Originally posted by Hiro11
This sucks. Great musician. What a ****ing idiot.

Folk-punk singer/songwriter Elliott Smith has died of an apparent suicide, according to the Los Angeles County Department of the Coroner's office. Smith's body was found in his apartment, in the Silverlake section of Los Angeles, by a female friend, who took him to a local hospital at approximately 12:18 p.m. on Tuesday.

He was pronounced dead at Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center just over an hour later. He was 34.

A single knife wound that appeared to be self-inflicted was evident on the body, though police detectives are investigating the incident for foul play and/or other possibilities. No other details were available at press time.

Smith (real name Steven Paul Smith) had battled drug and alcohol addiction throughout his career. His first two albums, 1994's Roman Candle and the next year's self-titled LP for Olympia, Washington's Kill Rock Stars label, intimated these subjects with haunting, sparsely recorded acoustic songs such as "Needle in the Hay" that drew comparisons to 1960s singer/songwriter Nick Drake and Simon and Garfunkel. He reportedly cleaned up midway through his career, but the problem was believed to have escalated in recent years due to a reclusive nature and sporadic public performances.

Originally posted by Mutley Hyde
Yeah, no offense, but,

R.I.P. Elliot Smith, whoever you are.

Songwriter Elliott Smith Dead at 34

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Elliott Smith, a singer-songwriter whose dark, introspective songs won him critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination, has apparently committed suicide, his publicist and coroner's officials said Wednesday. He was 34.

Smith's body was found by his live-in girlfriend Tuesday, Los Angeles County Coroner Records Supervisor Marsha Grigsby told AP Radio.

He sustained a single stab wound to the chest that appeared to be self-inflicted, she said.

His New York-based publicist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also confirmed his death.

Smith released five solo albums that received widespread acclaim from rock critics and garnered modest commercial success. "Miss Misery,'' recorded for Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting,'' was nominated for an Oscar in 1998.

Smith's songs often were compared with those of Alex Chilton, Nick Drake and the Beatles, his favorite band.

Lyrically, they addressed dark subject matter such as drug addiction, troubled relationships and loneliness - though Smith tried to distance himself from the label of confessional songwriter.

"I don't feel like my songs are particularly fragile or revealing,'' he said in a 1998 interview in the Los Angeles Times. "It's not like a diary, and they're not intended to be any sort of superintimate confessional singer-songwriterish thing.''

However, Smith had recently spoken in interviews about his struggles with alcoholism. "When I lived in New York I was really a bad alcoholic for a few years,'' he told Under the Radar magazine in an interview published in June 2003.

In an effort to quit drinking, Smith said he had undergone treatment which administers an intravenous solution meant to clear the bloodstream of toxins.

Smith was born Steven Paul Smith in Nebraska; his mother was a singer and his father was a psychiatrist. He spent most of his childhood with his mother in the suburbs of Dallas and then moved to Portland, Ore., while in high school to live with his father.

He studied piano and guitar as a youth and began composing songs when he was 13. He began calling himself Elliott in middle school, he later explained to a reporter, because Steve sounded too "jockish.''

A graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., he later joined a Portland punk band called Heatmiser. On the side, he recorded several solo albums - "Roman Candle'' (1994), "Elliott Smith'' (1995) and "Either/Or'' (1997), all on independent labels - that won him a devoted underground following.

In 1997, he moved to New York, where Van Sant approached him with an offer to use several of his songs on the soundtrack to "Good Will Hunting.'' The movie was a hit, bringing Smith's music to a mainstream audience.

Smith subsequently signed with DreamWorks Records and recorded two albums; "XO'' (1998) and "Figure 8'' (2000) continued his critical winning streak, and took him to the middle reaches of Billboard's Top 200 albums chart.

"I don't really have any goals as a songwriter,'' he once said, "other than to show what it's like to be a person - just like everybody else who's ever played music does.''

Associated Press writer Justin Glanville in New York contributed to this report.