Elliott Smith

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{{Infobox_Biography |subject_name=Elliott Smith |image_name= Elliott_smith_promo_photo.jpg |image_caption=Promotional photo of Elliott Smith from the XO album |dead=dead |date_of_birth=August 6, 1969 |place_of_birth=Omaha, Nebraska |date_of_death=October 21, 2003 |place_of_death=Los Angeles, California}}

Elliott Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American songwriter and musician, considered by many of his peers to be one of the greatest songwriters of his generation<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>.

Smith's career as a solo artist began in 1994. He rose to prominence when his song "Miss Misery", written for the film Good Will Hunting, was nominated for an Oscar in the best original song category in 1998.

Smith died in October 2003, aged 34, from two (possibly self-inflicted) stab wounds to the chest and the truth surrounding his death is still uncertain.

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Biography

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Early life

Elliott Smith was born Steven Paul Smith at 12:59AM on August 6, 1969 at Clarkson Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Bunny Smith (née Bunny Kay Berryman), was an elementary school teacher and his father, Gary Smith, was a University of Nebraska medical student at the time. His parents divorced about a year later, and the young Smith went to live in Duncanville, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. A month before Steven turned three years old, his mother was remarried Charlie Welch, who was allegedly abusive to both his new wife and new stepson. Smith chronicled this part of his life later in the lyrics of "Some Song": "Charlie beat you up week after week, and when you grow up you’re going to be a freak." <ref name="addy3">Template:Cite web</ref>

The family was a part of Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints through much of Steven's childhood, but eventually began attending services at a local Methodist Church. Going to church did little for the boy, except make him "really scared of hell," a fear that would remain with him the rest of his life.<ref>Nugent, Benjamin (2004). Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, Chapter I, p. 12-14.</ref>

Smith learned to play both the piano and guitar as a 9-year-old and wrote his first song when he was 13. At 14, Smith moved from Texas to Portland, Oregon, to live with his father, Gary. During high school, Smith was part of the band Stranger Than Fiction (with Garrick Duckler, Jason Hornick, and Adam Koval). He graduated from Lincoln High School on June 3, 1987 as a National Merit finalist.

Around this time, he began calling himself "Elliott", since he thought "Steve" sounded too much like a jock name. No one is certain why he chose "Elliott." Some speculate it came from the name of a street in Portland, while others believe it to be an idea of his then-girlfriend, who derived it from the last name of her ex-boyfriend.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Heatmiser and Roman Candle

Image:Heatmiserpromo.jpg Smith graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1991 with a degree in philosophy and political science. “Went straight through in four years,” he explained to Under the Radar in 2003. “I guess it proved to myself that I could do something I really didn’t want to for four years. Except I did like what I was studying. At the time it seemed like, 'This is your one and only chance to go to college and you had just better do it because some day you might wish that you did. Plus, the whole reason I applied in the first place was because of my girlfriend, and I had gotten accepted already even though we had broken up before the first day.” After he graduated, “I worked in a bakery back in Portland with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and legal theory.”

Also, and more significantly, upon his return to Portland, Smith formed the band Heatmiser with Neil Gust, Tony Lash, and Brandt Peterson (replaced soon after by Sam Coomes, later of Quasi). Their sound has been compared to Fugazi and other punk and grunge rock bands. The group disbanded in 1995, but not before signing a deal with major label Virgin Records to release their final record, Mic City Sons. Due to a small clause stating that Smith was legally bound to the agreement even in the event of Heatmiser breaking up, this contract would follow Smith for the rest of his life, eventually being sold by Virgin to DreamWorks in 1998. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Around this time, Smith and Gust worked a number of odd jobs around Portland, including installing drywall, spreading gravel, transplanting bamboo trees and painting the ceiling of a warehouse with heat reflective paint. "It was weird because it was black, but when it got rolled on, it turned silver and started reflecting the sun up at you. I got incredibly sunburned, and I had no idea." The pair were also on unemployment, which they considered an "artist grant." <ref name="UnderTheRadar">Template:Cite web</ref>

Shortly before the dissoloution of Heatmiser, Smith began recording solo, mostly acoustic albums on borrowed four track cassette machines. His solo material was more sparse and moodier than his previous band, but at the same time had a strong pop sensibility, with lyrics that referenced drug addiction, depression, and betrayal. His first release, Roman Candle (1994), was supposedly originally intended to be a collection of demos that didn't fit as Heatmiser songs. Smith's girlfriend at the time convinced him to send a tape of the songs to Cavity Search Records, and owner Cristopher Cooper immediately requested to release it. One track, "Condor Avenue," was purported to be written when Smith was only about 17 years old. <ref name="addy3" /> The instrumentation was primarily acoustic guitar, occasionally accompanied by brief electric guitar riffs or a small drum set played with brushes. Only the final track, an instrumental titled "Kiwi Mad Dog 20/20" (a reference to the cheap wine MD 20/20) had full band instrumentation.

