As American Idol’s 23rd season continues on the 2025 TV schedule, more information has come out about a past contestant whose life came to a tragic end in March. Season 18 alum Doug Kiker, better known to fans as the “Singing Garbage Man,” died from an opioid overdose at age 32, and his ex-fiancée Valerie Cook has opened up about the struggles he faced.
Back in 2020, Doug Kiker took the country by storm when he brought former American Idol judge Katy Perry to tears with his audition. Fans immediately loved the Singing Garbage Man’s story, but off camera, he allegedly struggled with addiction. Valerie Cook told US Weekly:
He has a long history of drug abuse. He had dabbled in a few different things, but all of this is kind of shocking.
Doug Kiker died March 10. Valerie Cook was informed by an investigator that he died of a drug-induced heart attack, with the latest reports ruling it an accidental overdose due to the effects of fentanyl, methadone, amphetamines and recent cocaine use.
The former couple broke up in 2021, and despite sharing two daughters, they were not in touch. Valerie Cook moved to Florida after the split, and Doug Kiker lived in Colorado. She said:
I don’t know if he had a cell phone. He never reached out, and he never tried to support [his kids]. Because of the history, I never reached out. I thought it was safer for the kids.
The singer made headlines unrelated to American Idol in 2021, when Doug Kiker was arrested for domestic violence in Alabama, where he lived with Valerie Cook before their split. The charge was categorized as harassment. Authorities had responded to a 911 call from an unidentified woman, and there was allegedly probable cause to arrest the singer.
It’s a sad ending for a young man who won over the hearts of America. Doug Kiker had no formal musical training, and while American Idol did the Singing Garbage Man kind of dirty in the Hollywood rounds where he was eliminated, he’d made such a strong impression on fans that the show invited him to appear on the Season 18 finale, where he sang “Bless the Broken Road” with Rascal Flatts.
His former fiancée said he enjoyed the nickname bestowed on him during his 15 minutes of reality TV fame, making his untimely death all the more tragic. Valerie Cook said:
He enjoyed it and liked it and all the attention from it. He just wouldn’t stop doing [what] he was doing to pursue it further. He had the means to do so and had people behind him supporting him. The drugs were just getting in the way.
Doug Kiker is only the latest of several American Idol alumni gone too soon. In 2023, Season 14 contestant CJ Harris died of a heart attack at 31. A year earlier, Season 19 runner-up Willie Spence died in a car wreck at age 23, and more recently, Season 5’s Mandisa was found dead in her home in 2024 at the age of 47.
It’s so terrible to add another young singer to the list of American Idol contestants we’ve lost, and our thoughts are with Doug Kiker’s loved ones as they continue to process his passing.
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