Stephen Fitzpatrick and Audun Laading performed as the Liverpool band Her’s. They were killed in Arizona early Wednesday.
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Posted on March 29, 2019, at 3:15 p.m. ET
Both members of the British band Her’s were killed in a car accident Wednesday in Arizona as they traveled the US as part of a tour, their record label confirmed.
Stephen Fitzpatrick and Audun Laading died in a car crash while traveling from a show in Phoenix to another in Santa Ana, California. Tour manager Trevor Engelbrektson was also killed in the accident.
According to the Associated Press, a pick-up truck and van, which was carrying the band, collided head on. The truck’s driver was also killed.
“We are all heartbroken,” staff with the band’s label, Heist or Hit, said in a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday.
“As humans, they were warm, gentle and hilarious,” the Heist or Hit staff said. “Each time they stopped by the office made for an uplifting experience. To say they were close would be an underestimation of a friendship that was genuinely beautiful to witness; they loved one another like brothers.”
The indie duo “were one of the UK’s most loved up and coming bands,” the label staff said.
Fitzpatrick and Laading had released their debut album, Invitation to Her’s, last August.
They were on their second tour of North America, which included shows in Toronto; Washington, DC; Brooklyn; Austin; and Seattle, among others.
Seattle with @TheUCDL tonight! Tell your tutors because our rock n roll study group is gonna be rolling down the west coast ??????? Special thanks to everybody whose come out so far, you’ve all moved into a special little house in our hearts ??✨ ~ ? @HeistOrHit
The Santa Ana show, which had been sold out, was to be the band’s second to last performance in the US, with one final show scheduled for Thursday night in San Diego.
On their Facebook page, the two musicians had shared photos from their travels around the US.
“It’s almost home time for the lads,” they wrote in a post Monday. “US tour has gone swimmingly so far.”
¡Yowza wowza and yikes! We’ve had a massive first week in the states with y’all~ Big love and gentlest of hugs to @endmiles ??✨ The Parish on Austin today and Houston @WhiteOakMH tomorrow before more SXSW goodness this weekend ??✨
