|
Elliott Smith Information
|
|
'Elliott Smith' (August 6, 1969 - October 21, 2003) was an American songwriter and musician from Portland, Oregon, who rose to prominence when his song "Miss Misery" from the Good Will Hunting soundtrack was nominated for an Oscar in the best original song category in 1998.
Biography
Elliott Smith was born Steven Paul Smith on August 6, 1969 in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents divorced about a year later, and Smith went to live near Dallas, Texas, with his mother and stepfather. Smith learned to play both the piano and guitar as a child and wrote his first song when he was 13. At 14, Smith moved from Texas to Portland, Oregon, to live with his father, Gary. He graduated from Lincoln High School on June 3rd, 1987. He began calling himself Elliott, since he thought Steve sounded too much like a jock name. No one is quite sure why he chose "Elliott." Some speculate it came from a street name in Portland, some say it was an idea of his girlfriend's at the time, and was the last name of her ex-boyfriend. Elliott is spelled with two "t"s like the last name. Others, however, believe that his name may be related to the American Revolutionary folk singer of the 18th century, Gilbert Elliot. During high school, in the early/mid 1980s, he was part of the band Stranger Than Fiction (w/ Garrick Duckler, Jason Hornick, and Adam Koval). Smith graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, with a degree in philosophy and political science. After returning to Portland, Smith formed the band Heatmiser in 1991 with Neil Gust, Tony Lash, and Brandt Peterson (later replaced by Sam Coomes of Quasi). Heatmiser disbanded in 1996. He recorded three solo albums on independent labels (including Kill Rock Stars) and two more on DreamWorks Records. His final album was released posthumously by the Anti label in 2004.
Death
Smith battled depression , alcoholism, and drug addiction for many years, which is sometimes evident in his music; however, seemingly obvious songs such as "Needle in the Hay" were frequently misinterpreted to be about his own battles, when in reality his own problems with drugs did not develop until years later. In 2002, Smith went to the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills to start a course of treatment for his drug addiction. He died in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at age 34, from a single stab wound to the chest. While the death was originally reported as a suicide, the official autopsy report released in late December 2003 left the question open:
While his history of depression is compatible with suicide, and the location and direction of the stab wound is consistent with self-infliction, several aspects of the circumstances (as are known at this time) are atypical of suicide and raise the possibility of homicide. These include the absence of hesitation wounds, stabbing through clothing, and the presence of small incised wounds on the right arm and left hand (possible defensive wounds). Additionally, the girlfriend's [Jennifer Chiba's] reported removal of the knife and subsequent refusal to speak with detectives are all of concern.
According to the coroner's report, the alleged suicide note, written on a Post-it, read, "I'm so sorry-love, Elliot God forgive me." The misspelling of "Elliott" was later acknowledged as a mistake on the part of the coroner.
Multiple unreleased songs he had recently recorded were released as From a Basement on the Hill by his family following his death.
His death has not been officially declared a suicide and the investigation of his death continues.
Trivia
Smith had a tattoo of Ferdinand, a bull from a children's story who was too gentle for the bullfighting ring and preferred to amble about his field smelling the flowers. He also had a small tattoo of the state of Texas.
Cultural references
*Third Eye Blind wrote an instrumental song titled "Elliott Smith" for their unreleased EP Symphony of Decay.
*Ben Folds wrote a song about Smith titled "Late" on his 2005 album Songs for Silverman.
*Dan Bern wrote a song about Smith titled "Elliott," which he plays live regularly.
*Rivers Cuomo wrote a song called "The Other Way" about wanting to console Jennifer Chiba about Smith's death on Weezer's fifth album Make Believe.
*Rilo Kiley has two songs alluding to Elliott Smith on their album More Adventurous. "It Just Is" echoes (so to speak) the death of Smith. The lyrics read "It echoed through the park last night...", a possible reference to the Los Angeles neighborhood where Smith was found dead. "Ripchord" references the lyrics of "Waltz #2 (XO)" with "your mama's got a new man, your daddy always fails" and considers the controversy surrounding whether his death was a murder or suicide with "I don't know if you meant it, but you did yourself in."
Discography
Full-length albums
| Image | Release date | Title | Label |
|---|
| 100px | July 14 1994 | Roman Candle | Cavity Search | | 100px | July 21 1995 | Elliott Smith | Kill Rock Stars | | 100px | February 25 1997 | Either/Or | Kill Rock Stars | | 100px | August 25 1998 | XO | DreamWorks | | 100px | April 18 2000 | Figure 8 | DreamWorks | | 100px | October 19 2004 | From a Basement on the Hill | Anti-Records (Domino Records UK Release) |
Singles
* "No Confidence Man" B-side on a split 7" with Shytown (Pete Krebs) (1994; Slo-Mo Records)
* "Needle In The Hay" B-sides: "Alphabet Town", "Some Song" (1995; on Kill Rock Stars)
* "Speed Trials" B-sides: "Angeles", "I Don't Think I'm Ever Gonna Figure It Out" (1996; on Kill Rock Stars)
* "Division Day" B-side: "No Name #6" (1996; on Suicide Squeeze)
* "Ballad Of Big Nothing" B-sides: "Angeles", "Some Song", "Division Day" (1997; on Kill Rock Stars)
* "Waltz #2 (XO)" B-side: "Our Thing" (1998; on DreamWorks)
* "Baby Britain" B-sides: "Waltz #1 (Demo)", "The Enemy Is You" (1999; on Polydor/Dreamworks)
* "Happiness" B-side: "Son of Sam" acoustic (2000; on DreamWorks)
* "Son Of Sam" B-side: "A Living Will" (2000; on DreamWorks)
* "Pretty (Ugly Before)" B-side: "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free" (early version) (2003; on Suicide Squeeze)
* "Pretty (Ugly Before)" B-side: "A Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to Be Free" (2004; on Domino Records)
Filmography
* Lucky Three: An Elliott Smith Portrait (1997), directed by Jem Cohen.
* Strange Parallel (1998), directed by Steve Hanft.
Movies that include music by Elliott Smith
* American Beauty
* The Girl Next Door
* Good Will Hunting
* The Royal Tenenbaums
* Southlander
* Thumbsucker
* Keeping the Faith
|
