Data on the lifespan and some causes of death in musicians of the 20th century are presented in
this article. The mean age of death (MAD) in 20218 male musicians was 67.8 years, whereas the MAD in 4363
female musicians was 71.5 years. Among both men and women, “classical” musicians lived longer than musicians performing jazz, pop, and variety music (6.3 and 9.7 years longer, respectively) and much longer than
rock musicians (21.7 and 30.7 years longer, respectively). Among interpreters of classical music, 10.8% of men
and 21.5% of women survived to the age of 90 years old, these proportions among male and female jazz and
variety musicians were 5.4 and 9.2%, respectively; rock musicians rarely survived to 90 years of age (0.4% in
men and women). Male musicians of the classical genre (9100 persons) lived 3.5 years less then female musicians of the same genre (2339 persons). The MAD of jazz and variety musicians did not differ in men (7974)
and women (1770), and the MAD in female rock musicians (254) was 5.5 years less than that of male rock
musicians (3144). The frequency of suicides, deaths by misadventure, murders, and malignant tumors was
maximal in rock musicians and minimal in classical musicians. The onset of all of these events also depended
on the music genre. The article also presents data on musicians of the 20th century who reached the age of
101 years.