Smith's debut solo performance was at the now-defunct Umbra Penumbra on September 17, 1994. He played for 35 minutes and about fifteen people were in attendance. Only three songs from Roman Candle were performed, with the majority of the ten-song set comprised of B-sides, Heatmiser tunes, and unreleased tracks. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For the last song of the evening, he invited bandmate Neil Gust onstage to assist him in playing "Not Half Right", which was to be the last (hidden) song on the final Heatmiser album. Smith said during the performance that he had just written it earlier that day, and that he was having a difficult time deciphering his own handwriting. Soon after this performance, he was asked to open for Mary Lou Lord on a week-long U.S. tour. The two had a brief relationship, and Smith helped her record "I Figured You Out", a song which he also wrote.

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Elliott Smith and Either/Or

Image:Elliottsmitheitheror.jpg In 1995, Elliott Smith was released on Kill Rock Stars, a label which, up until Smith's arrival, contained an almost exclusively female artist roster. The record contained a similar style of recording to Roman Candle, but not without hints of growth and experimentation. Though the majority of the album was recorded by Smith alone, friend Rebecca Gates sang harmony vocals on "St. Ides Heaven", and Heatmiser guitarist Neil Gust played guitar on "Single File". Although songs like "Needle In The Hay" implied that Smith was beginning to have drug troubles, he always maintained that he was clean from hard drugs throughout the 1990s.

Either/Or, another Kill Rock Stars release, came out in 1997 to favorable reviews. The album found Smith venturing even further into full instrumentation, with several songs containing bass, drums, keyboards and electric guitars, all of which were played by Smith. Most consider this album to be his last purely "indie" release.

Smith's backing band during this period was the Portland-based group Quasi, consisting of former bandmate Sam Coomes on bass guitar and his then-wife, Janet Weiss (of Sleater-Kinney fame), on drums.

The title of the record is derived from the two-volume book of the same name, written by Danish author Søren Kierkegaard. It deals with such themes as despair, dread, death, and God. His decision to borrow the book's title reflected Smith's interest in philosophy, a subject he studied intensely during his college years.

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The Academy Awards and The Beatles

Image:Elliottsmithoscars.jpg In 1997, Smith was tapped by director and fellow Portland resident Gus Van Sant to be a part of the soundtrack to his film, Good Will Hunting. Smith penned an original song, "Miss Misery," and recorded an orchestral version of "Between the Bars" for the movie. Three other previously released tracks from Roman Candle ('No Name #3') and Either/Or ('Angeles' and 'Say Yes') were also included. The film was a commercial and critical success, and Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for "Miss Misery". Apparently not eager to step in to the limelight, he had to be convinced to perform the song at the award ceremony. Only after the producers informed him that his song would be played live that night - either by him or another musician of their choosing - did he agree to show up.

On March 5 (possibly to acclimatize himself to playing on television for his upcoming appearance at The Oscars), Smith made his network television debut on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. He performed "Miss Misery" solo on his acoustic guitar.

A few days later, wearing a white suit, he played an abridged version of the song at the Academy Awards, accompanied by the house orchestra. Celine Dion won the award that night for best song with "My Heart Will Go On" from the film Titanic. Smith never voiced disappointment about his loss, if not relief, and always spoke very highly of Celine Dion.

In 1998, Smith recorded and contributed a cover version of the Beatles' "Because", to the American Beauty soundtrack. The song can be heard during the closing credits of the film. Although this was the only officially-released Beatles song that Smith ever released, he was known to have recorded at least one other ("Revolution") during the sessions for XO) and played many during his live concerts. Some of these songs are listed below. He is also rumored to have recorded a version of "Hey Jude" for the film Royal Tenenbaums to be played during the opening scenes, but for some unknown (possibly legal) reason, the singer's version of the song was dropped and replaced by an instrumental. No recording or hard evidence of this version existing has yet surfaced. However, Royal Tenenbaums did ultimately include Smith's song "Needle in the Hay," played during the climactic suicide attempt of one of the film's principal characters.

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XO and Figure 8

Image:Elliottsmithfigure8era.jpg In 1998, after the success of Either/Or and "Miss Misery", Smith signed to DreamWorks Records, beginning a relationship that would end approximately five years later under clouded circumstances. Many a fan cried "sell out" after this deal was signed, saying that Smith had turned his back on small labels and the independent music community.

