# Duncan Sheik, Broadway composer, dies at 56

> The singer behind '90s hit Barely Breathing and Tony-winning Spring Awakening composer died Thursday from cardiac arrest.
- Title: Duncan Sheik, Broadway composer, dies at 56 · CBS News
- Summary: The singer behind '90s hit Barely Breathing and Tony-winning Spring Awakening composer died Thursday from cardiac arrest. Duncan Sheik, who wrote the…
- Keywords: duncan sheik, barely breathing, spring awakening, broadway, tony awards, composer, singer-songwriter, news, Duncan, Sheik, dies, CBS News
- Source: CBS News — https://cbsnews.com/news/duncan-sheik-singer-barely-breathing-spring-awakening-dies
- Author: Kerry  Breen
- Published: 2026-09-18T17:03:25+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: duncan sheik, barely breathing, spring awakening, broadway, tony awards, composer, singer-songwriter, news
## Duncan Sheik dies at fifty-six
Duncan Sheik, the singer behind the nineteen nineties hit Barely Breathing and composer of Broadway's Spring Awakening, died Thursday from cardiac arrest, his family said Friday.
## Barely Breathing made him a star
Sheik moved to Los Angeles in the early nineteen nineties and rose to pop stardom with the nineteen ninety-six single Barely Breathing, which charted on the Billboard Hot one hundred for over a year.
## Spring Awakening collaboration began in nineteen ninety-nine
In nineteen ninety-nine, Broadway playwright Steven Sater approached Sheik to work on a musical based on the German play Spring Awakening. Their collaboration opened on Broadway in two thousand seven.
## Spring Awakening won eight Tony Awards
Spring Awakening starred Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff and John Gallagher Jr. The show won eight Tony Awards, including best musical. Sheik won best orchestrations and best original musical score.
## Other Broadway and musical work
Sheik worked on a musical adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, which opened on Broadway in two thousand sixteen, and Alice by Heart, a musical retelling of Alice in Wonderland that played off-Broadway in two thousand eighteen.
## Spring Awakening returns to New York
Sheik is survived by his parents, his wife Nora, their daughter Ines, and two half-siblings. Spring Awakening is due to return to New York City with an off-Broadway run in November.
## Key takeaway

Duncan Sheik, who wrote the nineteen ninety-six pop hit Barely Breathing and composed the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening, died Thursday at fifty-six from cardiac arrest.