Grammy Award-winning contemporary Christian singer Mandisa Lynn Hundley, a former Lifeway Christian Resources worker and top-10 American Idol finisher, was found dead Thursday at her Nashville home, her publicist announced on social media.
No reason for death was given.
“We can confirm that yesterday Mandisa was present in her home deceased. At this time we have no idea the reason for death or any further details,” in response to an official notice posted April 19 on the official X account of the performer known simply as Mandisa.
“We ask to your prayers for her family and closeknit circle of friends during this incredibly difficult time.”
Before ending within the ninth spot on American Idol’s fifth season in 2005, Mandisa worked for Lifeway as a telephone customer support representative from 2000 to 2003, Lifeway told Baptist Press.
She partnered with the Lifeway women’s ministry team, performing and leading worship at some events, and later performed at Living Proof Live events.
“Our team at Lifeway is heartbroken to listen to of the passing of our friend and former co-worker,” Lifeway CEO Ben Mandrell told Baptist Press. “Her teammates recall the enjoyment and kindness she dropped at work daily. Our heartfelt prayers are together with her family.”
Lakisha Mitchell, the late wife of Southern Baptist pastor Breonus Mitchell, inspired Mandisa’s hit “Overcomer,” the title song of the album that garnered a 2014 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. Breonus Mitchell, senior pastor of Mount Gilead Baptist Church in Hermitage, Tennessee, remarried in 2018.
“Obviously we’re saddened by her transitioning,” he told Baptist Press. “Mandisa was only a shiny light, a shiny witness. She was true to her faith, regardless that she handled the depression and the problems with Kisha’s transitioning, she’d just rebound. And I believe that song ‘Overcomer’ and her work just epitomize her life, how she’s just been this big overcomer of so many issues.”
Lakisha’s death from breast cancer in 2014 after the album’s success caused Mandisa to spiral right into a deep and lengthy depression, which she overcame. But she continued to struggle together with her mental health, sharing her issues publicly and in her 2022 book, Out of the Dark: My Journey Through the Shadows to Find God’s Joy.
“She’s just been an incredible overcomer,” Mitchell said of Mandisa. “The Scriptures say we sorrow not as those that haven’t any hope, and that is the hope we’ve, that even within the midst of death there’s life. We’re saddened, but at the identical time rejoice one other young life, but a life well-lived.”
Overcomer also snagged Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year on the 2014 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. Its lead single was certified as a platinum hit by the Recording Industry Association of America and was the title song of the Kendrick Brothers’ 2019 movie by the identical title.
The Fisk University graduate sang with the Fisk Jubilee Singers while earning her baccalaureate.
Her 2007 debut album True Beauty gained her first Grammy Award nomination, leading the Top Christian Album chart and rising to No. 43 on the Billboard 200 Album chart.
Many lamented her death.
“Mandisa loved Jesus, and she or he used her unusually extensive platform to speak about Him at every turn,” K-Love chief media officer David Pierce posted on X. “Her kindness was epic, her smile electric, her voice massive, however it was no match for the scale of her heart.
“Mandisa struggled, and she or he was vulnerable enough to share that with us, which helped us speak about our own struggles. Mandisa’s struggles are over, she is with the God she sang about now.”
