15 Celebrities Who Correctly Predicted Their Own Deaths

People are born and at one point in their lives, they die but how many of them saw it coming? How many people can claim to know the time and the way of their demise? Not many but history has witnessed many ordinary folks and even celebrities who knew about the tragic events of their impending doom. The following list chronicles several celebrities who correctly predicted their own deaths:

 

15. The Notorious B.I.G.

With only two studio albums under his belt, The Notorious B.I.G. cemented his status as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of his time. Apart from being a musician, Biggie was also one the leading music figures in the brutal East Coast/West Coast hip-hop feud; representing the former and battling the adversary Tupac Shakur by dissing him and his allies profusely in his music.

“I wonder if I died, would tears come to her eyes?

I want to leave, I swear to God I feel like death is calling me”

Even though Biggie has mentioned dying in several of his songs, what makes the above lyrics so remarkable yet bizarre is the fact that they are from the very last song from his very last album with even more of a peculiar name i.e. “Ready to Die”.

One and a half years after the album’s release, Biggie was involved in a drive-by shooting in Las Angeles and killed by an unknown assailant.

 

14. Dolla

What could have been one of the best and most talented rappers of his generation drastically ended by murder like so many rappers have who believed that violent gang wars and shootouts are a part of their so-called careers? Young and resolute, Dolla was a promising act but was killed by a gunshot at the tender age of 21.

“Waking up in cold sweats having dreams of going out with a bang

My poppa died by the gun, I’ll die by the gun

And if I ever have a son, he’ll probably die by the same”

The irony of his death is surrounded by his claims of dying by a gun that he wrote in the lyrics of his then-unreleased song “Georgia Nights” which was intended to be included in his debut album “A Dolla and a Dream”. Though the agile rapper never had a son, his father did die from a gunshot to the head as an act of suicide.

 

13. Marc Bolan

Lasting only a decade, the British rock band T. Rex still managed to leave an impact in the heart of the underground music industry of their country due to their unique taste in glam rock. The band’s frontman Marc Bolan, unfortunately, died five years after recording the song “Solid Gold Easy Action” for his 1972 Great Hits album which contained the following lyrics:

“Life is the same, and it always will be

Easy as picking foxes from a tree

A woman from the east with her headlights shinning”

While riding a car that was being driven by her under-the-influence girlfriend Gloria Jones, the car lost its control and crashed into a tree. The car accident resulted in the injury of Jones and the death of Bolan.

Those lyrics cover the involvement of the tree and the woman with her headlights shining but what about the fox? Believe it or not, the registration number of the car was FOX 661L.

 

12. “Pistol Pete” Maravich

When NBA Hall of Famer cited “Pistol Pete” Maravich as the best ball-handler of all time, he meant it. With great showmanship coupled with extraordinary athleticism, Maravich made quite a name for himself and is one of the youngest basketball players who have the honor of being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Having the distinction of being the only sportsman on the list, Maravich shares one common thing with the rest: correctly predicting his death.

Having played four years in the NBA, Maravich stated in an interview with Beaver County Times that:

“I don’t want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and then die of a heart attack at the age of 40.”

Six years later, the basketball player was forced to retire due to an injury; completing his ten years. Not only that but while Maravich was playing a pickup game, he also died of a heart attack at the age of forty.

Medical reports discovered that due to a missing heart valve, Maravich should have died at age twenty but lived two extra decades exactly the way he predicted.

 

11. Kurt Cobain

Along with drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain single-handedly brought grunge to the mainstream and changed the music industry forever. Addicted to drugs and chain-smoking, the success of the band met an unexpected halt when the troubled Cobain committed suicide – just like he said he would on numerous occasions. Even after 20 years after his death, the popularity of Nirvana is still breathing.

His prediction about death is associated with two other predictions that he shared with a friend at school at the young age of 14. He predicted that he would become a superstar and it came true as he became one of the greatest rock musicians of all time. Secondly, he predicted that he would get rich and he did with his second album Nevermind.

Lastly, he predicted that he would go out in a blaze of glory like Jimi Hendrix and it, unfortunately, came true as Cobain died of a self-inflicted shotgun to the head.

 

10. John Denver

Singer, songwriter, entertainer, humanitarian, actor, activist, and the list goes on for musician John Denver. His popularity knew no bounds and is heavily considered one of the best musicians of his time. Apart from his interests related to the performing arts, Denver loved flying and was an amateur pilot – a thrilling yet dangerous passion that would be responsible for his death at the age of 53.

“Cause I’m leavin on a jet plane,

Don’t know when I’ll be back again”

Initially titled “Babe, I Hate to Go”, Denver wrote the song “Leaving on a Jet Plane” in 1969 when he was on the verge of success and contained the lyrics mentioned above. 28 years after releasing the song, the veteran musician catastrophically died as his Ruta Long-EZ plane crashed near Pacific Grove, California.

 

9. Mark Twain

Known as the father of American literature, children and adults will forever be thankful to the author Mark Twain for presenting the world with ambitious stories of motivated characters such as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

While it is well known that he pretty much perfected the literature in his country, the same cannot be said about the fact that he accurately predicted the day of his death.

Born shortly after the galactic visit by Halley’s Comet, Twain joked that the next time it came, he would “go with it”. Furthermore, the author believed that God must have said:

“Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.”

75 years later, the Comet Swift near Earth again, and the prediction came true as Twain died the next day due to a heart attack.

