1. Jimi Hendrix – He was 27 years old and he had already all but invented heavy metal and changed forever how the electric guitar was played.
2. George Gerhswin – Wrote the only great American opera and dead befor 40.
3. Buddy Holly – Had just begun exploring orchestrated pop music.
4. John Lennon – Between his avant garde instincts, ability to make the politcal deeply subjective and infallible pop music instincts, there was so much we never got to hear.
5. Mozart – Was 35 years old, and would be higher on this list only 35 then isn't 35 now.
6. Kurt Cobain – What a ridiculous waste.
7. Big L – On the verge of becoming one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was shot dead.
8. Amy Winehouse – Sad to have her name on this list.
9. Biggie Smalls – A devastating loss for rap -perhaps the greatest rapper of all time.
10. Jeff Buckley – So beautiful, so young, such a voice.
Some other losses: Bobby Fuller, Janis Joplin, Gram Parsons, Jim Morrison, Tupac Shakur