Ben Saunders, First Winner of The Voice, Dies at 43
Ben Saunders, the singer who won the first-ever staging of The Voice, has died at 43.
He was found dead on Tuesday, September 15, in a recreational lake in the Netherlands. His body was recovered on Tuesday afternoon at the Rijkerswoerdse Plassen, in Elst on the border of Arnhem South. He had been reported missing earlier that day, according to Deadline.
His brother Dean Saunders announced the death on Instagram. Police do not suspect foul play. No cause of death has been disclosed.
The body was initially identified by its distinctive tattoos. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported the location of the recovery, as noted by TV Insider.
Saunders was London-born. He moved from London to the Netherlands as a child, grew up in Hoorn and later moved to Arnhem. There he ran a tattoo parlour.
He won The Voice of Holland in 2011, the first edition of the singing competition to air anywhere. He auditioned with a cover of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody". His winning song, "Kill for a Broken Heart", became a Dutch Top 40 single.
His first solo album, You Thought You Knew Me By Now, topped the charts.
For viewers who met the format later, that 2011 Dutch series was the starting point. It introduced the blind-audition structure, where coaches choose singers without seeing them, that later editions kept.
