Nell Smith, the younger Canadian singer-songwriter who captured the hearts of many together with her collaboration with The Flaming Lips, has died at simply 17 years previous.
Her loss of life on Oct. 5 was confirmed by her household in a press release on Instagram, saying, “It pains us a lot to say that our feisty, proficient, distinctive, lovely daughter was cruelly taken from us on Saturday evening.”
“We’re reeling from the information and don’t know what to do or say,” they continued. “She had a lot extra to expertise and to offer this world however we’re grateful that she obtained to expertise so very a lot in her 17 years. She has left an indelible mark on the phrase and an unfillable chasm in our hearts.”
“Maintain your children additional tight tonight and for now please depart us to work by way of issues. We are going to shout after we want you. Jude, Rachel, Jed and Ike.”
Throughout a Flaming Lips live performance on Oct. 6, frontman Wayne Coyne shared the unhappy information with followers, explaining that Nell had been in a automotive accident.
Earlier than taking part in “Every little thing Has Modified,” Coyne stated: “Now we have a really unhappy announcement to make tonight. Now we have a Canadian pal, her identify is Nell. We recorded a tremendous album together with her three years in the past, an album stuffed with songs by Nick Cave. Now we have some very unhappy messages immediately — she was killed in a automotive accident final evening.”
“We’re reminded as soon as once more of the facility of music and the way encouraging it may be to be round individuals that you just love.”
Nell was making ready for the discharge of her debut solo album in 2025, which had already garnered assist by way of a profitable Kickstarter marketing campaign.
Bella Union’s Simon Raymonde, the top of her label, shared his grief on Instagram: “We’re all shocked and devastated to listen to of the sudden and tragic passing of our artist and expensive pal Nell Smith … Whereas all of us try to come to phrases with the terrible information, and out of respect to Nell’s grieving household, we’re unable to make any additional feedback at the moment.”
Nell’s relationship with The Flaming Lips was nothing in need of extraordinary. The connection started in 2018 when Nell, then simply 12, attended one in every of their exhibits wearing a parrot costume, catching the eye of Coyne.
The second sparked an ongoing friendship between Nell, Coyne and her household. Coyne inspired Nell as she started studying to play guitar, and their collaboration actually took off throughout the pandemic.
When their plans to report collectively have been derailed by COVID-19, Coyne prompt an bold challenge: Nell would report covers of Nick Cave songs, regardless of not realizing a lot about Cave’s work.
The end result was The place the Viaduct Looms, a 2021 album that includes Nell’s haunting renditions of Cave’s songs, backed by The Flaming Lips. Coyne remarked on the time, “It’s all the time nice to satisfy excited, younger inventive individuals. With Nell, we may see she is on a journey and thought it will be enjoyable to affix her for some time and see if we may get issues going.”
Nick Cave himself praised Nell’s work, significantly her cowl of “Woman in Amber,” writing on The Purple Hand Recordsdata in 2021, “This model of ‘Woman in Amber’ is simply pretty, I used to be going to say Nell Smith inhabits the track, however that’s flawed, quite she vacates the track, in a approach that I may by no means do.”
“I all the time discovered it troublesome to step away from this specific track and sing it with its mandatory take away, simply obtained so snarled within the phrases, I assume.”
“Nell exhibits a outstanding understanding of the track, a way of dispassion that’s each lovely and chilling. I simply adore it. I’m a fan.”
Nell Smith’s journey in music could have been transient, however it was crammed with creativity, ardour and a daring spirit. Her collaborations with The Flaming Lips and her distinctive interpretations of Nick Cave’s work made her a pressure to be reckoned with within the indie music scene.
Smith’s passing comes throughout one other heartbreaking second for The Flaming Lips household. The band’s instrumentalist, Steven Drozd, is at present coping with the disappearance of his 16-year-old daughter, Charlotte “Bowie” Drozd.
Each Drozd himself and frontman Coyne took to their social media pages on Monday (Oct. 7) to share a lacking particular person poster of 16-year-old Charlotte “Bowie” Drozd, who has been lacking since round 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. In accordance with the posts, Bowie was final seen on the monorail in Seattle, Washington, close to the House Needle.
Anybody with data is inspired to contact the Seattle Police Division at 206-625-5011 or name Bowie’s mom, Becky.
A model of this story first appeared on Billboard.com.
