There are plenty of artists who might want to do what they love until the day they die, but dying in the middle of a performance is not the way most people want to go out. Even if the performer quickly finds peace, the audience will be thrown into a state of confusion and horror, and they might just assume it's part of the act at first. Sadly, all of these performers died right in the middle of the show, and many of them were quite young when they did it. Let's take a look at some performers who died in front of their audiences.
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00:00While the idea of a performer collapsing into the arms of a loving audience has a certain
00:05romantic appeal, in real life it can be pretty horrifying.
00:08For one reason or another, these performers died in front of their audiences, unexpectedly
00:13taking their final bows.
00:14Nick Menza was a drummer best known for his work with Megadeth, playing on highly regarded
00:18albums like Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction.
00:21Apart from Megadeth, Menza also played with the bands Memorain, Fear Assembly, Orphan
00:26to Hatred, and OHM.
00:28It was during a gig with OHM in May 2016 that Menza's heart gave out.
00:32The 51-year-old collapsed on stage during the third song of the band's set at a show
00:36in Studio City, California, and he was pronounced dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital.
00:41On December 8, 2004, in Columbus, Ohio, Dimebag Daryl Abbott was on stage with the rock band
00:47Damageplan, which he'd formed with his brother Vinny after the breakup of their previous
00:51band Pantera.
00:52Just 90 seconds into their set, a 25-year-old ex-Marine named Nathan Gale made his way onto
00:57the stage with a gun, opening fire on Abbott and others.
01:00Abbott died as a result of his injuries, along with three others.
01:03Gale, whose mother said he was discharged from the military due to mental health issues,
01:07also died that night, being shot and killed by a police officer.
01:11Though several theories about Gale's motivations have been floated, none could be conclusively
01:15proven, leaving the deaths a senseless tragedy.
01:18As an original member of Boston, drummer John Sib Hashian played on two of the best-selling
01:23rock albums of the 70s, Boston and Don't Look Back.
01:26The success of the band allowed him to keep working as a drummer for the rest of his life.
01:30Decades after the height of Boston's success, Hashian joined the classic rock nostalgia
01:34circuit, booking a spot on the Legends of Rock cruise.
01:37While performing at sea with the band Dirty Water in March 2017, Hashian collapsed behind
01:42the drums during a set, dying of a heart attack at age 67.
01:45He had been diagnosed with kidney cancer just months before his death.
01:49Gustav Bergland, also known as Colonel Bruce Hampton, has been called the grandfather of
01:53the jam band scene.
01:54A lifelong musician, Hampton played funky guitar music with many avant-garde rock bands,
01:59including the Quark Alliance, the Late Bronze Age, and the Hampton Grease Band.
02:03In May 2017, many of Hampton's peers descended on Atlanta for a concert in his honor, taking
02:08place the day after Hampton turned 70.
02:11But the All-Star Jam session unexpectedly turned from a celebration to a send-off when
02:15Hampton collapsed during the show.
02:17As a teenage guitar wizard named Taz Niederauer showed off some tasty licks, Hampton fell
02:22to the ground, resting his arm on a speaker, as the performers on stage continued to play
02:26for several minutes.
02:27As musician Reverend Jeff Mosier later wrote in a Facebook post, the performers thought
02:31Hampton had fallen to his knees in a where-not-worthy gesture toward Niederauer.
02:36Hampton died that night in an Atlanta hospital.
02:39In April 1984, Welsh prop comedian and magician Tommy Cooper appeared on the U.K. variety
02:44show Live From Her Majesties, but his act was derailed by a sudden crisis.
02:48After an attractive magician's assistant came onto the stage during his performance,
02:52Cooper suddenly fell backwards, which many took to be an act of impromptu physical humor.
02:57But this wasn't comedy, it was tragedy.
02:59The 63-year-old Cooper had suffered a heart attack on live TV.
03:02The director sent the show to an unscheduled commercial break as Cooper was pulled off
03:06stage.
03:07He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead upon arrival.
03:10One of the most popular and dynamic wrestlers in the WWE in the 1990s, Owen Hart was part
03:15of a wrestling legacy alongside his brother, Bret the Hitman Hart.
03:19In May 1999, he was set to make an elaborate entrance at the over-the-edge pay-per-view
03:23event, being lowered from the rafters into the ring via an elaborate wire system.
03:28But when it came time to do the stunt, the rigging tragically malfunctioned, sending
03:32the blue blazer plunging to the mat.
03:34He fell onto the top rope and then into the ring.
03:3716,000 people in Kansas City's Kemper Arena went quiet with horror as announcer Jim Ross
03:41told the crowd that Hart's fall was not scripted.
03:44Fans watching the event on TV didn't see the actual fall.
03:48Instead, the broadcast was showing highlights of Hart's past matches to build up drama before
03:52his big entrance.
03:53Hart, who had recently celebrated his 34th birthday, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
03:59Tiny Tim was one of the most unique performers to ever score a hit record.
04:02A tall, stringy-haired man with a penchant for singing in a high, lilting voice, his
04:06version of an old standard called Tiptoe Through the Tulips hit No. 17 on the Billboard Pop
04:11Chart in 1968.
04:13On November 30, 1996, Tiny Tim played a benefit show for the Women's Club of Minneapolis.
04:18During a performance of his most famous song, the musician abruptly stopped playing, then
04:22told his wife he didn't feel well.
04:24Then the 64-year-old performer collapsed, dying a few hours later at a Minneapolis hospital
04:28likely of cardiac arrest.
04:31Morphine was one of the most unique alternative rock bands of the 90s, playing music that
04:35was funky, groovy, and vaguely unsettling.
04:37That memorable style was due in large part to singer and bassist Mark Sandman, who pioneered
04:42bizarre, extra-low bass tunings that added a spooky element to Morphine's songs.
04:46The band was performing at an Italian music festival outside of Rome in 1999, when the
04:5146-year-old suddenly stopped playing and fell to the ground.
04:54He was rushed to a hospital, but pronounced dead in an ambulance on the way there.
04:59French singer Barbara Weldens was a star on the rise before her life was cut short by
05:03a freak stage accident.
05:04In 2017, the singer had just released her first album, the success of which made her
05:08a big draw for the Leo Ferre Festival in Gujran, France.
05:12According to eyewitnesses, Weldens put on a terrific show and earned a standing ovation.
05:16She was soaking it all in when she suddenly lurched forward and fell lifeless to the ground.
05:21The singer, who performed barefoot, had stepped on a malfunctioning piece of electrical equipment,
05:25and the resulting shock sent her into fatal cardiac arrest.
05:28She was only 35 years old.