Skilyr Hicks, who had participated in America’s Got Talent (AGT), has died at the age of 23, according to a report from TMZ, on Monday. The young singer-songwriter was found in a friend’s home. Skilyr’s mother Jodi said that she didn’t know the home owner. The residence where she found was in Liberty, South Carolina.
Jodi told the outlet that the young singer had been facing mental health issues from a while. She had substance abuse problems as well faced depression. Her mother said that her family loved her. Jodi also said that her daughter used music to help people in need and that she would “live on through her music.”
On Wednesday, December 8, Chad Brooks, who is the Chief Deputy at the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office told TMZ that it was suspected that Skilyr might have died of a drug overdose. They were told that she was found on the floor, inside a bathroom, at a residence. Drugs and other paraphernalia were scattered about. She was pronounced dead, in the home where she was found.
Skilyr Hicks had appeared on America’s Got Talent in Season 8. She was only 14 when she auditioned for the show, in 2013. She impressed Mel B., Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Howard Stern enough to go into the next round.
The young singer performed an original song in her debut on AGT. She scored four yeses. However, she was eliminated before the live rounds in New York City.
She also had a poignant backstory that gave her an opportunity to star in her own TV show. She said that she had lost her father a few years before her audition. She also said that she was self taught and learnt to play, write and sing on her own.
In 2018, Hicks was arrested for underage drinking. She also spent time in jail on domestic violence charges as she had allegedly hurt some of her family members. She has four siblings, as well as her mother as part of her family.
In her last Facebook post she said that music “helped me to heal when no one else could.”
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