(NewsCore) - A study published in Britain on Tuesday has cast doubt on the belief that musicians are at greatest risk of dying at the age of 27—a theory which experienced a resurgence this year with the death of Amy Winehouse.

The research, which appears in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), said that despite the high-profile deaths of Jimi Hendrix, The Doors singer Jim Morrison, blues guitarist Robert Johnson, Janis Joplin, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, Hole bassist Kirsten Pfaff, Winehouse and a host of other musicians at the same age, there was no proof there was any greater risk for musicians in their 28th year.

Health statisticians led by Adrian Barnett, of the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, put the "27 Club" hypothesis to the test, AFP reported.

They compiled a data base of 1,046 musicians—solo artists and band members—who had a No. 1 album in the British charts between 1956 and 2007, a net that included musicians from all genres. The first person included was Frank Sinatra and the last was Leona Lewis.

During the period under study, 71 of the musicians died, equivalent to seven percent of the sample, but there was no peak at all in deaths at the age of 27.

On the other hand, musicians in their 20s and 30s were two to three times likelier to die prematurely than the general British population.

"The 27 Club is unlikely to be a real phenomenon," the paper concluded. "Fame may increase the risk of death among musicians, but this risk is not limited to age 27."

Among the findings was that the 1970s and early 1980s brought a peak in musician deaths—Hendrix, Morrison, Mama Cass, Led Zeppelin's John Bonham and AC/DC singer Bon Scott among them—with a steep decline since then.

Source: British Medical Journal