Duncan Sheik, “Barely Breathing” Singer, Dead at 56

American singer, songwriter, and composer Duncan Sheik has died at 56. His family shared the news on Friday, September 18, 2026, on his Instagram account, and his mother, Susan Sheik, confirmed his death to The New York Times. According to the family’s post and reporting from CBS News, Sheik died Thursday night, September 17, 2026, at a hospital in Manhattan.

Accounts of the cause differ. CBS News reports that Sheik died of cardiac arrest, while B92 reports that his mother mentioned organ failure, both citing her comments to The New York Times. In its Instagram post, the family wrote that he died surrounded by love. A day earlier, it had been announced that the musician was receiving medical care and that his condition was critical but stable. Serbian outlets including B92, Telegraf, and Espreso are also reporting on his death today.

The same Instagram post carried the family’s farewell message.

Duncan was a father, husband, son, brother, and friend. We will remember him for the sensitivity, humor, intelligence, and depth of spirit he brought to the lives of everyone who knew and loved him.

The family’s message on Instagram continued, describing his place in music and theater.

The world has lost a singular talent and a deeply influential voice in music and theater.

Playwright and actress Eisa Davis also paid tribute, writing in The New York Times that Sheik’s “deep feeling and his delight” brought audiences great beauty, and thanking him for his friendship and his music.

Sheik rose to fame in the mid-1990s. His self-titled debut album came out in 1996 and produced “Barely Breathing,” which became one of the biggest radio hits of the decade. The song climbed to number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for 55 weeks. In 1998 it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, and it later found new life through shows like “Glee” and “Girls.”

Sheik’s biggest success in theater came with the musical “Spring Awakening,” which he wrote with lyricist Steven Sater. The show won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and Sheik personally won two Tonys, for his score and for orchestrations. The cast album also won a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. The original cast included Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele, then young actors who later became stars of film and television. A new off-Broadway production of “Spring Awakening” had been announced for fall 2026, scheduled to open in November.

Beyond “Spring Awakening,” Sheik wrote music for the musicals “American Psycho,” which reached Broadway in 2016, and “Alice by Heart,” staged off-Broadway in 2018. Over his career he released five studio albums, the most recent being “Claptrap” in 2022. A new musical, “Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen,” had also been announced for fall 2026, and Sheik was working on its score until his death.

Over a three-decade career, Sheik built his work on two stages at once, from 1990s pop radio to Broadway, and few songwriters have moved as easily between the two worlds.

He is survived by his parents, his wife, Nora Arifin, and his seven-year-old daughter, Ines.