Smith battled a heavy bout of depression around this time. While in North Carolina, he became severely intoxicated and proceeded to jump off a cliff. Miraculously, he landed on a tree, which despite stabbing him badly, broke his fall <ref name="SPIN">Template:Cite news</ref>.

Smith's first release for the label was later that year. Titled XO, it would become the top-selling album of his career. Produced by the team of Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock, it also contained some instrumentation from well-known Los Angeles musicians Joey Waronker and Jon Brion. It contained a more full-sounding, baroque pop sound than any of his previous efforts, with songs featuring horn section, drum loops, chamberlains and elaborate string arrangements; however, his familiar doubled tracked vocal and acoustic guitar style was still apparent.

On October 17 1998, Smith appeared on Saturday Night Live. Lucy Lawless (of TV's Xena: Warrior Princess fame) was the evening's guest host. He sported a very worn T-shirt featuring an image of Steve Martin, a subtle nod to a comedian/musician who owed much of his success to his frequent hosting spots on SNL during the 1970s.

Figure 8 came in 2000, featuring the return of Rothrock, Schnapf, Brion and Waronker, and was partially recorded at Abbey Road Studios (where the Beatles often recorded) in England. The songs were increasingly influenced by 1960s popular music like The Kinks, The Beatles and The Zombies. Album art and promotional pictures showed Smith looking very cleaned up and well put together. An extensive tour in promotion of the record ensued, including television appearances on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and The Late Show With David Letterman. However, towards the end of this time, his appearance and health seemed to deteriorate.

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Recording of From a Basement on the Hill

Image:Elliottsmithmagnetcover.jpg The next several years were dark for Smith, who had become addicted to heroin either towards the end of or just after the Figure 8 tour. A follow-up to the 2000 album was originally planned to happen with Rob Schnapf, but was soon abandoned. Smith began distancing himself from manager Maragret Mittleman, who had handled him since the Roman Candle days <ref name="SPIN" />. Live performances during this time were few and far between, typically in the Pacific Northwest or Los Angeles. A review of his December 20, 2001 show at Portland's Crystal Ballroom stated concern over his appearance and performance: his hair was uncharacteristically greasy and long; his face was bearded and gaunt; and during his songs he exhibited alarming signs of "memory-loss and butterfingers." <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Fans were shocked at his inability to remember songs he had been playing for close to a decade straight, and would often have to shout out the lyrics (and in some cases, guitar chords) from the crowd when Smith couldn't think of them. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 2001 and on, he would regularly stumble through a few unclear sentences about how he had just gone through a rough period, but had now cleaned up at each show.

He began recording a new album, this time with only himself and Jon Brion in the producer's chair, around 2001. The pair had recorded a substantial amount of songs, when Brion confronted Smith about his drug and alcohol abuse. <ref name="basement2">Template:Cite web </ref> Their friendship promptly ended, and Smith scrapped all of their work up until that point. He later told an interviewer: "There was even a little more than half of a record done before this new one that I just scrapped because of a blown friendship with someone that made me so depressed I didn’t want to hear any of those songs. He was just helping me record the songs and stuff, and then the friendship kind of fell apart all of a sudden one day. It just made it kind of awkward being alone in the car listening to the songs." <ref name="UnderTheRadar" />

When Brion sent a bill for the abandoned sessions to DreamWorks, executives Lenny Waronker and Luke Wood scheduled a meeting with Smith to determine what went wrong with the sessions. The singer voiced what he believed intrusion upon his personal life from the label, as well as poor promotion for the Figure 8 album. The talks proved to be basically fruitless. Smith soon after sent a message to the executives, stating that if they didn't release him from his contract, he would take his own life <ref name="SPIN" />.

In May 2001, Smith set out to re-record the album, mostly on his own, but with some help from David McConnell, a member of the band Goldenboy. McConnell told SPIN that during this time, Smith would smoke over $1500 worth of heroin and crack per day. He would often talk about suicide, and on numerous occasions actually tried to give himself an overdose. Steven Drozd (of The Flaming Lips, who was coincidentally battling his own addiction to heroin at the time) and Scott McPherson played a few drum tracks, Sam Coomes contributed some bass and backing vocals, but almost every other instrument was recorded by Smith. The songs were much more layered and psychedelic than anything else he had recorded up until that point, with most of the tracks done in only one or two takes. He said of the songs: "They’re kind of more noisy with the pitch all distorted. Some are more acoustic, but there aren’t too many like that. Lately I’ve just been making up a lot of noise." <ref name="UnderTheRadar" />

To prove to fans that he was still making music in spite of his long hiatus between releases, Suicide Squeeze Records put out a limited-edition vinyl single for "Pretty (Ugly Before)", a song that Smith had been playing since the Figure 8 tour. Its only B-side was "A Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to Be Free", later deemed to be an "alternate version".

