Both members of UK indie band Her’s have been killed in a car crash in Arizona, the duo’s record label said Friday.
Stephen Fitzpatrick and Audun Laading were killed along with their tour manager, Trevor Engelbrektson, early Wednesday, according to the Heist or Hit record label.
The Liverpool group, who described themselves as an “international supersonic spectral wave,” was midway through a 19-gig North American tour to promote their debut album, “Invitation to Her’s.”
They had performed in Phoenix, Arizona on Tuesday and were traveling 350 miles to Santa Ana, California for their next scheduled performance when the crash happened.
The collision took place on Interstate 10 around 1 a.m., and the Arizona Department of Public Safety reported that four people were killed when a pickup truck collided head-on with the band’s passenger van.
All three people in the van were killed, along with the driver of the pickup.
Heist or Hit’s management said they were “heartbroken” at the news, and described the musicians as one of the UK’s “most loved up and coming bands.”
“Their energy, vibrancy and talent came to define our label. As humans, they were warm, gentle and hilarious,” the label said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
It described Her’s musical talent as “astonishing,” with an “aptitude for melody, fun and entertainment combined with a complexity that was as sophisticated as it was stylish.”
The band’s fans also expressed their dismay. “So sad to wake up to this news. Loved these two, rest easy,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
Another wrote: “Such awful, awful news. Always put on a great show and could tell how much they loved this music and each other. All the love to you all.”
Fitzpatrick came from the town of Barrow-in-Furness in the north of England, according to his Facebook account, while Laading was from Kristiansand, on the south coast of Norway.
The duo met while studying at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. They gained recognition after being named as “ones to watch” by the Guardian and featuring on the BBC Music Introducing new artists platform.
