Gospel singer who performed in Detroit hospital while waiting for double lung transplant dies

Kuipiio Livingston died Thursday, Sept. 30

DETROIT – Last month gospel singer Kuipiio Livingston was waiting for a double lung transplant. Even with breathing tubes and a life-sustaining apparatus she never lost her ability to sing.

Back in September the Detroit resident gave a private, hybrid concert to a few people online and others carefully spaced out in a waiting room down the hall from her hospital bed. Her performance lasted 45 minutes.

Livingston died on Thursday, Sept. 30.

As of Friday, Sept. 10 Livingston’s condition remained unchanged. She was not a candidate for a transplant or on a list to receive one.

Before passing away Livingston’s condition had been deteriorating. The 45-year-old singer was in the intensive care unit at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit since July. The staff there became her second family.

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About the Author

Paula Tutman is an Emmy award-winning journalist who came to Local 4 in 1992. She's married and the stepmother of three beautiful and brilliant daughters. Her personal philosophy in life, love and community is, "Do as much as you can possibly do, not as little as you can possibly get away with".

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