunter was found dead from a cocaine-induced heart attack in his East Side apartment.
2008: Actor Heath Ledger was killed by taking a cocktail of pharmaceuticals prescribed him by his doctors. These included OxyContin, Valium, Xanax, Restoril, Unisom, and Vicodin.
2009: Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop,” died, in part, because of an addiction to propofol, an intravenous anesthetic. He was also said to have an addiction to Demerol, a painkiller also linked to his death. Though prescription drugs eventually killed him, Jackson may have been deliberately drug induced by his “handlers” for quite some time throughout his career as a way to maximize corporate profits.
2011: Singer Amy Winehouse reportedly died of alcohol poisoning, but some reports say that she may have also been taking prescription drugs. Though no “illegal substances” were found in her body at the time of death, official reports appear to omit the actual cause of her death, which strongly points to prescription drugs as a culprit in addition to alcohol.
2012: Whitney Houston‘s death was caused by prescription drugs and alcohol, According to reports, a deadly combination of Lorazepam, Valium, Xanax, and sleeping medications killed Houston before she sunk underneath the water in her bathtub.
