For those who hanker for the limelight, be careful what you wish for: shooting to stardom as a lead singer really does raise the risk of an early death, researchers say.

Their analysis of singers from Europe and the US found that those who rose to fame died on average nearly five years sooner than less well-known singers, suggesting fame itself, rather than the lifestyle and demands of the job, was a major driver.

Solo singers who found fame fared worse than lead singers in prominent bands, the analysis showed, presumably because they were more exposed, faced more pressure and had less emotional support through the ups and downs of rock star life.

"It's worrying because it indicates that famous musicians are indeed at risk of a premature death," said Michael Dufner, a professor of personality, psychology and diagnostics at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany and senior author of the study.On average, their lives were 4.6 years shorter, he said.

Every decade has its list of stars whose lives were bright but brief.But when famous singers die young, the media attention is fierce.For this reason, examples came easily to mind, Dufner said."What about the rock stars who live quietly until their old age?"

To investigate whether fame had a bearing on the risk of early death, Dufner and his colleagues identified 324 famous soloists or lead singers and matched them with less famous musicians of the same age, gender, nationality, ethnicity and musical genre.To ensure a reasonable number of deaths, they focused on artists who were active between 1950 and 1990.

When the researchers looked at who had died, and at what age, a clear trend emerged: famous singers typically reached the age of 75, while their less famous counterparts, on average, lived to 79.Band membership was linked to a 26% lower risk of death compared with going solo, but overall, famous singers were still 33% more likely to have died in the years studied than their less famous matches.

The greater risk of death emerged only after singers had shot to fame, reinforcing the suspicion that fame itself was a cause of early death.

Dufner said more work was needed to understand how fame could drive singers to an early grave.The endless public scrutiny, the loss of privacy, the pressure to perform and the normalisation of drink were likely to have an impact, he said.But there may be other factors, such as temperament or bad experiences in childhood driving people who were already at risk to seek out fame.

Asked what the stars of today should do, Dufner said it was important to appreciate how unhealthy the touring lifestyle could be, with deep isolation from close friends and family.He said: "A good measure against these could be to take a step back regularly," meet family and old friends, and "critically evaluate one's lifestyle".