 

8. The Ultimate Warrior

Born James Brian Hellwig, the larger-than-life persona of The Ultimate Warrior is one of the most recognizable and feared entities in the sport of professional wrestling. In what would be his last public appearance, The Ultimate Warrior appeared on Monday Night Raw and delivered an eerie promo saying:

“No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized.”

Warrior left the ring thanking his puzzled yet grateful fans who never had the idea that they would be seeing the wrestling legend for the very last time as on the next day, he died of a heart attack.

At least his final days were happy ones as he was not only able to make amends with Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon but also got inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and made an appearance in the company’s biggest event WrestleMania XXX.

 

7. Proof

Childhood friend and a frequent collaborator of Eminem, Proof was not the only one who predicted that he would die. So did Eminem. In the D12 song “40 oz.”, Proof rapped the following lyrics which would set a podium for his demise two years later.

“I’m in the club to beef,

You gotta murder me there”

That is exactly what happened as the rapper was shot four times in the CCC nightclub during a heated confrontation by one of its bouncers. Coming back to Eminem, in the music video for his song “Like Toy Soldiers”, Proof was seldom shown dead as a result of multiple gun wounds – exactly one year before the horrific shooting that took his life.

 

6. Jeff Buckley

Down on his luck but determined to make a name for himself in the music industry, Jeff Buckley had it all to be a sensation. His singing, songwriting, and guitar skills gradually improved as a session guitarist for a decade and even established his band to reach new heights but fate had a different plan for him.

“Asleep in the sand with the ocean washing over

Ah do you meet the one I love and smell the one who loves you

Dream brother, dream brother, dream, dream

Dream asleep in the sand with the ocean washing over“

“Dream Brother” was the last he recorded for his only released album titled Grace and contained the odd lyrics above which would be an image of his untimely death as three years after the release of the song, Buckley died by accidentally drowning in the Wolf River Harbor located in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

5. John Lennon

As the heart of the most commercially successful band in the history of music the Beatles, John Lennon was a force to be reckoned with. His contribution to pop music by pairing with Paul McCartney is equivalent to that of Axl Rose and Slash in rock and roll.

While Lennon never predicted his death using a song, several fans believe that it was documented by the lyrics:

“Living on a borrowed time, without a thought for tomorrow”

from his song “Borrowed Time” – the very first song he wrote while taking a break from the music business.

While the belief seems much doubtful, Lennon hinted at his death in numerous interviews. When the Beatles’ manager was shot, Lennon stated:

“I’m next, I know it.”

When the band was forced to break up due to stress, he exclaimed:

“I don’t want to be dead at age 40.”

When interviewed about how he thought he might die, the musician replied:

“I’ll probably be popped off by some loony.”

On December 8, 1980, Lennon at age 40 was shot five times by a delusional individual Mark David Chapman.

 

4. Lynard Skynyrd

After several mispronunciations of their ridiculous name, the band titled their 1973 debut album (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) to make things right. Do not let the name fool you as the album became two-time platinum. The band was involved in a terrible airplane crash three days after recording the song “That Smell” which contained the following lyrics:

“Say you’ll be alright come tomorrow, but tomorrow might not be here for you.
Angel of darkness upon you.
The smell of death surrounds you.”

Three band members gruesomely died and the band never reached the marvelous status it once had despite the addition and replacement of several musicians.

Not only that but the cover of the album for which the song was recorded showcased three of their six band members covered in flames – the very same three members who died in the airplane crash.

 

3. Abraham de Moivre

The world has seen several musicians predicting their deaths in the form of lyrics but the same being done by a mathematician is extremely rare. That is where the French mathematician Abraham de Moivre incorrectly predicted his death with uncanny accuracy by a doubtful yet very careful calculation.

Best known for developing de Moivre’s formula and his contributions in the field of trigonometry, complex numbers, and normal distribution, the mathematician noticed that he was waking up fifteen minutes late every night.

Intrigued by his sleeping habit, de Moivre predicted that he would die on November 27, 1754 – the day when his fifteen minutes of waking up late every day would add up to 24 hours. When the day came, de Moivre shockingly breathed for the very last time.

 

2. Tupac Shakur

No other rapper represents the reflection of gangster rap culture and iconography better than Tupac Shakur. Born in New York, the rapper was involved in various assaults and ruckus along with his hip-hop group Outlawz. Having been killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, it is safe to say that Tupac saw it coming:

“I been shot and murdered, can tell you how it happened word for word
But best believe niggass gon’ get what they deserve”

The above lyrics are from the song “Niggas Done Changed” which rapper Richie Rich co-wrote with Tupac and was released two months after the catastrophic shooting that results in his death. Having recorded the song not long before the tragic incident, one can only imagine whether Tupac knew the impact of writing the particular lyrics of that song.

 

1. Jimi Hendrix

Undoubtedly the most technical musician to ever play the electric guitar, Jimi Hendrix died more than four decades ago but is still remembered and honored in the world of music by his beloved fans.

In 1965, when the legendary musician had still not achieved a reputable status, Hendrix recorded a song with R&B artist Curtis Knight titled “The Ballad of Jimi” in a New York music studio and dedicated it to a friend having the same name.

“Many things he would try, For he knew soon he’d die.

Now Jimi’s gone, he’s not alone. His memory still lives on.

Five years, this he said, He’s not gone, he’s just dead.”

It turned out that the “friend” was none other than Jimi Hendrix himself as the peculiar lyrics of the song were not a mere dedication but a prediction as Hendrix tragically died by accidentally choking on his vomit exactly five years after the recording of the song.

This sums up our list of 15 celebrities who correctly predicted their own deaths. Did we miss any other popular stars who predicted their deaths? Let us know in the comments below!