It occurred to me, that starting right around the mid-60s and 70s, as entertainment became more ingrained in our culture with Television and music, that the sheer number of celebrities grew tremendously during that period, so now, there are many more celebrities passing away than what we've seen before, and it's only going to continue.
That, and the fact that and you and I are closer to death ourselves so therefor the people that are dying are more familiar to us.
Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner dead at 74