R.I.P. Duncan Sheik

The ’90s pop singer-songwriter, Duncan Sheik, who went on to further success on Broadway, is sadly barely breathing no more. His death on Sept 17, in a Manhattan NYC hospital at the young age of 56 from cardiac arrest and organ failure, was confirmed by his mother, Suzanne Sheik.

He was a New Jersey native, born November 18, 1969, and grew up between his two divorced parents’ households, and learned piano as a pre-teen, from his Julliard School-trained grandmother and later took up guitar. Sheik, who was naturally soft-spoken and introspective, studied semiotics at Brown University and played guitar in a band with fellow student Lisa Loeb while in school, and moved to Los Angeles following, in 1992 with a demo tape in hand.

He worked with producer Rupert Hine and released his self-titled debut album on Atlantic Records in 1996, which was an immediate hit, going Gold (sales of 500K+) and featured three successful singles, “Reasons for Living”, “She Runs Away”, and his career-defining Grammy Award-nominated song, “Barely Breathing.” The song landed and stayed in the top twenty of Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart for an astounding 55 weeks and was a polished and authentic alternative, to the heaviness and big guitar groups of the day.

We first met Sheik after a 1996 show at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, and found him relatively shy but charming, still fully digesting his sudden fame and elevated popularity.

Sheik’s sophomore album, 1998’s Humming was larger in scope and included orchestral and string arrangements, combined with his folk pop compositions and lyrics sometimes inspired by Nichiren Buddhism, which he adapted at age nineteen. His third full-length, third album, 2001’s Phantom Moon was a dreamy collaboration with Steven Sater, a friend, poet and playwright, and fellow Buddhist, but sales had been dwindling since that first record.

Prior to that album, he and Sater had explored working on a stage musical version of “Spring Awakening,” originating from an 1891 play by Frank Wedekind that explored a group of teenagers’ angst-filled lives and blossoming sexuality.

It took eight years but finally debuted at the Atlantic Theater Company in the Spring of 2006, before going to Broadway and collecting eight Tony Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. The show was revived in 2015 (maybe when we saw it…?) and a new Off-Broadway production will debut before the end of this year.

He went on to write scores for other musicals and record music, including 2011’s Covers 80s, which we have to track down, as it’s a record of versions of his favorite ’80s songs (all originally by UK artists), which is completely in our wheelhouse.

Unfortunately, the day that album was released, also came the announcement that he was checking into a facility for alcohol addiction, so any planned touring and promotion, was not followed through on. His most recent album was 2022’s Claptrap, which was more electronic and ambient in nature.

Duncan Sheik is survived by his parents; his wife, Nora Ariffin; their daughter, Ines; and his half siblings, Peter and Kacie.