Singer Quindon Tarver, best known for his emotional performance in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, has died in a car crash aged 38.
Tarver’s uncle Willie confirmed the tragic news that the former child star had crashed his car in Texas.
“He had an accident — all we know is he had a wreck, crashed into a wall somewhere on George Bush (Turnpike),” he said.
Tarver began singing in church choirs. He went on to appear as a choir boy and cover Prince’s When Doves Cry and Rozalla’s Everybody’s Free in the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet.
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The songs were featured on the film’s soundtrack, which sold more than two million copies.
On the back of this success, his version of When Doves Cry featured on a second soundtrack album for the film.
It reached number three on the ARIA charts in July 1997 and it stayed in the charts for 18 weeks.
Tarver also appeared in Madonna’s Like a Prayer video clip and on seasons two and seven of American Idol.
But like many child stars, his success was fleeting and he stepped away from singing, later revealing he was sexually abused at the height of his fame.
“I was going through some things at that time in my life,” he told the ABC in 2017.
“That’s when some stuff that devastated me started taking place in my life.
“I was really a big, big mess. Emotionally and mentally. I was trying to balance myself out. So, when (Romeo + Juliet) was actually released, it was kind of hard to enjoy it.
“It should have been a big thing. It was a really big pinnacle for me to reach at that age. And I was not able to really enjoy it like I feel like I could have or should have.
“I was hurting. I had been molested, I had been raped, I had lost my career, which is what I had dreamed of doing all my life.”