On November 25, 2002, Smith was involved in a brawl with the Los Angeles Police Department at a Flaming Lips/Beck concert. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Allegedly, Smith saw the officers harassing a young man, at which point the musician tried to step in and defend him. Thinking he was a homeless man, the officers supposedly beat and arrested him and his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba. The two spent the night in jail. Smith's hand and back were injured in the incident, causing him to have to cancel a number of shows. <ref name="UnderTheRadar" />

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Final years and death

Image:Elliottsmithundertheradar.jpg According to Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, around the same time that he began recording his final album, Smith began to display signs of paranoia, often believing that a white van followed him wherever he went. He would have friends drop him off for recording sessions almost a mile away from the studio, and to reach the location he would trudge through hundreds of yards of brush and cliffs. He started telling people that DreamWorks was out to get him. "Not long ago my house was broken into, and songs were stolen off my computer which have wound up in the hands of certain people who work at a certain label. I've also been followed around for months at a time. I wouldn't even want to necessarily say it's the people from that label who are following me around, but it was probably them who broke into my house." <ref name="UnderTheRadar" /> Nugent's book says that during this time, Smith hardly ever ate, subsisting primarily on ice cream (bizarrely, it was the only thing that he kept in his freezer). He would go for several days without sleeping, then lose consciousness for about 24 hours.

He attempted to go to rehab several times, but he "couldn't honestly do the first step (where the individual admits that they have a drug/alcohol problem). I couldn't say what you were supposed to say and mean it." Finally, after several years of darkness, things began to lighten. In the fall of 2002, Smith went to the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills to start a course of treatment for his drug addiction. In one of his final interviews, he spoke about the center: "What they do is an IV treatment where they put a catheter in your arm, and you're on a drip bag, but the only thing that's in the drip bag is amino acids and saline solution. I was coming off of a lot of psyche meds and other things. I was even on an antipsychotic, although I'm not psychotic." <ref name="UnderTheRadar" /> Although suspicions later arose about the validity of the center, its physicians and their practices, Smith's time there proved to do wonders for him, helping him permanently beat his addictions to heroin and crack. After his 34th birthday on August 6 2003, he gave up alcohol, caffeine, red meat, refined sugar and his longtime regiment of sometimes abused psychological medication.

"Elliott's getting better"-type rumors spread on the internet and throughout the independent music community (as apparent on Ben Folds' tribute song to Smith, "Late"). He began looking forward to the future and new projects; he began experimenting with noise music and purchased an iMac with intent to learn how to record with computers, saying that it was the only format he was still unfamiliar with.<ref name="UnderTheRadar" />

Elliott Smith died on October 21, 2003 in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at age 34, from two stab wounds to the chest during an emotional fight with Jennifer Chiba. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to her account, the two were arguing when she locked herself in the bathroom. Chiba heard him scream, and upon opening the door, saw Smith standing there with a steak knife in his chest. She pulled the knife out of him, after which Smith collapsed and she called 911. Smith died in hospital with the time of death listed as 1:36 PM. While originally reported as a suicide, the official autopsy report released in late December 2003 left the question of possible homicide open: Template:Cquote

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. Robin Peringer, one of the singers few close friends towards the end of his life, says that Smith was a "cutter", which would help explain the "possible defensive wounds." Fritz Michaud, an engineer during the Basement sessions, claimed that "Elliott literally wouldn't have been caught dead without his shirt on," possibly explaining why the stab wounds penetrated his clothing (something extremely uncommonly seen in stabbing suicides).

His death has not been officially declared a suicide, and the investigation into his death continues, although almost no new information at all has publicly come to light since 2003.

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Post-death and release of From a Basement on the Hill

Image:Elliottsmithsolutions.jpg Almost instantly after his death, a fan memorial was initiated outside of Solutions Audio (4334 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California) - the site where the cover of the Figure 8 album was shot. Farewell messages to Smith were written on the wall, flowers were brought, photos and candles were left, and even pilgrimages from other countries to the location were made. The owner of Solutions has, for the time being, allowed the memorial to stand. Dozens of tribute albums were recorded, and hundreds of memorial concerts (at which fans covered the artist's songs and spoke about him) were held in places from his native Los Angeles and Portland all the way to Iceland.

