The Most Notorious Rocker Death Rumors
A handful of pranksters began a hoax announcing Cher's death on January 26th 2012, kicking off with a tweet "RIP Cher: Twitter has a habit of killing people without them knowing." The "RIP Cher" bit ended up trending, proving the original tweeter's point that social media can often be like a bad game of telephone.
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Jon Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi fans received heartbreaking news the other day when it seemed that beloved frontman Jon Bon Jovi had died unexpectedly after paramedics found him in a coma. But the rumor was was proven false when he uploaded this photo to his Facebook page. Dated December 19th, 2011, the caption informed fans, “Rest assured that Jon is alive and well! This photo was just taken.”
In Bon Jovi's honor, here’s a look at nine more of the biggest death rumors ever to hit the music world.
By Annie Reuter
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Paul McCartney
In 1969, an anonymous radio caller to the Russ Gibb radio show on Detroit's WKNR proclaimed Paul McCartney was dead. Additional incidents and rumors of the Beatles’ death were hinted at by supposed clues in Beatles songs. DJs around the world claim whenever they played a Beatles track on the air they received calls about the possibility that McCartney was dead.
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Alice Cooper
A satirical Alice Cooper concert review was published in Melody Maker magazine in the early 1970s. Written as a mock obituary, so many thought Cooper had actually died that he issued a statement where he reassured them that, “I’m alive, and drunk as usual.”
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Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake
During the height of the boy band and pop princess era in 2001, a report surfaced that Britney Spears died in a car crash and then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake was critically injured in the wreck. Radio station KEGL in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas broke the news as a joke while television stations around the Dallas area received hundreds of phone calls. Once the rumor was proven false, the two DJs were fired.
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Kurt Cobain
While in Rome in March 1994, the Nirvana frontman overdosed and went into a coma – but was reported dead by CNN. He woke up moments after the breaking news report aired. A month later, he committed suicide.
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Lou Reed
An email was sent out to hundreds of media outlets in 2001 that announced Lou Reed was found dead in his apartment. Disguised to resemble a news briefing from Reuters, the hoax email claimed he died of an overdose. His publicist later confirmed the rocker was in fact alive.
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Lil’ Kim
A death rumor about rapper Lil’ Kim surfaced after Twitter users mistakenly referred to deceased North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as “Lil Kim.” Meanwhile, Twitter feeds everywhere were filled with, “Is Lil’ Kim dead?”
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Mick Jagger
In February, Mick Jagger found himself the target of a Twitter death hoax when #RIPMickJagger was trending for a day.
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Justin Bieber
In January 2010, buzz began to circulate about Justin Bieber’s sudden death. The teen heartthrob hadn’t updated his Twitter account in 14 hours so his fans assumed he was no longer with us. Soon after, he took to Twitter to let his fans know, “oh yeah…and it feels so good to be alive. haha.” This past summer, it was rumored he died in a car crash.
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Fats Domino
In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, Fats Domino was rumored to have drowned when graffiti on his home in New Orleans' Ninth Ward read, “R.I.P. FATS, you will be missed.” In fact, he survived when rescue workers took him out of the city by boat. A few days after Katrina, Domino resurfaced and said he evacuated to a friend’s home in Baton Rouge.