Quindon Tarver death: Romeo + Juliet choir boy dies at 38

Quindon Tarver, who found fame as a choir boy in 1996’s Romeo + Juliet, has died at the age of 38.

Tarver was killed in a car accident in Dallas, Texas on Friday (2 April), his uncle confirmed to The Daily Beast.

“He had an accident,” said Willie Tarver. “All we know is he had a wreck, crashed into a wall somewhere on George Bush [Turnpike]. That’s all the information I have.”

Tarver appeared in two pivotal musical scenes in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

He was the key choir boy during the secret wedding scene, wherein he belted out a cover of Rozalla’s “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)”. He also sung another cover in the film, of Prince’s “When Doves Cry”.

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Along with Romeo + Juliet, Tarver appeared in the video for Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”, and auditioned as an adult for two seasons of American Idol. In 1996, he released a solo album, Quindon.

In 2017, Tarver said that his early career had been derailed after he was molested in the music industry.

“I was hurting,” he told ABC News. “I had been molested, I had been raped, I had lost my career, which is what I had dreamed of doing all my life. I had to come back home because someone did something to me … I began drinking and dabbling in drugs and I lost it, man. I spiralled completely.”

He also said that he had been working in insurance after getting clean, while still occasionally recording music.

Tarver’s last recording, “Stand Our Ground”, was released in January as a tribute to his cousin Darius Tarver, who was shot and killed by Texas police officers in 2020.

If you’ve been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support: www.rapecrisis.org.uk.