Reportedly, the last song ever recorded by Smith was a stark, melancholy version of "Trouble", a Cat Stevens cover. The song first became available to fans, along with about twenty other mostly unreleased tracks were leaked over the Internet as part of a bootleg labeled Basement II Demos in 2005 (an odd title, seeing as only two of the songs were from the Basement album era). "Trouble" was eventually released on the Thumbsucker soundtrack in late 2005.

From a Basement on the Hill, with almost four years in production, was finally released 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 Elliott's ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme to sort through and mix the album. Although stated many times by the musician to be a double album (or a regular album with a "bonus disc"), it was released as a 15-track single album. Many of the darkest songs were not included, such as "True Love" (which deals graphically with addiction and then rehab), "Abused", and "Suicide Machine". It is rumored that it was the family's wishes not to have these songs on the record, as they had the final say in what should or should not be released. <ref name="basement2" /> Reviews of the album were somewhat mixed, although mostly positive. The Onion's A.V. Club wrote that "the album he left behind turns out to be messy, complicated, and unquestionably not his defining work...the album still earns its place — not at the top, and unfortunately as a bookend — in a jarringly important body of work." <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

David McConnell, although there through much of the actual recording process, was not consulted during the mixing, nor was he asked for the extensive "three years' worth" of notes made by himself and Smith while the album was being made. <ref name="basement2" /> The producer also noted that the track "Ostriches & Chirping", a strange and short instrumental made from sampling and looping the noises made by a toy bird, had nothing to do with Smith and was something that McConnell had recorded by himself. McConnell said: "...don't ask me how this ended up on the record, I totally forgot I had put that on one of his reels." <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Smith most likely did not intend for this song to be on the album. When asked what he believed the late Smith would think of the released version of the album, McConnell told Benjamin Nugent, "I don’t think he would have delivered {that} record. The record he would have delivered would have had more songs, would have had different mixes and {been} a little more in-your-face."

Apparently tired of being "suspect in the court of public opinion" due to her silence about the situation, on January 9 2004, Jennifer Chiba told MTV.com that she had "chosen to remain silent because I want to maintain some sense of privacy for Elliott and his family and myself in this really difficult time. If I was a suspect, I would have heard from the investigators, for one thing. Another is that his sister (Ashley Welch) and his parents and everyone close to him knows the truth, so I'm not worried about it." <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Less than a week later, Smith's family gave their own press release, effectively distancing themselves from Chiba's claims. The family's attorney, Conrad Rippy, wrote that the "family has every confidence that the ongoing investigation will determine the actual circumstances of Elliott's death. Until such time as their investigation has concluded, however, and especially in light of the recently published coroner's report, neither Elliott's family nor anyone else can claim to know 'the truth' about Elliott's death, and any statement to the contrary mischaracterizes the family's position." <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In late 2004, Jennifer Chiba filed a suit against Smith's family, stating that she and Smith were professional and personal partners (by some accounts, engaged to be married), and in turn deserved compensation for her role <ref name="SPIN" />. The outcome of the case is not known.

Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, a biography by Benjamin Nugent, was rushed to publication immediately after the musician's death. It contained few interviews with friends and family, largely taking recollections from acquaintances and strangers as gospel. It received lukewarm-to-poor reviews, with Publisher's Weekly saying, while "Nugent manages to patch together the major beats of Smith's life, he can offer little meaningful insight." <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2005, Joel Graves and Robert Cappadona purchased Elliott's New Monkey recording studio in Van Nuys, California, from his family for an unknown price. The singer had spent the last several years of his life collecting vintage instruments and recording gear from various places. Upon his death, his family publicly stated their wish to sell the studio as a whole instead of selling off equipment piece by piece. The website boasts Earlimart, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and The Elected all as clients.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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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.
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Cultural references

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Discography

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Full-length albums

Image Release date Title Label
Image:Romancandle.png July 14 1994 Roman Candle Cavity Search Records
Image:Elliottsmithselftitled.jpeg July 21 1995 Elliott Smith Kill Rock Stars
Image:Elliottsmitheitheror55.jpg February 25 1997 Either/Or Kill Rock Stars
Image:ElliottsmithXOalbumcover.jpg August 25 1998 XO DreamWorks
Image:Elliott smith figure 8 cover.jpg April 18 2000 Figure 8 DreamWorks
Image:Elliott smith from a basement on the hill cover.jpg October 19 2004 From a Basement on the Hill Anti-Records (Domino Records UK and Australian Release)
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Singles

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Filmography

Image:Elliott Smith robot hand.jpg

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Movie soundtrack inclusions

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References

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Footnotes

<references/>
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See also

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External links

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Official

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Unofficial

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Media

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