Duncan Sheik, 'Barely Breathing' singer, dies at 56

Duncan Sheik, the singer-songwriter best known for his 1996 debut single “Barely Breathing”, has died at the age of 56.

His family announced on Instagram on Friday, Sept. 18 that he had died the previous night, according to Billboard. His mother, Suzanne Sheik, confirmed that he died in a hospital in Manhattan.

She said the cause of death was organ failure.

The death announcement came after an update about his health. His family had said in a statement posted to his Instagram page that he was hospitalised and in critical but stable condition while receiving medical care. No reason was given for the hospitalisation.

The family statement about his hospital stay was reported on Sept. 17 and Sept. 18. Earlier, on Sept. 5, Sheik had posted on his official Instagram account, @theduncansheik, that he was bored in hospital.

“Barely Breathing” was the record that introduced Sheik to a wide audience. The single reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, the weekly United States singles chart. It then remained on that chart for 55 weeks, a run of more than a year.

That performance earned Sheik a Grammy nomination for best male pop vocal. The Grammys are the annual music awards presented in the United States by the Recording Academy.

Sheik was born on Nov. 18, 1969, in Montclair, N.J. He studied semiotics at Brown University. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and how they create meaning.

While at Brown, he was a college bandmate of singer Lisa Loeb. Loeb later had her own chart success in the 1990s.

After his pop debut, Sheik built a sustained career writing for the stage. He won Tony Awards for best original score and best orchestration for the 2006 musical Spring Awakening. The Tonys are the annual honours for Broadway theatre in New York, and orchestration is the work of arranging music for the instruments heard on stage.

He later wrote the music for Alice By Heart, a musical inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He also wrote the music for the stage musical adaptation of American Psycho.

On record, Sheik continued to release albums after his debut. His follow-up album, Humming, was released in 1998. His most recent album, Claptrap, was released in 2022.