6. Elvis Presley - The King Is Dead
By 1973, it was apparent that things were not right with 'The King'. He was totally hooked on prescription drugs and took two overdoses of barbiturates that put him in a coma for a couple of days. Because he got his drugs from doctors, he didn't think that he had a problem. He continued to tour and record but became more and more debilitated. The studios couldn't coax a performance out of him by 1977 and his stage performances were beyond woeful. On August 16th 1977, his girlfriend Ginger found him dead on the bathroom floor. It was an ignominious end for The King, aged a mere 44 years old. After he died, people associated with Elvis crawled out of the wood work to wax lyrical about his drug problem. It was all true, Elvis died due to polypharmacy. There were 14 drugs in his system - 10 at heavy levels. Combined with an enlarged heart, drugs were his downfall. In the first eight months of 1977, Presley's physician issued over 10,000 prescriptions for amphetamines, barbiturates and narcotics for the singer. This doctor would later face sanctions due to over prescribing. In any case, rock n roll excess was Presley's downfall.