Lil' Chris, British Pop Artist, Dies at 24

Chris Hardman, the pop-rock singer-songwriter better known as Lil' Chris, was found dead at the age of 24.

The BBC reports that the artist was found in Lowestoft, Suffolk on Monday (Mar. 23). The cause of death has not been determined, although police were not treating the death as suspicious.

Lil' Chris rose to the fame in 2006, when he starred on the U.K. series Rock School at the age of 15. The show found KISS leader Gene Simmons trying to form a rock group from a class of adolescents, and Lil' Chris was eventually selected as the lead singer of the group.



The reality show led to a label deal with RCA Records, and Lil' Chris' debut single, "Checkin' It Out," peaked at No. 3 on the Official Singles Chart in the U.K. in 2006. Songs like "Gettin' Enough," "Figure It Out" and "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" also charted overseas in 2006-07.

Lil' Chris released two albums, a self-titled effort in 2006 and What's It All About in 2008, and was part of the original cast of Loserville, a musical by Elliot Davis and James Bourne that premiered in the U.K. in 2012. The singer-songwriter was working on new music prior to his death, although he posted to Twitter earlier this month, "Thinking about quitting music forever...there has to come a time eventually when I have to face reality. I'm just not good enough."

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The death has already sparked a number of tributes on Twitter. "Shocked and saddened to hear the news about Lil' Chris," wrote Harry Judd of McBusted. "He supported us a while back and was a little star and an awesome guy."

"Oh my god . Lil Chris," wrote British television host Caroline Flack. "He was a regular guest on TMI. Always always such a polite lovely guy . That's so sad."