Former American Idol contestant Haley Smith has died. She was 26.
The season 11 contestant crashed her motorcycle in Millinocket, Maine, on Aug. 31 at 2:00 a.m., which resulted in her death, local police and Maine’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed to EW. An investigation into the one-vehicle accident is pending, but police believe that “she failed to negotiate a sharp turn and crashed.”
Smith, who was originally from Utah, initially made it through the Colorado auditions back in 2012 but was eliminated in the second round in Hollywood. She was known for wowing the American Idol judges Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, and Randy Jackson with her folk twist on Rufus and Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good.”
“We are sorry to hear of the passing of Haley Smith and our thoughts and prayers are with her family,” a rep for American Idol said in a statement to EW.
Related content:
