While most folks are familiar with the “27 Club,” how well do you remember those popular musicians who never reached their 27th birthday? This is a group of musicians that died too young.

The “27 Club” refers to a group of musicians who died at the age of 27. Death is terrible enough, it becomes almost cosmically conspiratorial when a number of music’s biggest faces all die at the same age. Most people recognize the names Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Amy Winehouse. Devastatingly, four of the seven died in the brief period 1969-1971, while each seemed at the peak of his/her career.

Music, though, has been dealt many deathly blows and some came too early for inclusion in the “27 Club.” Given their youth, such deaths seem even more tragic. Here are just some of the biggest names:

“The day the music died,” as it has been immortalized by Don McLean, took four lives including the two youngest artists on our list.

Ritchie Valens

As a mere teen, Ritchie Valens had already been on The Dick Clark Show, took the stage at New York’s famous Apollo Theater, performed alongside the Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, and Sam Cooke, and had songs that reached number one and number two in 1958 (La Bamba and Donna respectively). Music became so all-consuming, he left high school to pursue his career—a very bright future seemed likely for a kid who taught himself how to play guitar and sing.

Buddy Holly

In 1955, when only 19, singer-songwriter Buddy Holly opened three times for Elvis Presley and later for Bill Haley and the Comets. Like Valens, he appeared at the Apollo, and performed on both American Bandstand and the Ed Sullivan Show. From his myriad musical tastes, Holly wrote and recorded the classic rock hits That’ll be the Day, Peggy Sue, Oh, Boy, and It’s So Easy. Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and Elvis Costello, among many others, attribute enormous influence to his music—Paul McCartney even admitted that he and John Lennon attempted to mimic Holly very early on.

Valens, who won a coin toss for his seat, and Holly, along with the Big Bopper (to whom Waylon Jennings gave his seat because he was ill), boarded a plane after performing February 2, 1959 in Clear Lake, Iowa. The plane crashed minutes later instantly killing all on board. Ritchie Valens was only 17 and Holly just 22.

Selena

The Queen of Tejano Music, Selena, proved enormously popular in both the US and Mexico and among fans of a traditionally male-dominated genre.  Entre A Mi Mundo, Live!, and Amor Prohibido were all enormously successful, multi-platinum albums that reached the Billboard Latin Album charts. Live! Earned Selena a Grammy in 1994 while Amor Prohibido proved one of the best selling albums for 1995, with more than two million copies sold. In addition to music, Selena did some acting in telenovelas and had a cameo in Don Juan DeMarco with Johnny Depp. She was also a fashion designer whose boutiques, according to Hispanic Business, earned in excess of $5 million. The very successful and admired 23-year old was shot and killed by a family friend, who had been embezzling funds, on March 31, 1995.

In 1991, 2Pacalypse Now was released and received less than favorable reviews from then-Vice President Dan Qualyle. The public’s response, however, was a bit more favorable as the album sold 500,000 copies. Me Against the World had three singles make the Billboard Hot 100. It is considered by many to be the turning point in 2Pac’s musical career. All Eyez on Me appeared months after his release from prison. Most critics agree that, here, 2Pac was a different man—aggressive, changed. It reached multiple Billboard charts and sold nearly 600,000 copies in its first week. His final album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, under the name Makaveli, was released late 1996. Tupac wasn’t strictly a rapper. He also had starring roles in five films from 1992-1997 and appeared in another. There are even rumors that, before his untimely death, he was being considered by George Lucas for the role of Mace Windu.

Shakur remains popular and is still highly praised for his abilities. Some refer to him not just as a rap artist, but as the “Gangsta’ Poet” and Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent have praised 2Pac as among the greatest Rap practitioners of all time. Since his death, seven albums have been released, college courses in the US and abroad have studied his work and its impact on culture, and he has been inducted into the Hip Hop and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. Tupac Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996 in Las Vegas and died six days later. He was 25. He was one of the many musicians that died too young.

Otis Redding

Otis Redding, often referred to as the King of Soul, competed in the Douglass Theatre talent shows as a teenager; he won the $5 prize so often (15 times consecutively) he was forbidden from further competition. In 1962, he recorded These Arms of Mine for Stax Records. The single sold 800,000 copies. His first album, Pain in My Heart, was released 16 months later. A very soulful Otis Blue was released in 1965 and included Respect (the Redding-penned song that became synonymous with Aretha Franklin), Ole Man Trouble, and renditions of Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come and the Rolling Stones Satisfaction. The album is still considered a monumental point in the history of soul music. In 1967, Redding was the only soul performer at the Monterey Pop Festival, which featured some of the biggest rock bands of the day. He was slated to close out Saturday night. He told his wife, “It’s gonna put my career up some.  I’m gonna reach an audience I never have before.” That is precisely what he did, with one of the most memorable performances of the entire festival.

Redding returned to the studio at the end of 1967. He had already booked appearances at New York’s Philharmonic Hall and Washington’s Constitution Hall as well performances on The Ed Sullivan and The Smothers Brothers shows for the following year. Redding’s hard work and passionate performances were eliciting a great deal of attention. In November and early December, Redding recorded (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay. Three days after completing the recording, Redding boarded a plane to Madison, Wisconsin. The plane crashed into Lake Momona on December 10, 1967. There was only one survivor. Dock of the Bay was released a few weeks later. It was Redding’s only number one song and the first posthumous release to reach the top spot on the Billboard charts. Otis Redding was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, a decade later, was awarded the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. Not bad for a kid from Dawson, Georgia who never finished high school and died at age 26.

Those listed above are not the only musicians whose early deaths rocked the music world. Other notable young deaths include Aaliyah (22), Ian Curtis (23), lead singer of Joy Division, Notorious B.I.G. (24), and Duane Allman (24) of the Allman Brothers Band.

It seems that music has died many times over and we will never know what these young performers had yet to contribute. This is a group of musicians that died too young.