Singer Mikaben dies at 41 after going into cardiac arrest onstage in Paris
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AUGUST 29, 2017 — R&B singer Mikaben died Saturday, nearly a month after a doctor said she had a heart condition called cardiomyopathy. She was 41.
Her death in the city of Orly, near Paris, brought to an abrupt halt an elaborate promotional tour of Europe and America that had taken in concert halls, stadiums and arenas, including The Met in New York and L’Olympia in London. The tour, titled “For the Love of Mikaben,” had been planned for months.
The singer died in the emergency room of Orly Hospital after she was taken suddenly ill on Saturday night, according to her publicist, David Leight.
“There is no cause of death,” he said in an interview with CNN. “She was brought to the emergency room without any problems and as a result of a medical emergency she began to have cardiac arrest.”
A spokeswoman for the hospital didn’t return calls for comment on Sunday. A spokeswoman for the French presidency declined to comment on the cause of the singer’s death, saying the president was “not in a position to make comments on the death of a private citizen.”
However, her publicist later confirmed to CNN that a “paralysis” had caused her to go into cardiac arrest.
“When you know your body and your condition, you say, ‘Well, I have to stop,’ and then you just need to give your body time to recuperate and then you go on,” Leight said. “It was a combination of a number of things.”
The singer had been touring Europe and Asia after selling more than two million copies of her debut album, “Mikaben Unplugged” in the United States. She was due to return to the United States for three shows June 24 at Radio City Music Hall in New York, her hometown,
