Nell Smith, the Canadian teenage music prodigy best known for her collaborations with the Flaming Lips, has died. Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde, whose label Bella Union is set to release Smith’s debut solo album next year, announced Smith’s death in an Instagram post today. Smith was in British Columbia at the time of her death. No cause of death has been announced. Smith was 17.

According to a Kickstarter set up by Smith’s father, she is from the UK but moved to Canada at some point during her childhood. Smith and her family struck up a friendship with Wayne Coyne while attending a Flaming Lips show in 2018, when she was 10 or 11. Coyne stayed in touch as Smith learned guitar and began writing her own songs, and she was planning to record with the Lips in Oklahoma before the pandemic set in. Instead, they collaborated remotely on an album of Nick Cave covers, Where The Viaduct Looms, which was heartily endorsed by Cave and Warren Ellis.

Raymonde’s post reveals that Smith signed to Bella Union and recorded her debut album in Brighton with Jack and Lily Wolter of Penelope Isles. Presumably that album will still come out at some point, under very different circumstances. In his own post recirculating Raymonde’s message, Ellis wrote, “Such terribly sad news Simon. Love to her family.”

Here is Raymonde’s message:

We are all shocked and devastated to hear of the sudden and tragic passing of our artist and dear friend Nell Smith, over the weekend in British Columbia. Nell was just 17 and was preparing for the release of her first solo record in early 2025 on Bella Union, made in Brighton with Penelope Isles’ Jack and Lily Wolter. Her first release was an album of covers of Nick Cave songs recorded with fellow Bella Union artistes The Flaming Lips back in 2021 entitled, “Where The Viaduct Looms”.

While we all try and come to terms with the awful news, and out of respect to Nell’s grieving family, we are unable to make any further comments at this time. The Bella Union Family.

See Raymonde’s post, which includes photos of Smith with Coyne and Ellis, below.