Lauren Bennett has died at age 37, but her musical legacy will forever be cemented on the Billboard charts.
The singer scored hits across numerous chapters in her career, starting with her time in the Paradiso Girls. The group assembled by Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin debuted in 2009 with thesingle “Patron Tequila” featuring Eve and Lil’ Jon, which peaked at No. 3 on the Dance Club Songs chart and No. 27 on Rhythmic Airplay. The following year, “Who’s My Bitch?” would reach No. 28 on Dance Club Songs.
After Interscope dropped the Paradiso Girls in 2010, Bennett continued finding success as a soloist. Most notably, she guested on LMFAO’s inescapable earworm “Party Rock Anthem,” which spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2011 — at that point becoming the third-longest-running hit on the chart’s summit ever — and closed out the year as No. 2 overall on the Hot 100. The track also topped Pop Airplay and reached No. 6 on Latin Airplay.
To date, “Party Rock Anthem” has 1 billion official on-demand streams and has sold 8.3 million copies in the U.S., according to Luminate. As of 2021, it was No. 7 on the Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs ranking.
Also as a soloist, Bennett scored a No. 21 entry on the now-defunct Dance Club chart in 2016 with her guest feature on Nick Martin’s “Reality.” But before that, she’d joined the group G.R.L. and appeared with her bandmates on Pitbull’s “Wild Wild Love,” which peaked at No. 15 on Pop Airplay and No. 30 on the Hot 100 in 2014. The quintet also reached No. 32 on Adult Pop Songs with “Ugly Heart.”
The musician’s death was announced by the surviving members of G.R.L. on Monday (July 6). In a post on Instagram, they wrote, “It is with great sadness that we share the passing of our beloved Lauren.”
“Our hearts are broken, and we cannot begin to express how much she meant to us,” they continued, refraining from sharing Bennett’s cause of death. “We will forever cherish the love, laughter, and countless memories she gave us. Her beautiful spirit touched so many lives, and she will be deeply missed and forever loved.”
G.R.L. previously lost a member when Simone Battle died by suicide in 2014, shortly after which the group disbanded. Bennett is survived by her 6-year-old daughter, whom she shared with Kenny Wormald.
