Flaming Lips collaborator Nell Smith has died

Nell Smith, the Canadian teenage music prodigy best known for her collaborations with the Flaming Lips, has died. Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, whose Bella Union label will release Smith’s debut solo album next year, announced Smith’s death in an Instagram post today. Smith was in British Columbia at the time of her death. No cause of death was announced. Smith was 17.

According to a Kickstarter campaign created by Smith’s father, she is from the United Kingdom but moved to Canada at some point in her childhood. Smith and her family struck up a friendship with Wayne Coyne when she attended a Flaming Lips show in 2018, when she was 10 or 11 years old. Coyne stayed in touch as Smith learned guitar and began writing her own songs, and she planned to record with Lips in Oklahoma before the pandemic hit. Instead, they collaborated remotely on an album of Nick Cave covers. Where the viaduct appearswhich was warmly supported by Cave and Warren Ellis.

Raymonde’s post reveals that Smith signed with Bella Union and recorded her debut album in Brighton with Jack and Lily Wolter of Penelope Isles. This album will probably be released at some point, under completely different circumstances.

We are all shocked and devastated to learn of the sudden and tragic death of our artist and dear friend Nell Smith over the weekend in British Columbia. Nell was just 17 and preparing to release her first solo record in early 2025 on Bella Union, which she recorded in Brighton with Jack and Lily Wolter of Penelope Isles. Her first release was an album of covers of Nick Cave songs she recorded with Bella Union artists The Flaming Lips in 2021, titled Where The Viaduct Looms.

Although we are all trying to process the terrible news, out of respect for Nell’s grieving family we cannot comment further at this time. The Bella Union family.

Check out Raymonde’s post below, which includes photos of Smith with Coyne and Ellis.