An Alabama man who charmed “American Idol” viewers nationwide in 2020 has died at age 32, according to family members.
The death of Douglas Kiker was reported by deadline.com, Entertainment Tonight and other entertainment-industry media outlets. While no cause of death had been revealed as of Friday morning, his sister Angela Evans posted on Facebook that it was “completely unexpected” and had happened in Denver.
Evans directed fans to a GoFundMe drive set up to help the family with the expense of transporting Kiker’s remains home for burial. Donna Kiker Carillos-Ramirez, another sister who launched the drive, posted Wednesday: “Today I got the call that no one wants to get. We lost an amazing person today. He had the biggest smile and knew how to make you laugh. I know I didn’t raise him but I never stopped loving him. My parents did an amazing job with him. Douglas Kiker you will forever be missed. Fly high. Say hey to grandma.
Kiker made a memorable impression in the 2020 season premiere of “Idol.” He won over judges and viewers with a Cinderella story: He was native of Greensboro working on a garbage-truck crew in the Mobile area, and at the time had virtually zero experience singing in public.
While he wasn’t a polished entertainer, celebrity judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie saw something in him. After his rough first take on “Bless the Broken Road,” Bryan played piano and directed him through a more polished rendition that showed untapped potential. “There’s so much in there,” said Bryan.
Alabama legend Richie agreed: “For a man who does not know what his voice can do, for a man who does not have an idea about what key he’s singing in, for a man who has no idea who the heck he can be … you’re a hell of a man,” he told Kiker.
At the time, Kiker told AL.com that his audition had changed his world. “I’ve never experienced anything like it,” he said. “It’s made my overall life fuller.”
Kiker made more appearances in the show, but his lack of experience showed as he competed with a field of aspiring pop stars, some of whom had been performing publicly for years. He was cut in the first “Hollywood Week” episode of the season.
Kiker’s lack of entertainment-industry grounding also made it hard for him to capitalize on his “Idol” exposure. In May 2020 he said he was raising funds to release an album; in 2022 he played a version of himself in a low-budget, locally produced movie based on his story.
TMZ.com cited unidentified law enforcement sources as saying Kiker was taken to a hospital in Denver after a passerby saw him in bad condition “on the street” and called 911. He died several days later, on Monday, according to that report.
