Many unsuccessful American Idol contestants were soon forgotten by the audience after they failed to advance to the second round of FOX reality show. Apparently Alexis Cohen was not one of them. Alexis Cohen was 23-years-old when she auditioned for season 7 of “American Idol” with Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 hit song Somebody To Love. When her audition didn’t go over too well with the American Idol judges and after being pissed off by Simon Cowell who called her performance “possessed” and “channeling the voices”, and even compared her to Willem Dafoe’s character Green Goblin in Spider-Man, Alexis Cohen began an interesting rant that quickly became a “You Tube” favorite. The singer’s mother said in an interview that Cohen had auditioned in June for the upcoming season of “Idol” with Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” and was preparing for a callback audition.

Cohen’s colorful behavior in early episodes of Idol’s seventh and eighth seasons, including repeated rude gestures directed at the judges, made her a memorable presence. But, just two years after her memorable American Idol audition, Alexis Cohen was found at 4:00am on July 25, 2009 dead at the side of a New Jersey road after being struck by a car. She was 25-years-old.
Two passers-by made the 911 call after they noticed Cohen lying motionless at the edge of Dupont Avenue near Bay Boulevard, Ocean County. Paramedics who arrived later transported her to Community Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 6:30 a.m. The autopsy concluded that she had chest and abdominal injuries and a head injury which caused by collision with a vehicle. Police charged Daniel Bark, 23, on Monday with aggravated manslaughter, a first-degree offense, as well as death by vehicular homicide and eluding a law-enforcement officer, in addition to the original charge of leaving the scene of an accident.
Now, Alexis is remembered in online tributes made by fans and VIPs alike. For instance, one fan was so moved by the news that she uploaded a Cohen tribute to YouTube, with grainy still images of the singer’s most famous audition moments over a mournful score.
Ex-judge Paula Abdul tweeted on Sunday night: “My heart goes out to the family of Alexis Cohen. She showed great courage at ‘Idol’ and let’s all send our prayers to her family now.”
On Monday morning, “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest tweeted, “My thoughts are with the Cohen family. It is such a sad story. She auditioned for the producers for this season and then the terrible news.” The tributes also came in to the popular “Idol” blog Rickey.org, where fans expressed their grief and one said that Cohen was “truly funny” and “quite spirited” the second time she auditioned for the show.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 7:07 am and is filed under Americal Idol.