For 21 seasons across as many years, American Idol has been inspiring dreamers to chase after fame, and inspiring Black Mirror writers to dunk on them for it. Untold thousands of hopeful performers have shown up to audition, hoping for their shot at notoriety, celebrity, and the love of the public.
Time is a one-way street, and fame is difficult, and tragically, inevitably, there have been losses. Here’s a bleak but straightforward look at every contestant in American Idol history who’s passed away.
Michael Johns
The very first American Idol contestant to pass away, Michael Johns appeared on the reality series during the 2007-2008 season, doing well enough that he made it into the year’s Top 8 contestants. Six years after the finale, after experiencing some mild success as a recording artist, he died as a result of dilated cardiomyopathy and liver damage. The Australian singer was 34.
CJ Harris
Rushed to a hospital in his home town of Jasper, Alabama on January 15, 2023, 31-year-old American Idol contestant C.J. Harris did not respond to attempts by doctors to perform CPR. After nation-wide tours and performances in some of the most iconic venues in America, the sixth-place finisher was pronounced dead, with Deadline later reporting his cause of death as a massive heart attack.
Willie Spence
Willie Spence made waves as American Idol’s season 19 runner-up at just 22 years old, shattering the judges’ expectations during his audition. The next year, in October of 2021, Spence was involved in a vehicle collision in Tennessee’s Marion County, veering off the road and into the back of a tractor trailer. The 23-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nikki McKibbin
Finishing in third place during the very first season of American Idol, Nikki McKibbin was part of a unique club. Sadly, fame never seemed to stick to her the way that it did with first and second-place winners Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, and she struggled both with finding a professional foothold, and issues with sobriety. On November 1, 2020, she passed away after suffering a brain aneurysm four days earlier. She was 42.
Haley Smith
After a brief but memorable audition during American Idol’s 11th season, Haley Smith was sent home. Seven years later, she was riding her motorcycle in Millinocket, Maine late at night in early September of 2019 when she lost control of the vehicle, crashing. She died as a result of the collision, only 29 years old.
Leah LaBelle
On January 31, 2018, third season American Idol contestant Leah LaBelle was riding in the passenger seat of boyfriend Rasual Butler’s Land Rover. Both LaBelle and Butler were later found to have had amphetamines, painkillers, and alcohol in their systems when Butler, driving more than twice the speed limit, careened into a stripmall parking lot, flipped the car two times. Both were pronounced dead at the scene owing to multiple traumatic injuries. Butler was 38 at the time of his death, and LaBelle was 31.
Rickey Smith
At around 3 in the morning on Friday, May 6, 2016, 36-year-old American Idol finalist Rickey Smith was driving on the highway outside of Oklahoma City when a pickup truck struck him head-on driving the wrong way. The man driving the truck would later plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter charges, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Marque “Tate” Lynche
Marque “Tate” Lynche had already tasted fame when he competed during the third season of American Idol. As a kid, he’d been a part of the All New Mickey Mouse Club, performing alongside some of the future biggest stars of his generation. Following heavily publicized struggles with addiction and stints in rehab, on December 5, 2015, he was found dead at his apartment in New York from what would later be diagnosed as acute alcoholism. He was 34.
Joanne Borgella
In October of 2013, American Idol contestant Joanne Borgella announced on social media that, following a series of severe headaches, she had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that had spread to her brain. A year later, she lost her fight with the illness, passing away at 32 years old.