Suicide

Popular Canadian songwriter, musician and recording artist John Stromberg commits suicide in Freeport, Long Island, New York, USA, by ingesting Paris Green insecticide. He had suffered severely from debilitating arthritis for several years.

Harvey Logan, also known as Kid Curry, was an American outlaw and gunman who rode with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On this day he shoots himself in the head to avoid capture by law officers near Parachute, Colorado, USA. The song Harvey Logan, recorded in 1963 by Dock Boggs for Folkways Records will be inspired by the outlaw's exploits.

Paul Whiteman And His Orchestra record their version of the song Gloomy Sunday, for Victor Records in the USA. Written in 1933, Gloomy Sunday would quickly acquire a reputation as The Suicide Song because many of those who sang it came to premature ends, and also because many people were said to have committed suicide while listening to it.

Elvis Presley is recalled to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, to re-shoot the ending of Wild In The Country, because pre-release screening audiences did not like the original ending in which Hope Lange committed suicide.

Elvis Presley is in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, re-shooting the ending of Wild In The Country, because pre-release screening audiences did not like the original ending in which Hope Lange committed suicide.

Phil Everly heads the bill on a package tour at The ABC, Lincoln, UK. The show is supposed to star The Everly Brothers, but Don Everly collapsed after a suicide attempt in London's Savoy Hotel. Other acts on the bill include Frank Ifield, Ketty Lester and The Vernons Girls.

Phil Everly heads the bill on a package tour at The Apollo, Ardwick, Manchester, England, UK, Europe. The show is supposed to star The Everly Brothers, but Don Everly collapsed after a suicide attempt in London's Savoy Hotel. Other acts on the bill include Frank Ifield, Ketty Lester and The Vernons Girls.

The Toggery Five release a new single, I'm Gonna Jump, in the UK on Parlophone Records.

Scott Walker of The Walker Brothers is found unconscious in his gas-filled London, UK, apartment. The incident is widely interpreted as an attempted suicide.

Folksinger and folklorist Paul Clayton commits suicide, aged 36, by taking an electric heater into his bathtub with him in New York City, USA. It is said that the 1965 Bob Dylan song It's All Over Now Baby Blue and the 1970 Joni Mitchell song Blue are both said to have been inspired by Clayton.

Johnny Winter records Suicide Won't Satisfy, Blue S uede Shoes and I Wonder If I Care at Andrus Studios, Houston, Texas, USA.

Jackson Browne begins recording sessions for his fourth album, The Pretender, with producer Jon Landau. The sessions will, however, be abandoned on the 25th when Browne's wife Phyllis Major commits suicide.

918 people die in Jonestown, Guyana, South America, in an incident sometimes described as a mass-suicide and sometimes as a massacre. The incident is described in the 2008 song Reverend Charisma by Wedlock. It is worth noting that a band, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, made up its name as a combination of the name of a Rolling Stones guitarist with the Jonestown incident. Other songs inspired by this horrific incident include The Riverflow by The Levellers, Jonestown Mind by The Almighty, Jimmie Jones by The Vapors, Jonestown by Concrete Blonde and Ballad of Jim Jones by The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Ian Curtis of UK band Joy Division attempts suicide by taking an overdose of phenobarbitone.

The M.A.S.H. reach No1 in the UK singles chart with Theme From M.A.S.H. (Suicide Is Painless).

Bob Dylan's close longtime friend Howard Alk is found dead at Rundown Studios, Santa Monica, California, USA. Alk's death is ruled a suicide.

Tommy Kiefer guitarist and founder-member of Swiss metal band Krokus commits suicide by hanging himself on Christmas Eve. Kiefer was a long-term heroin addict.

European singing star Dalida, plagued by depression and a chaotic love life, commits suicide in Paris, France, Europe, with an overdose of barbiturates, leaving a note which reads, "Forgive me, life has become unbearable for me...". She had first found success in 1954 with her international hit single Bambina, and eventually sold over 85m records worldwide.

Lindsay Crosby, actor, singer and the son of Bing Crosby, commits suicide by shooting himself in the head in a Las Virgenes apartment, in Calabasas, California, USA.

Black Metal band Mayhem play in Sarpsborg, Norway, Europe. The show is recorded and will be released as the bootleg LP Dawn Of The Black Hearts, whose cover shows the band's vocalist, Dead (real name Per Yngve Ohlin), after his suicide.

Suicide Blonde by INXS enters the ARIA Singles Chat in Australia at No6. It will peak at No2. The blues harp intro to the song is a sample from a Charlie Musselwhite track.

