Anna - I'm not sure that probability stat holds up as you narrow the sample-group towards the entertainment end of the spectrum Jimi Hendrix' death has never been completely explained, but I don't think too many people are clinging on to the belief that it was a slip on some milk or a knife in the toaster No one heard the news about Janis Joplin and thought "how could this be???" Well, not no-one but you get my drift If Shane McGowan kicks the bucket tomorrow, and police say there was no unusual activity, we can still say with a fair degree of certainty that it was drink what done it None of this is to trample on the man's grave. I don't think anyone cares he was gay and if it turns out he died because of alcohol poisoning or drugs or something a bit more salacious than slipping on a floor I won't think any less of the guy. But there isn't a pop star in the world, straight or gay, who lived their life in public and gossip columns, who won't be the subject of speculation if they die young. Nature of the business and nothing at all to do with being gay