Nell Smith, whose stage name was Nell, was a well-known singer in the Flaming Lips universe, since in 2021 they both released a joint album when she was only 14 years old. It was an album of Nick Cave covers that was called ‘Where The Viaduct Looms’. There were covers of songs like ‘Into My Arms’, ‘Weeping Song’ or ‘The Ship Song’.
At the beginning of 2025, the prestigious Bella Union label planned to release Nell’s own solo debut. We understand, therefore, that an album that is already finished whose first single would be about to be revealed. Sadly, Nell Smith passed away this weekend.
A statement in which everyone around him is devastated does not reveal the cause of his death and asks for respect for the family’s privacy. NME reports that The Flaming Lips have revealed during a concert that Nell Smith has died in a car accident.
Nell Smith was one of the best kept secrets in the industry. He met Flaming Lips after going to several of their concerts in the front row when he was only 12 years old, with his parents. She herself sent them her album of Nick Cave covers, which the Flaming Lips decided to set to music with their instruments.
Nick Cave came to approve the project: “Her version of ‘Girl In Amber’ is beautiful, I was going to say that Nell Smith really inhabits the song, but I think that would be incorrect, rather she disinhabits the song in a way that I “I would have been incapable.” Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins is the one who broke the news of his death, which occurred at the age of 17.
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