Elliott Smith

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elliott Smith (* 6 August 1969 in Omaha , Nebraska as Steven Paul Smith , † 21st October 2003 in Echo Park (Los Angeles) , California ) was an American musician . He accompanied most of his songs with the guitar , but he also mastered the piano , clarinet , bass , drums and the harmonica .

Life

Elliott Smith grew up with his mother in Dallas , Texas until he moved to his father in Portland , Oregon , to attend high school. Smith began playing the piano at the age of nine. A year later he acquired his first skills on an acoustic guitar that his father had given him. After moving to Portland, Smith began recording his first songs. He studied philosophy and politics at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts . Here he founded the band Heatmiser with Neil Gust . After the Heatmiser concerts, he gave encores from his own song pool, which led to conflicts with his fellow musicians. His first solo album, Roman Candle , was released in 1994 , and Elliott Smith in 1995 . In 1996, after the release of the last album Mic City Sons , he separated from Heatmiser. At that time Smith was already doing regular solo appearances, including supporting bands like Sebadoh . In 1997 he moved to Brooklyn , New York .

Elliott Smith (2003)

Smith's third album Either / Or drew the attention of film director Gus Van Sant to him. The musician contributed some songs to Van Sant's film Good Will Hunting . With the song Miss Misery he was nominated for an Oscar . His two following albums XO and Figure 8 were created on the major label DreamWorks , with Smith enjoying absolute artistic freedom due to a contractual clause. In 1999, Smith's cover version of the Beatles song Because was used on the soundtrack of American Beauty ; two years later the song Needle in the Hay in the film The Royal Tenenbaums .

Elliott Smith struggled with alcohol addiction , depression, and drugs for years . On October 21, 2003, he died of two stab wounds in the chest, which, according to his girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Chiba, he himself is said to have inflicted after an argument with her. The autopsy report states that the cause of death was “not determinable” and not suicide .

After his death

Smith was in the process of finalizing his latest album, From A Basement On The Hill , which was released posthumously . The music for the film Thumbsucker was also to be composed by Smith, but he passed away during the production of the film.

After his death, numerous musicians and bands dedicated songs to him. Beck processed the death of his friend with the song Broken Drum . Also, Ben Folds , Pearl Jam and Rilo Kiley praised him posthumously. In 2006, Christopher O'Riley released the tribute album Home to Oblivion: Elliott Smith Tribute . In 2007 the double album New Moon was released with unreleased material. Some of the proceeds were donated to charity.

Smith's music has been used in other films, such as Die Österreichische Methode ( Tomorrow, Tomorrow ) produced by Tobby Holzinger in 2006, Up in the Air with George Clooney produced by Ivan Reitman in 2009 and in Gus Van Sant's film Paranoid Park (2007 ) ( The White Lady Loves You More and Angeles ). Elliot Smith's music was also used in series, for example in the animated series Rick and Morty .

Smith's estate includes a good 100 unpublished songs. The "Elliott Smith Memorial Fund", founded after his death, takes care of social projects for children and young people in and around Portland.

Trivia

Singer Madonna stated in an interview with Q magazine that she wishes she had written Smith's Between the Bars .

Discography

  • Roman Candle (1994, Cavity Search)
  • Elliott Smith (1995, Kill Rock Stars)
  • Either / Or (1997, Kill Rock Stars, UK: silversilver)
  • XO (1998, DreamWorks , UK:silversilver)
  • Figure 8 (2000, DreamWorks, UK:silversilver)
  • From A Basement On The Hill (2004, ANTI-Records )
  • New Moon (2007, Kill Rock Stars)
  • An Introduction To… Elliott Smith (2010)
  • Heaven Adores You (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2016)

literature

Web links

Commons : Elliott Smith  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Mysterious Death of Elliott Smith . The Guardian , March 19, 2004.
  2. ↑ Resurrection and immortality are always analogous . Die Welt, July 29, 2017
  3. ↑ Toby Holzinger at filmportal.deTemplate: Filmportal.de Name / Maintenance / ID is missing in Wikidata
  4. ↑ rickandmorty.wikia.com
  5. ^ Q Magazine ( Memento from March 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Elliott
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Steven Paul (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician
DATE OF BIRTH 6th August 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Omaha , Nebraska
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 2003
Place of death los Angeles