Charlotte “Bowie” Drozd, the missing daughter of The Flaming Lips member Steven Drozd has been found and “is safe”.
This past weekend (October 6), the band shared a missing person’s notice after 16-year-old Charlotte was last seen at the Seattle Space Needle on Saturday, October 5 at 11:30am. She was described as “5’7” with brown eyes and long brown hair. She was seen wearing khaki colour shorts and pink shoes”.
On Tuesday night (October 8), the band’s Wayne Coyne took to social media to share that Charlotte Drozd had been found in a safe condition. Coyne wrote on social media, thanking fans for their re-posts and spreading the word on the initial missing person’s announcement: “She’s found and is safe… her mother has spoke with her… THANK YOU everyone for all your posts and all your networking and all your support and all your skills and all your trust and all your LOVE!!!”
So far, no reasons have been shared for why she went missing in the first place, or where she was found.
The news of Charlotte being found offers some respite to the Flaming Lips camp after a rough weekend. Besides announcing that Charlotte had gone missing, the band also had to deal with the death of their collaborator, the young Nell Smith.
It was revealed earlier this week that Smith – aged just 17-years-old – was killed in a traffic accident. Prior to her death, Nell was working on her debut album, which was being planned for release sometime in early 2025.
Smith first struck up a relationship with The Flaming Lips in 2019 after the band had noticed the then-12-year-old dressed as a parrot in the front row at several of their concerts alongside her parents. They later met and kept in contact before Smith began laying down the foundation for the Cave cover album in 2021.
Nell Smith performs with The Flaming Lips in 2022. Credit: Jim Dyson/Getty Images
Smith – aged 14 at the time – sent the album to The Flaming Lips, who provided further instrumentation on the record. ‘Where The Viaduct Looms’ was released in November 2021.
After the release of the album’s first single, a cover of Bad Seeds’ 2016 track ‘Girl In Amber’, Nick Cave himself shared his love for the version, saying: “This version of ‘Girl in Amber’ is just lovely, I was going to say Nell Smith inhabits the song, but that’s wrong, rather she vacates the song, in a way that I could never do. Nell shows a remarkable understanding of the song, a sense of dispassion that is both beautiful and chilling. I just love it. I’m a fan.”
The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne remembered the young musician during their Portland show on October 7, saying between tears: “We have a very sad announcement to make tonight. We have a Canadian friend, her name is Nell. We recorded an amazing album with her three years ago, an album full of songs by Nick Cave. We have some very sad messages today – she was killed in a car accident last night (October 6). We are reminded once again of the power of music and how encouraging it can be to be around people that you love.”
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