Elliott Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He started writing songs at the age of 14. He performed around the city and eventually became a mainstay in the music scene there as a member of Heatmiser, his first band.
Here's a rundown on his records and the labels he's been with since (and this is incomplete):
His first solo record was Roman Candle, released on Cavity Search a year after the LP Dead Air. He signed to the Kill Rock Stars label after this, in about 1995. He released his self-titled album, also in 1995. Two years later, in 1997, he released Either/Or. This contained Between the Bars and Say Yes, which appeared on the Good Will Hunting Soundtrack, in which he was also nominated for an oscar for the films title song, Miss Misery. He left Kill Rock Stars and signed to Dreamworks. He released XO, which is in all its glory more plugged in than his previously released albums. More recently he's released Figure 8, which follows in the footsteps of XO, and is as brilliant as all his other music.
"Drink up baby,
Stay up all night,
With the things you could do,
You won't, but you might
The potential you'll be,
That you'll never see,
The promises you'll only make..."
from Between The Bars, Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith, Savior of my youth, killed himself today.
There aren't really the right words to express what I feel.
In my darkest moments, when I felt utterly hopeless and alone, I listened to his music and thought, hey, I'm not alone.
And I wonder why. Why would you kill yourself Elliott? You helped me. I understood what you were going through. And you're gone now. And you will be missed, believe me. Yet you gave up, and as hard as I may wish you didn't, you did.
Well, because of you, my beautiful friend, I'm still here. It sounds so trite and dramatic, I know, but it's true. I listened to your songs. I believed in you. You voiced your pain for God-knows-who to find. And I found it. And I had pain of my own that I bottled inside until I got the guts to let it go. Because of you.
And so here I am, you touched me and you never even knew. And if you did I'm not sure it would have mattered anyway. Sometimes people are just too broken for repair.
Thank you for sharing. May you find the rest you never found here on this Hell called Earth.