Nell Smith, the Canadian teenage music prodigy who collaborated with the Flaming Lips when she was just 14, has died. Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde, whose label Bella Union had signed Smith and was preparing to release her debut solo album next year, confirmed the musician’s death in an Instagram post. No cause of death has been announced, although, paying tribute to Smith during the Flaming Lips’ concert in Portland on Sunday night, frontman Wayne Coyne said that she “was killed in a car accident.” Smith was 17.
Smith was born in the UK but moved to Canada during her childhood. She met Coyne after her parents took her to the band’s 2018 headlining show in Calgary, and the band kept noticing the then-12-year-old dressed as a parrot in the front row. They stayed in touch as Smith learned guitar and began writing her own songs, and, during the pandemic, collaborated remotely to record an album of Nick Cave covers. Where the Viaduct Looms came out in November 2021.
Following the collaboration, Smith launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund her debut album of original material and eventually reached her campaign goal. “I have always loved music and started writing some of the songs that will be on this album when I was 12, seeing them come to life is really exciting,” Smith said at the time.
“We are all shocked and devastated to hear of the sudden and tragic passing of our artist and dear friend Nell Smith, over the weekend in British Columbia,” Raymonde wrote in a statement. “Nell was just 17 and was preparing for the release of her first solo record in early 2025 on Bella Union, made in Brighton with Penelope Isles’ Jack and Lily Wolter. Her first release was an album of covers of Nick Cave songs recorded with fellow Bella Union artistes The Flaming Lips back in 2021 entitled, Where The Viaduct Looms.”
Raymonde added: “While we all try and come to terms with the awful news, and out of respect to Nell’s grieving family, we are unable to make any further comments at this time. The Bella Union Family.”
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