Lauren Bennett, the singer featured on LMFAO’s 2011 smash hit “Party Rock Anthem,” has died at 37. Her former group G.R.L. announced the news on Monday in a statement signed by Emmalyn Estrada, Natasha Slayton and Paula van Oppen.
G.R.L. said it was sharing the loss of its “beloved Lauren” with great sadness, and said its hearts were broken. For listeners who first knew Bennett through a song that helped define that summer, the announcement landed as a sudden end to a voice that once sat at the center of a huge pop record.
Bennett’s career began long before that hit. She started performing at 18 and formed the Paradiso Girls in 2007 before launching a solo career in 2010. After that, she worked with CeeLo Green, will.i.am and the Pussycat Dolls, building a résumé that moved between groups, features and solo work.
What remains unsettled is the cause of death. It has not been confirmed, even as the news of her passing circulates alongside the picture of what she leaves behind: a six-year-old daughter, Harlow. That detail gives the announcement a sharper edge, because the loss is not only of a singer tied to a major hit, but of a mother whose family now carries the story forward.
For G.R.L., the statement is likely the final public word for now. For everyone who knew Bennett through “Party Rock Anthem” or followed her beyond it, the next question is no longer about her place in pop history. It is about how her death, still without a confirmed cause, will be understood by those closest to her.
