Doug Kiker, an American Idol contestant who went viral after he became known as the “Singing Garbage Man,” has died at age 32.
Kiker’s cause of death is under investigation, according to several media reports.
“It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce the passing of my brother Douglas Kiker he was sooo loved and will be missed by so many! Your singing with the Angel’s now Bubba Please pray for our family as we go threw this very difficult time (sic),” his sister Angela Evans wrote in a Facebook post.
“We lost an amazing person today,” his other sister Donna Kiker Carrillos-Ramirez added in a second Facebook message. “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.”
The Alabama garbage collector wowed Idol judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan on the Season 18 premiere back in 2020 with his cover of of Rascal Flatts’ Bless the Broken Road.
In his introduction, Kiker said that he had had never performed in front of an audience before and only sung when he was collecting trash.
“That was not garbage. It was greatness,” Perry reacted tearfully to his rendition. “You just stay who you are and you’re going to go so far. And you’re going to take your daughter to all the highest heights.”
When Perry asked him what he thought he could do as a singer, Kiker said he was still “trying to figure that out.”
“I want us all to let you know that you’re a hell of a man,” Richie said. “For a man who has no idea what his voice can do, for a man who has no idea what key he’s singing in, for a man who has no idea who the heck he can be, he’s here to do one thing: He’s trying to show his daughter that he’s somebody.”
Kiker was handed a golden ticket and sent straight on to Hollywood, but was eliminated early on in the singing competition.
Kiker’s audition video racked up more than 200 million video views across all platforms, according to Yahoo! Idol expert, Lyndsey Parker, and he was brought back for a virtual encoreduring the Season 18 finale.
The aspiring singer tried to keep the momentum going, launching a crowd-funding campaign called “From Garbage to Greatness” to record his debut album on Indiegogo. But the effort fell short of its stated $25,000 goal, raising only $5,581.
In 2021, TMZ reported that Kiker had been arrested on charges of domestic violence.
In one of his final social media posts back in 2022, Kiker promised he was going to “strive everyday to be my best self.”
“To all the people that have shown your love and support!!!! I appreciate you!!!! I may have been down but don’t ever count me out I refuse to give up on all the people rooting for the dreamers of the world as long there’s breath in me I’m gonna live and strive everyday to be my best self and show that I’m not just talk,” he wrote on Instagram.
Kiker’s family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover his funeral expenses and “say goodbye to one of the most sincere souls.”
“We are now left with the difficult task of bringing him home and covering funeral expenses. We are reaching out for help to honor Douglas’s memory and give him a proper farewell,” the GoFundMe reads.
According to TMZ, Doug is survived by two children that he shares with ex-fiancee Valerie Cook.