I don't think there's anything strange about it at all really - from the 1950's onward the number of celebs has been increasing in number. Before then it was mainly Hollywood movie stars and a handful of really famous musical artists. Post 1950's you had the explosion of TV and pop music. During the 60's and 70's there were many times more celebs in existence than there was in the 30's and 40's. After a certain age the chance of dying increases dramatically. Put all of these factors together and it was inevitable that after a certain point the number of celebrity deaths would increase dramatically too. Add to that the proliferation of social media and online news and we are making considerably more fuss about famous deaths, which adds to the perception that there are more of them.

I remember the pre-social media days when you would have those newspaper articles around New Year which paid tribute to all the celebs who had died that year. I would read through those thinking "Oh HE died? SHE died? I had no idea!" Not much chance of that now since every celeb death is hammered down our throats online.

Anyway that's my $0.02. I hear a lot of people talking as if there's some kind of mystical force which has it in for celebs of late. It's nothing of the sort.

comes and goes comes and goes

I think the reason it hits this crowd so hard is because there's a lot of geezers here. The celebs are very close to us in age and their deaths remind us of our mortality. If a guy like Prince dies you have to wonder what your chances are, given that most of us don't live as clean as he did. 
 
Nobody is immortal, and nobody knows when the bell will ring announcing the end of game.

My theory...
 
Abe Vigoda was holding back the apocolypse.
 
We're DOOOOMED!!!!

We're getting older, that's all. More funerals than marriages, it's the way of things.

I still have more posts than songs.
 
Sumpin is rong I tellsya!

The real answer of course is...
 
Boomers. Largest demographic in North America. They are old now and dying of... well... being old.
 
Just like there was a slew of them in the sixties and seventies because they were still in that "young and stupid" period where you are more likely to die of misadventure.
 
So the ones who made it to their early to mid-thirties without kicking it are kicking it now.
 
In another decade or so the rash of old punkers, new wavers and 80's pop stars will begin.
 
After that the grungers.
 
And so on...

Beepster
The real answer of course is...
 
Boomers. Largest demographic in North America. They are old now and dying of... well... being old.
 
Just like there was a slew of them in the sixties and seventies because they were still in that "young and stupid" period where you are more likely to die of misadventure.
 
So the ones who made it to their early to mid-thirties without kicking it are kicking it now.
 
In another decade or so the rash of old punkers, new wavers and 80's pop stars will begin.
 
After that the grungers.
 
And so on...

Will I still be able to post and nag my collaborators though? That's my concern.

Don't worry Baps.
 
I'll spoof your account and zombify the frack out of ya iffen' that's yer wishes.
 
I'm sure the real deal will be haunting these halls for a long time to come though.
 
Perhaps longer than me. lol

Did a celeb die?