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Shonka Dukureh, an actor and singer who recently starred in Baz Luhrmann‘s Elvis, has died. Dukureh was 44.
Dukureh, who played Big Mama Thornton in the music biopic, was found unresponsive by one of her children on Thursday (July 21) in the Nashville apartment she shared with her two kids, according to a Metropolitan Nashville Police release sent out later that day.
Police do not suspect foul play, they stated, although her “death is unclassified at present pending autopsy results from the Medical Examiner’s Office,” per yesterday’s release.
Elvis was Dukureh’s first film role, according to her IMDb page. Her character in the film recorded the song “Hound Dog,” which was later adapted by Elvis Presley and became one of his biggest hits. Along with Dukureh’s work in Elvis, she also collaborated with Doja Cat, appearing in character as Big Mama Thornton in Doja’s “Vegas” music video and performing with her at Coachella.
Dukureh spoke to Shadow & Act about her breakout year in April, telling the outlet it was “amazing” to perform in Elvis and alongside Doja.
“It’s been amazing and I’m looking forward to doing it all over again,” she said at the time. “It’s just been a dream. I didn’t even know it was a dream [of mine] until I really got there and experienced everything, but it has really been a chance of a lifetime, this life-altering experience.”
Dukureh also told Shadow & Act that she was working on new music, specifically a blues record titled Lady Sings the Blues.
“I’m going to be paying tribute to the genre that laid the foundation for music that we’re hearing today,” she said. “I want to have that project ready by June for Black History Month. And I’m just so excited to be able to lend my voice to a genre that has given so much.”
