Grammy Award Winner, American Idol Contestant Mandisa Dies At 47

Grammy Award-winning singer and former American Idol contestant Mandisa Lynn Hundley, known professionally as Mandisa, has died at the age of 47.

The singer competed on the fifth season of the popular talent show, finishing in ninth place. After that, she went on to have a celebrated career in Christian music.

A statement released on Mandisa’s Facebook page, revealed that she was found dead in her home on April 18. Her cause of death is unknown.

‘Mandisa was a voice of encouragement and truth to people facing life’s challenges all around the world.’ The post concluded with some of her own lyrics.

‘I’m already home/You’ve got to lay it down/’cause Jesus holds me now – And I am not alone.’ 

In a 2017 interview with ABC News, Mandisa opened up about her struggles with depression, saying that she contemplated suicide.

‘Even more than her music, the Platinum-selling singer will forever be known for her huge heart and sincerity,’ Christian radio station K-Love said in a statement announcing her passing.

‘Mandisa loved Jesus, and she used her unusually extensive platform to talk about Him at every turn. Her kindness was epic, her smile electric, her voice massive, but it was no match for the size of her heart,’ the station’s media officer, David Pierce said.

‘Mandisa struggled, and she was vulnerable enough to share that with us, which helped us talk about our own struggles.’

Mandisa was a native of Citrus Heights, California, and studied vocal jazz at American River College in Sacramento and music at Fisk University in Tennessee.

Her debut album, True Beauty, was released in 2007, it was her 2013 album Overcomer which won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album and helped to propel her into being one of the biggest Christian music stars in the country. 

The singer auditioned for American Idol in 2005, citing her musical influences as being everything from Def Leppard to Whitney Houston.

During her first appearance on the show, judge Simon Cowell made several jokes about her weight saying: ‘Do we have a bigger stage this year?’

When fellow host Paula Abdul said that Mandisa’s voice sounded ‘French,’ Cowell jumped in and said that a more appropriate comparison would be to the entire country of France.

The joke prompted complaints from the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance.

Later in the season, Mandisa finally responded to Cowell.

‘What I want to say to you is that, yes, you hurt me and I cried and it was painful, it really was. But I want you to know that I’ve forgiven you and that you don’t need someone to apologize in order to forgive somebody,’ she said.

I figure that if Jesus could die so that all of my wrongs could be forgiven, I can certainly extend that same grace to you.’

Cowell apologized and said he was ‘humbled’ by her words.

In 2012, Mandisa revealed that she had lost a staggering 100 pounds in the six years since her appearance on the show, with the starlet revealing that she had hired a personal trainer and taken up popular dance workout Zumba in the wake of Cowell’s ‘hurtful and mean’ comments.

‘I was this close to listening to that voice that told me, “You can be wih Jesus right now, Mandisa. All you have to do is take your life.’

‘It almost happened. But God is what I saw. He saved my life quite literally.

‘I’ve never been the type of person that shakes my fist and yells at God. I’m the kind of person that shuts down,’ she went on.

In the same interview, Mandisa said that she turned to eating amid her depression.

‘[Emotional eating] is what I have done my entire life. After losing 120 pounds, which I talked about my first time here, I gained it all back and 75 more. I sunk into the deepest depression of my life after Kisha passed.’

The singer went on to say that it she only began to take ownership of her issues when a group of friends confronted her as she left a movie theater.

‘I came out of the movie theater, this was after years of me being in that dark place and ignoring everybody, and I noticed that my car had a bunch of sticky notes all over it,’ she said.

From there, her friends staged an intervention.

‘I realized I don’t have to be perfect and have it all together. I am a masterpiece in the making, I’m just unfinished for right now.’

Mandisa spoke about the Cowell incident once again in October 2022 during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network describing it as her ‘worst fear come true.’

‘It’s been the biggest struggle of my life and because it’s something I feel so vulnerable about. For him to have said that and for it to air on national television — I was devastated.’

‘After the show was over, just a bunch of my friends gathered around me and they began to pray for me. They began to pray for Simon. They asked the Lord to have mercy on him, and they began to ask the Lord to help me to forgive Simon.’

‘I realized in that moment that this was about so much more than me and my hurt feelings,’ she said.  

The singer revealed that the situation was set up by producers who warned her that Cowell would make reference to her weight and that she should ‘tell him off.’

In the same interview, Mandisa also discussed her upbringing, saying that her father left the family at a young age. She said it was that abandonment that first led her to use food for comfort.

The hitmaker went on to say that her father drew her to performing.

‘I started feeling like I had to perform in order to warrant his love. At that point I think I started wrestling with feelings of abandonment and — not having a father figure in my life — he is still a very big part of my life, just not right there with me,’ she said.

In the shocking CBN interview, Mandisa also dropped the bombshell that when she was 16 years old, she was raped.

‘When that happened at 16, it was like a floodgate opened. I started to eat and eat and eat. I think I was sort of shielding myself off from anybody else that could harm me.’

The singer said that she has been able to forgive her attacker. 

KTIS radio host Keith Stevens paid tribute to Mandisa calling her a ‘major influence’ on his life.

‘I am deeply saddened to share with you that Christian Artist Mandisa has passed away at her home in Nashville. She was a major influence in my life and yours, and all of us at KTIS. She performed at so many KTIS events and perhaps you were there,’ he said.

‘Today, our lives feel this great loss. Please pray for her family. We love you Mandisa. Thank you for blessing our lives and shining the light of Jesus in everything you did,’ he went on.

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