Chris Trousdale, a former member of short-lived boy band Dream Street, has died following a battle with COVID-19. He was 34.
TMZ, who is reporting the news, says Trousdale died Tuesday in a hospital in Burbank, Calif., of complications from the coronavirus, according to a family member.
“Chris left this earth at 8:44 pm yesterday after a horrible battle with [an] acute strep infection that shut down his body,” says a comment on his Instagram left by a woman named Jane Gagle, who works at the Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre, which Trousdale worked with. “Chris was in a coma, on life support when he passed.”
Trousdale joined Dream Street, which also counted Jesse McCartney among its members, in 1999. Formed by producers Louis Baldonieri and Brian Lukow with the intent of capitalizing on teenybopper pop’s grip on the mainstream, the group, despite all being underage, were already veterans of the NYC acting and Broadway scenes. Their songs “It Happens Every Time” and “I Say Yeah” were Radio Disney hits and their self-titled debut went gold.
The group split in 2002 after a lawsuit from their parents alleged a wide variety of sordid behavior from Baldonieri and Lukow, such as encouraging them to sleep with teenaged fans and providing them with liquor and pornography.
Despite starring in the Dream Street film “The Biggest Fan,” Trousdale had a harder time launching his solo career than McCartney. He continued to act in smaller roles and eventually auditioned for “The Voice” in 2012, but did not make it past the blind auditions. At the time, he was working as a waiter in a sushi restaurant.
“It’s hard to be serving somebody and she’s like, ‘What are you doing here, you were my idol, I had you on my bedroom wall,'” he said on the show.
“Chris was one of a kind and always the brightest light on any stage he stood on,” Gagle’s comment reads. “Thank you for the love you gave him. He felt it to the end and I’m sure still as he watches from heaven.”