Former ‘American Idol’ star Michael Johns dead at 35

There’s some surprising and very sad news coming out of the “American Idol” world today: Singer and former contestant Michael Johns is dead at the age of 35.

Multiple sources have confirmed the passing to The Hollywood Reporter, with the cause stemming from a blood clot that was in the singer’s ankle. There is no further information available at the time of this publication.

Johns was a star of the seventh season of the show, which was eventually won by David Cook with David Archuleta in second place. Johns made it to the top 8, when he was eliminated the night after performing Aerosmith’s hit “Dream On.”

After the show, he did release an album entitled “Hold Back My Heart” in 2009, and he had continued to perform and share his love for music.

As time passes, this sort of thing is going to become more inevitable when it comes to singing-show alums. The luxury that “American Idol” has had when it comes to not dealing with this sort of tragedy is strictly that their age limits do not allow anyone older than 29 to compete. All of the contestants who auditioned for the show, even during the first season, are therefore still young. That’s what makes it even sadder when news like this first hits.

This news is still breaking, so there are going to be some further updates coming up in the near future. For the time being, all we can say is that our thoughts and well-wishes go out to his family during what has to be a rough time. We’re sure that there will be some reactions to this news by some of Johns’ fellow former contestants and those who knew him in time.

We’ll leave the comments up to you to share some of your favorite memories of Michael, whether it be on the show or off.

Photo: Fox