Lil' Chris checks out

[Vodka Margarine]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-32038895

Naughties teenybopper dead at 24. Sad.

[the midnight watch baboon]

Aww that's shite. Catchy single plus decent when on NMTB. RIP

[ajsmith]

'Checkin It Out' was a totally unique sounding record in the context of the pop charts of the time. Weirdly, it really reminded me of an ultra-pop Sleater - Kinney.

[up_the_hampipe]

I saw him on Buzzcocks with Richard Herring once. Poor chap.

[Kane Jones]

I wonder if Gene Simmons give a shit?

[Blinder Data]

I wonder if Gene Simmons give a shit?

He says:

Sad to report Lil Chris from the Gene Simmons Rock School TV show has passed on. He was loved. RIP Lil Chris

I completely forgot he existed until I heard today's news. Poor guy.

[Kane Jones]

Gene Quote

Oh well that's good.  I'm glad he said something about it.  Very sad indeed.

[bigfatheart]

When I was at school someone managed to convince me that his second single, Figure It Out (which I hadn't heard), was just Checkin' It Out with a different word in the chorus. It was only today, after I parroted this fact to someone, that it dawned on me that this was surely utter bollocks.

It might not have been a bad idea, Checkin' It Out is ridiculously catchy. RIP young fella.

[Janie Jones]

Aww, fuck. Really liked him. Thanks for this thread. So young. Fuck.

[thecuriousorange]

His actual second single was a shameless copy of The Buzzcocks Ever Fall in Love With a Girl.

[Paaaaul]

His actual second single was a shameless copy of The Buzzcocks Ever Fall in Love With a Girl.

Wut?

[DukeDeMondo]

Wut?

It also bears striking resemblance to He's An Orgasm.

[momatt]

I remember first seeing him on telly, fully prepared to dislike another precocious pop-brat. Yet I was bowled over by his charm and energy and ended up really liking him.
Seemed like a jolly nice chap, one of the good ones.

[Mobius]

I saw him on Buzzcocks with Richard Herring once. Poor chap.

Herring talked about him on one of his podcasts at the time with genuine enthusiasm and said he was just a lovely kid and really sincere. He seemed really normal and nice. :(

edit - On 3 March, Hardman tweeted: "Thinking about quitting music forever... there has to come a time eventually when I have to face reality. I'm just not good enough."

:(

[swordfish_bhoona]

I usually hate it when people put up Facebook statuses and whatnot lamenting celebrities they probably didn't give a fuck about/know anything about but although I new nothing about Little Chris I felt a profound sadness when I saw the news on my newsfeed, maybe because he was so young. Although no reports have said directly that it was suicide the fact that police have concluded no foul play and his history with depression has been noted shows that it clearly was. Saw a selfie he'd done fairly recently and the ravages of unwashable sadness are written in the contours of his bleak mug.

Poor boy. And if he'd just waited a few more fucking days, maybe the phone would've rang and it would of been gorge Harry from 1 Direction saying they need to make up the numbers.

[Noodle Lizard]

I mean think about it, you're on some TV talent show helmed by Gene Simmons who picks you as the best of the best, you instantly have a single out which is fairly inescapable for a summer, you go on all the big shows and then ... well, you're just not needed anymore.  And on top of that, any future sincere attempts to make music will be met only with a vague recollection of that daft little pop kid persona you were given when you were 16.  Like trying to become a proper author when all anyone knows of you is a blog post you wrote on VampireFreaks in 2005.  At the end of it all, you're just back in Lowestoft.  And lots of people are in Lowestoft, but they didn't get that little taste of fame and fortune that you got, and yet in many ways they have more of a chance than you do now.

Desolation.

[Sam]

I think we are being too damning of the music industry and too kind on Lowestoft.