‘Elvis’ actress and blues singer Shonka Dukureh died of ‘hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease’.
According to documents obtained by Us Weekly on Monday, the coroner ruled her death “natural.”
The singer, who was only 44 years old at the time of her death, leaves behind her two young children.
On July 21, Dukureh was found dead in her bedroom in the Nashville apartment she shared with her two children.
The Tennessean reported that Dukureh’s son, the eldest of her two children, did not respond to her before running to a neighbor’s house, who called 911 at about 9:30 a.m.
A spokesman for the Metro Nashville Police Department confirmed that no malicious intent was suspected.
A Dukureh representative did not immediately respond to Vidak For Congress’s request for comment.
The singer is best known for playing the role of Big Mama Thornton in ‘Elvis’, which follows the life of Elvis Presley. The film, which premiered on June 24 and stars Austin Butler, was her first and only film credit, according to IMDb.
Dukureh proudly shared her role in the film – and the chance to sing Presley’s hit “Hound Dog” – via Instagram prior to her death.
“Gratitude is where I live because [sic] my grandma, mama, mama, family molded it and imprinted it on me,” she wrote just a week before her untimely death.
“It is not an attitude of less than or scraping crumbs, but an attitude that recognizes that good things are no guarantees and when we encounter gratitude, gratitude is the least we can express.”