Duncan Sheik, the singer-songwriter behind the 90s alt-pop touchstone Barely Breathing and the composer of the Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening, died on Thursday at a Manhattan hospital. His death, from organ failure, was confirmed to the New York Times by his mother Suzanne Sheik. According to Sheik’s social media, the musician was in and out of the hospital over the last month.
On 20 August, he posted a photo captioned: “I would prefer to be home making music. But a bit of reflection is not too bad … boring hospital stays have their benefits (outside the obvious).” His team confirmed on Wednesday, a day before his death, that he was in “critical but stable condition”. Cerebral and soft-spoken, with a semiotics degree from Brown, Sheik was perhaps an unlikely star when he moved to LA in 1992 to record a demo, after playing backup guitar for friend and fellow classmate Lisa Loeb.
But he shot to fame with his self-titled debut album, an introspective alternative to the brash and distorted sound of grunge that permeated the decade. The single Barely Breathing, a sweet-sounding but deceptively raw portrait of a relationship’s end, became a radio staple, staying on the Hot 100 for 55 weeks – the fourth longest-ever run, at the time. But Sheik chafed against the expectations of an MTV heartthrob and status as a sensitive sex symbol, and by decade’s end felt adrift as pop music gravitated toward the more overtly artificial pop sounds of the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.
The resulting show, a heady rock musical that touched on such taboo topics as abortion, abuse and suicide, became an instant hit in 2006, winning eight Tony awards, including best musical. The show ran for over two years, turning then-unknown actors Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff into Broadway stars, and was revived in 2015; a new off-Broadway production opens this November. Sheik went on to compose several more musicals, including Alice By Heart, a version of Alice in Wonderland set in second world war-era London that premiered on Broadway in 2019, and American Psycho, an adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel.
He also continued to release non-theater music, including a 2011 collection of covers by 80s British acts such as Depeche Mode and Tears for Fears. His final album, the ambient Claptrap, was released in 2022.
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