A coroner in Meopham, Kent has opened an inquest and set an October hearing date into the death of Lauren Bennett, the British-American singer whose vocal on LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem" spent 57 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 — longer than almost any single in the track's era. TMZ reported the formal investigation on July 7 [3]. She was 37. She died May 29. The cause has not been established.

Her former G.R.L. bandmates — Emmalyn Estrada, Natasha Slayton, and Paula van Oppen — announced the news on July 6. "Her beautiful spirit touched so many lives," they wrote. "She will be deeply missed and forever loved." [1] She is survived by her daughter Harlow, whom she welcomed in September 2019 and who is six years old.

The obituaries will lead with "Party Rock Anthem" because they must. The track reached number one in both the UK and the US and ran on the Billboard Hot 100 for 57 weeks in 2011 and 2012 — a chart tenure that most headliners never achieve. Bennett was not the headliner. She was a featured vocalist. That distinction is the story the obits will not carry.

In the taxonomy of pop success, a featured vocal credit sits in a legally distinct category from co-writing or performing under your own name. Writing credit generates publishing royalties. A featured vocal performance typically generates a session fee and, if negotiated specifically, a share of master royalties from the label's accounting — an accounting that has historically been opaque and often unfavorable to featured artists. Whether Bennett held any publishing interest in "Party Rock Anthem" or was engaged purely as a performer without writing credit remains unconfirmed. [2] The question matters, because a track with that chart tenure generates meaningful royalty income for the people who own the publishing and masters. It generates nothing for a featured artist who does not.

She had moved on. After LMFAO dissolved following the 2013 departure of Redfoo from the duo, Bennett joined G.R.L. — the group formed in 2013 that briefly included Simone Battle before Battle's death in September 2014. G.R.L. released one EP, "Vacation," which reached No. 22 on the US Pop Chart, and disbanded in 2015. [1] The group's discography, and what happens to its catalog now, is another unresolved question the October inquest will not address.

The inquest will address only the cause and circumstances of death. It will not address the structure of the music industry that produced a woman who contributed a chart-sustaining vocal to one of the decade's biggest singles and spent the following decade without a major solo deal. The coroner's October hearing date is the next public document. Until then, the cause of death is unknown. [3]

What is known: Bennett continued to perform and release music independently after G.R.L. She had a daughter. She died in Kent at 37. And the track she sang on is still running on streaming playlists in 2026.

-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles