Elliott Smith

Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, the area in which he first gained popularity. Smith's primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient with piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums and harmonica. Smith had a distinctive vocal style, characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery", and used multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures and harmonies.

After playing in the rock band Heatmiser for several years, Smith began his solo career in 1994, with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars (KRS). In 1997, he signed a contract with DreamWorks Records, the label for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when his song "Miss Misery"—included in the soundtrack for the film Good Will Hunting—was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1998.

Smith suffered from depression, alcoholism and drug dependence, and these topics often appear in his lyrics. At age 34, he died in Los Angeles, California from two stab wounds to the chest. The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted. At the time of his death, Smith was working on his sixth studio album, From a Basement on the Hill, which was posthumously completed and released.

Death

Smith died on October 21, 2003 at the age of 34 years from two stab wounds to the chest. At the time of the stabbing, he was at his Lemoyne Street home in Echo Park, California where he lived with his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba. According to Chiba, the two were arguing, and she locked herself in the bathroom to take a shower. Chiba heard him scream, and upon opening the door, saw Smith standing with a knife in his chest. She pulled the knife out, after which he collapsed and she called 9-1-1. Smith died in the hospital with the time of death listed as 1:36 p.m. A possible suicide note, written on a Post-it note, read:

"I'm so sorry—love, Elliott. God forgive me."

The name "Elliott" is misspelled as "Elliot" in the coroner's report; however, a coroner informed the Smoking Gun website "that Smith's first name was misspelled in the report", not on the Post-it note.[4] While Smith's death was originally reported as a suicide, the official autopsy report released in December 2003 left open the question of possible homicide.

According to Pitchfork Media, record producer Larry Crane reported on his Tape Op message board that he had planned to help Smith mix his album in mid-November. Crane wrote, "I hadn't talked to Elliott in over a year. His girlfriend, Jennifer, called me [last week] and asked if I'd like to come to L.A. and help mix and finish [Smith's album]. I said 'yes, of course', and chatted with Elliott for the first time in ages. It seems surreal that he would call me to finish an album and then a week later kill himself. I talked to Jennifer this morning, who was obviously shattered and in tears, and she said, 'I don't understand, he was so healthy.'"

The coroner's report revealed that no traces of illegal substances or alcohol were found in his system at the time of his death, but did find prescribed levels of antidepressant, anxiolytic and ADHD medications in his system, including Clonazepam, Mirtazapine,Atomoxetine and Amphetamine. Also, no hesitation wounds were found on Smith, a trait typical of suicide by self infliction. With his death not being officially declared a suicide, journalist Alyson Camus noted numerous discrepancies and contradictions in the case that suggest foul play. However, the authorities do not seem to be investigating the case further.

Smith's body was cremated. No public burial site or memorial was ever formally announced.

Reaction

The memorial outside Solutions Audio in Los Angeles, California in August 2006

Shortly after Smith's death, a fan memorial was initiated outside Solutions Audio (4334Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California), the site at which the cover of the Figure 8album was shot. Farewell messages to Smith were written on the wall, and flowers, photos, candles and empty bottles of alcohol mentioned in Smith's songs were left. Since then, the wall has been a regular target for graffiti, but is regularly restored by fans.

Memorial concerts were held in several cities in the United States and the United Kingdom. A petition was soon put forth with intent to make part of the Silver Lake area a memorial park in Smith's honor. It received over 10,000 signatures, but no plans to establish the park have been announced. A memorial plaque located inside Smith's former high school, Lincoln High, was hung in July 2006. The plaque has the line "I'm never gonna know you now, but I'm gonna love you anyhow" from Smith's song "Waltz #2 (XO)".

Since Smith's death, many musical acts have paid him tribute. Songs in tribute to, or about, Smith have been released by Pearl Jam("Can't Keep" on the Live at Benaroya Hall concert album); Sparta ("Bombs and Us"); Third Eye Blind ("There's No Hurry to Eternity", originally titled "Elliott Smith", on the Live from Nowhere, Volume 2 compilation); Ben Folds ("Late" on Songs for Silverman); Brad Mehldau ("Sky Turning Grey (for Elliott Smith)" on Highway Rider); Rhett Miller ("The Believer" on The Believer); Earlimart ("Heaven Adores You" on Treble and Tremble); Joan As Police Woman ("We Don't Own It" on Real Life); and Pete Yorn ("Bandstand in the Sky" on Nightcrawler, a song jointly dedicated to Jeff Buckley). Several tribute albumshave also been released since his death, including Christopher O'Riley's Home to Oblivion: An Elliott Smith Tribute.

The band Grandaddy played the track "Oh Well, OK" in the encore of its reunion tour (August to September 2012). During the song, images of Smith and the Solutions Audio Memorial were displayed on a screen behind the band.

On July 30, 2004, Jennifer Chiba filed a lawsuit against the Smith family for 15% of his earnings (over $1 million), claiming that she and Smith lived as "husband and wife", that the singer pledged to take care of her financially for the rest of her life, and that she worked as his manager and agent from around 2000 until his death. A state labor commissioner ruled her claim as manager to be invalid, as she had worked as an "unlicensed talent agent" under California's Talent Agencies Act. The case made it to the California appellate court in October 2007, but was defeated 2–1; Chiba could potentially appeal the case to the Supreme Court of California.

Posthumous releases

Joanna Bolme helped bring From a Basement on the Hill to completion in the wake of Smith's death

From a Basement on the Hill, almost four years in production, was released on October 19, 2004, by ANTI- Records (a part of Epitaph Records). With Smith's family in control of his estate, they chose to bring in Rob Schnapf and Smith's ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme to sort through the recordings and mix the album. Although Smith had voiced his desire for it to be a double album or a regular album with a bonus disc, it was not clear whether it would have been possible for him to release it that way had he completed it. As completed by Schnapf and Bolme, it was released as a 15-track single album. Many songs from the sessions (later leaked onto the Internet) were not included, such as "True Love", "Abused", "Stickman" and "Suicide Machine" (a reworking of the Figure 8-era unreleased instrumental "Tiny Time Machine"). There has been unconfirmed speculation that Smith's family made the decision not to include some songs on the record.

Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, a biography by Benjamin Nugent, was rushed to publication and hit stores shortly after From a Basement on the Hill, barely beyond the first anniversary of the musician's death. Smith's family, as well as Joanna Bolme, Jennifer Chiba, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, all declined to be interviewed. It contained interviews with Rob Schnapf, David McConnell and Pete Krebs. The book received mixed reviews, with Publishers Weekly remarking that while "Nugent manages to patch together the major beats of Smith's life, he can offer little meaningful insight."

On May 8, 2007, a posthumous two-disc compilation album entitled New Moon was released by Kill Rock Stars. The album contained 24 songs recorded by Smith between 1994 and 1997 during his tenure with the label, songs that were not included on albums, as well as a few early versions and previously released B-sides. In the United States, the album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard200, selling about 24,000 copies in its first week. The record received favorable reviews and was Metacritic's 15th best-reviewed album of 2007. A portion of the proceeds from album sales were to go to Outside In, a social service agency for low-income adults and homeless youth in Portland, Oregon.

On October 25, 2007, a book titled Elliott Smith was released by Autumn de Wilde, which consists of photographs, handwritten lyrics and "revealing talks with Smith's inner circle." De Wilde was responsible for the Figure 8 sleeve art, making a landmark and de facto Smith memorial of the Solutions Audio mural. A five-song CD featuring previously unreleased live recordings of Smith performing acoustically at Club Largo in Los Angeles was included in the release.

Following the singer's death, the Smith estate licensed his songs for use in a number of film and television projects, such as One Tree Hill, The Girl Next Door, Georgia Rule and Paranoid Park.

In a March 2009 interview, Larry Crane said that the estate of Elliott Smith was now "defunct" and all rights previously held by the singer are now in the control of "his parents". Crane went on to say that his parents own the rights to Smith's high school recordings, some of the Heatmiser material, all solo songs recorded up until his 1998 record deal with DreamWorks Records andFrom a Basement on the Hill. DreamWorks Records was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2003, and Interscope Recordscurrently "owns all studio and live recording from Jan 1998 to his passing, except for the songs on From a Basement on the Hill."

In December 2009, Kill Rock Stars announced that it had obtained the rights to re-release Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill, originally released by Cavity Search and ANTI-, respectively. Roman Candle would be remastered by Larry Crane. Along with the press release, Kill Rock Stars posted a previously unreleased track of Smith's, titled "Cecilia/Amanda", as a free download. Roman Candle and From a Basement on the Hill were re-released on April 6, 2010, in the US.

A compilation titled An Introduction to... Elliott Smith was released by Domino Records on November 1, 2010, in the UK and Kill Rock Stars on November 2 in the US.

There remain over a hundred unreleased tracks. Many have leaked on the internet.