Underground writer and performance artist Steven 'Jesse' Bernstein commits suicide at his home in Neah Bay, Washington, USA, by stabbing himself in the throat three times with a knife. Despite serious substance abuse issues and mental illness, Bernstein had found a measure of fame because of his recordings with Sub Pop Records and his close relationship with William S. Burroughs.

Darren Burn is found dead, aged 30, on the bathroom floor of his flat in London, England, UK, Europe. Unable to cope with the failure of his teenybop pop idol career, he had taken an overdose of his Dotheipin anti-depressant tablets.

Alan Vega of pioneering electro-punk duo Suicide dies in his sleep, aged 72, in New York City, USA.

Billy Mackenzie of The Associates commits suicide by overdosing on a combination of paracetamol and prescription medication in the garden shed of his father's house in Auchterhouse, Scotland, UK, Europe. Depression and the death of his mother are believed to have been contributing factors. At least two songs will be inspired by MacKenzie, including Cut Here (2001) by The Cure and Say (1999) by The Creatures.

One third of the ashes of Michael Hutchence of INXS are scattered in Rose Bay, Sydney Harbour, Australia, Oceania. The ashes had been split three ways, between his father, his miother and Paula Yates.

Derrick Hand, State Coroner of New South Wales, Australia, Oceania, presents his report into the death of Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS. The report rules that Hutchence's death was a suicide while depressed and under the influence of alcohol and other drugs.

Singer and guitarist Steve Sanders commits suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Cape Coral, Florida, USA. He had found success as vocalist and guitarist with country and gospel music group The Oak Ridge Boys but quit in 1995 because of personal problems.

Police officers in Macon, Georgia, USA, are called out to the home of Ronnie Hammond, lead singer for the southern rock band The Atlanta Rhythm Section. Hammond is threatening to commit suicide and is evidently suffering an emotional breakdown following a broken relationship.

Just Another Suicide by Thunder is released as a single in the U.K. and Japan, Asia. The single is renamed You Wanna Know for the U.K. market as Eagle Records believe that the radio won't play a song with 'suicide' in the title. Ironically, the track picks up more airplay in Japan than it does in the U.K.

Having long suffered from depression, Adrian Borland, founder of acclaimed bands including The Sound, The Outsiders and Second Layer, commits suicide at the age of 41 by jumping into the path of an oncoming train at Wimbledon Station, Wimbledon, London, England, UK, Europe.

A series of four co-ordinated suicide attacks on the USA, usually referred to as The 9/11 Attacks, take place in New York City and Washington, D.C. Terrorists from the Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda hijack four passenger jets and deliberately crash two of them, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Another plane, American Airlines Flight 77, is crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashes into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers attempt to take control before it can reach its intended target in Washington, D.C. Nearly 3,000 people die in the attacks. Several songs will be written about the attacks including The Rising by Bruce Springsteen, Let's Roll by Neil Youn, Wall Street by Van Dyke Parks and This Ain't No Rag, It's A Flag by Charlie Daniels. The track 9-11-01 by Soulfly consists of one minute of silence. Several songs on Trouble Is Real, the debut LP by Johnathan Rice, are about the attacks, including City On Fire, Put Me In Your Holy War, and Salvation Day.

Electronic rock pioneers Suicide play at La Ga

Former Split Enz/Crowded House drummer Paul Hester is found dead in Elsternwick Park, near his home in Melbourne, Australia, Oceania, having hung himself from a tree.

The Age newspaper in Australia, Oceania, reports on the disposition of the estate and assets of Michael Hutchence of INXS, which had been estimated at between $10 and $20m but turned out to contain virtually nothing. The remainder of his estate had been sold off and used to pay legal fees.

Arctic Monkeys release their third single, Leave Before The Lights Come On, on Domino Records in the UK.

Acclaimed and successful novelist, playwright and singer-songwriter Charlotte Greig (aka Charlotte Williams) dies aged sixty, by committing suicide, nine months after being diagnosed with cancer.

This Will Destroy You release the album Another Language on Suicide Squeeze Records in the USA.

Keith Emerson, keyboardist with The Nice and Emerson, Lake And Palmer, is found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Santa Monica, California, USA. He suffered for many years with a painful nerve condition, and was thought to have become depressed.

Professor Green releases a new single, Photographs, in connection with which he requests that his fans should send him photographs of friends and relatives who have died. The song deals with the suicide of Green's father, and how Green wishes he had taken more photographs of his father before he died.