TUCSON (CelebrityAccess) – Acclaimed Country Music singer/songwriter Luke Bell was found dead Monday (August 29) in Tucson, AZ, at 32 – over a week after loved ones reported him missing. The Tucson Coroner’s Office reported to The Sun that Bell’s date of death was August 26. The official cause of death has not been revealed.
Having gone missing on Saturday (August 20) in Tucson, Bell’s body was found Monday (August 29), not far from where he disappeared. As confirmed by Saving Country Music through Bell’s close friend, confidant, and the guy whose been caring for him for the last six years, country artist Matt Kinman.
Bell was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on January 27, 1990, and raised in Cody, Wyoming. He eventually found his way to Nashville, where he recorded a country album, Don’t Mind If I Do, in 2014 and became known on the honky tonk music scene.
Not long after, WME signed him, and he was booked as an opener with country legends such as Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., and Dwight Yoakam.
During an interview Bell gave to The Boot in 2016, while being asked about how he finds the drive to keep going in the music industry, he said:
“That’s it. Listen, half the time, I end up drinking beer with my neighbors. Life’s not that bad. The downside, in some ways, is I don’t have a wife and kids, but at the same time, it’s pretty ideal right now. The goal is to have high hopes and low expectations … and have a good time.”
Bell continued to perform and began appearing with Smithsonian Folkways recording artist Kinman. The Pickathon festival outside Portland booked Luke in 2017, with Bell and Kinman playing side by side. In February 2018, Bell re-appeared in Memphis, where he won Best Honky Tonk Male at the Ameripolitan Awards.
As reported by Saving Country Music, Bell then left the public eye for quite some time. Though rumors about his whereabouts and state of mind made their rounds, Bell was hiding as severe battle with bipolar disorder. Stories would surface of unruly behavior, beside those about how Bell couldn’t ever be what those stories said he was.
Long periods would go by when nobody heard from him, and he’d end up incarcerated or hospitalized. However, he began to treat his mental illness with medication and treatment, living the last almost two years with Kinman appearing in shows and live streams. However, while in Tucson, Bell ran off when his mental illness took a turn for the worse. Kinman told SCM that while in Tucson, he ran off while Kinman went to get something to eat.
“Luke Bell’s struggles are now over, but the legacy of his music remains. And hopefully, like so many troubled troubadours before him, Luke Bell is just beginning to find its audience, his worthy appreciation, and his deserved legacy,” writes SCM.
