The final resting places of beloved musicians routinely turn into tourist attractions and/or the destinations of musical pilgrimage. You’ve got Elvis Presley’s grave at Graceland, Jim Morrison’s plot at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris, Buddy Holly’s humble marker at Lubbock Cemetery in Texas, Jimi Hendrix’s far more extravagant one at Greenwood Cemetery in Renton, Wash., and many more — including the final resting places of AC/DC vocalist Bon Scott, Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads, Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and even the known location of Frank Zappa’s unmarked grave.
Other musicians are memorialized by markers rather than burial sites — like John Lennon’s Strawberry Fields Memorial in Central Park, near where Yoko Ono scattered his ashes, or Janis Joplin’s plaque on the Golden Gate Bridge down the coast from where her ashes were scattered in Marin County. The exact site where Joplin’s ashes were scattered is said to be Muir Beach, but this is unconfirmed.
It’s a similar story with Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who died Sept. 27, 1986 in a bus crash when the band were touring in Sweden. There is a memorial stone near the site, placed by fans. But, Burton’s actual resting place is on the Maxwell Ranch in Castro Valley, Calif., where he grew up. The ranch was one of his favourite places, so after his funeral Oct. 7, 1986, his ashes were scattered there, with a memorial marker nearby.
It’s these types of places I’m going to examine today — famous musicians whose final resting place has no marker, no designation. I’m talking about those whose ashes were scattered somewhere significant — a place you can visit, but one where the average person would have no idea they were treading on hallowed ground.
Richie Havens is perhaps most famous for being the opening act at the original Woodstock music festival in Bethel, N.Y. Fitting then that that’s where his ashes were scattered following his death in April 2013. The cremated remains were scattered from a plane, along with flower petals while 30 family members and around 1,000 spectators gathered on the ground at the site of the famous three-day concert in 1969:
You can’t visit 7 Zinn Rd. in Danbury, Conn., because it’s a private residence, but that’s where singer-songwriter Laura Nyro’s ashes were scattered outside her bedroom window. The unique mid-century home, which straddles a creek, was photographed for at least two real estate listings since her 1997 death.
If you decide to visit the grave of Jim Morrison, you’ll also be visiting the site where Dead Boys / Lords Of The New Church singer Stiv Bators’ ashes were scattered — or, most of them, anyway, if you believe that his girlfriend snorted some of them first. Scattering his ashes over the grave of The Doors’ lead vocalist was Bators’ wish.
The final resting place of jazz pianist Fats Waller is Harlem — all of it. Waller’s wishes were that he be cremated and his ashes scattered from a plane in the skies above Harlem. So, courtesy of a Black First World War aviator, that’s exactly what happened on Christmas Day, 1943. Like Waller, there are a lot of musicians whose ashes are spread over a vast area. Another example is John Denver, whose ashes were released from a plane over the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
You can’t really pinpoint George Harrison’s ashes, either. The Beatles guitarist died in California on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2001. Five days later, at 3 a.m., his widow Olivia and son Dhani scattered his ashes in the Ganges River in Varanasi, and submerged one of his two urns under the water. The other urn was used in a second ceremony where his ashes were sprinkled off Allahabad, where the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers converge — and according to Hindu tradition, are joined by a third holy river, the mythical Saraswati.
Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Sipollina died on May 29, 1989 from complications related to smoking and a lifelong respiratory illness. The prolific San Francisco musician’s ashes were spread three days later on Mt. Tamalpais in San Francisco, where he went to high school.
If you want to visit the final resting place of singer-songwriter Gram Parsons, you can either visit the Garden Of Memories in Metairie, Louisiana, or head to Joshua Tree National Park. Off California’s Hwy. 62, you can find Cap Rock (above). At its base is where Parsons’ stolen casket was burned. Parsons, a former member of both The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, died of an overdose of morphine and alcohol at age 26 on Sept. 19, 1973. Parsons had supposedly told his road manager Phil Kaufman that he wanted to be cremated at Joshua Tree and have his ashes scattered there. But after his death, his stepfather organized a private ceremony in New Orleans and planned to have him buried there. So Kaufman and his assistant did the only logical thing: They got their hands on a hearse, stole Parsons’ body from LAX, drove it 150 miles to Cap Rock, dumped gasoline on the casket and used a match to light it. The result was spectacular, but only a partial cremation. The two were arrested, received fines, suspended sentences and a restitution order. What was left of Parsons’ body was buried in Metairie.
Not far from Janis Joplin’s memorial is one of two locations where Grateful Dead singer-guitarist Jerry Garcia’s ashes were scattered — at sea, under the Golden Gate Bridge. The other location is in Rishikesh, India, where bandmate Bob Weir scattered them on April 4, 1996.
Since his passing in December, 2015, the ashes of Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister have visited far more locations than two. In April 2024, some were enshrined at his favourite haunt, the Rainbow Bar & Grill in West Hollywood. A larger amount is on permanent display in an urn at Nottingham’s Rock City — delivered there in August 2024 by a convoy of 55 bikers. Both Motörhead’s former road manager and production assistant have tattoos made with ink containing traces of Lemmy’s ashes, and — as per his wishes — several bullets were crafted and filled with them, and given to his closest friends. Judas Priest lead vocalist Rob Halford has one. Some of Lemmy’s ashes were scattered at the Wacken Festival in 2023.
Kurt Cobain also requested his ashes be split up. Following his suicide in April 1994, some were scattered in the Wishkah River in his hometown of Aberdeen, Wash. Another amount was taken to the Namgyal Buddhist Monastery in Ithaca, N.Y., where they were blessed and mixed with clay to make tsatsas (votive statuettes). Widow Courtney Love kept some of Cobain’s ashes for herself, burying a handful under a willow tree in their front yard at 171 Lake Washington Blvd. She also is said to have kept some in a Teddy bear-shaped bag. It’s not clear where these are, but some are reportedly in a safety deposit box in Los Angeles, because Love says they wouldn’t be safe in a cemetery. Approaching the fifth anniversary of his death, Cobain’s mother arranged a memorial during which more ashes were scattered into McLane Creek outside Olympia by Kurt and Courtney’s daughter Frances Bean.
Doug Hopkins, the Gin Blossoms guitarist and co-founder, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound one day after he went to a detox centre intake consult. His ashes were mostly scattered over the edge of the appropriately named Ash Avenue Bridge in the band’s hometown of Tempe, Ariz.
Jimi Hendrix’s ashes were scattered in water as well — specifically in Puget Sound in his hometown of Renton, Wash., just outside downtown Seattle. Similarly, INXS singer Michael Hutchence’s ashes were scattered from a boat during a sunset ceremony in Sydney Harbour on Jan. 22, 1998.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
