Douglas Kiker, the “Singing Garbage Man” of “American Idol” Season 18, reportedly looked bad enough before he was hospitalized that a pedestrian who passed him on the street decided to call 911.
Kiker died March 10 at Colorado’s Denver Health Medical Center, a representative of the Denver Medical Examiner’s office told The Times on Friday in an email. He had been transported there March 5 by ambulance from a few blocks east of City Center Park.
Before Kiker was hospitalized, he appeared to be experiencing an overdose, the caller said, according to TMZ. Kiker, unofficially, suffered a drug-induced heart attack, sources outside of law enforcement told the website.
But “the cause and manner of death are pending investigation,” authorities said Friday.
The Mobile, Ala., man, who earned his nickname singing while hanging off of his day-job trash truck, auditioned for “American Idol” Season 18, charming the judges with his unaffected nature and raw talent. He earned his ticket to Hollywood but was dismissed, as so many are, during the first Hollywood round.
Even so, he returned to the competition for the finale episode, doing a virtual performance of his audition song, “Bless the Broken Road,” with Rascal Flatts, the group that turned the tune first recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band into a hit in 2005. By that time, the world was in COVID-19 lockdown and the televised performance saw the singers, judges and host each in his or her own Zoom-style box, far apart even as Kiker and the band were singing together.
“Wow y’all! I can’t believe I actually got to sing with Rascal Flatts,” Kiker wrote on YouTube in May 2020. “So much has happened since my first audition y’all. I am working on putting together an album!”
Kiker, who was 32, was the father of two young girls with Valerie Cook. Sister Faith Evans, who posted word of his death Wednesday afternoon on Facebook, responded later that day to people who had asked about helping the family.
“[A]s this was completely unexpected we are completely unprepared and are gonna need a little help getting him home from denver colorado and being able to give the memorial that not only he but anyone deserves,” Evans wrote Wednesday night, referring people to a GoFundMe that has since earned more than the amount that was sought. She apologized for her delay in responding, saying to “charge it to our mind not our hearts.”
