Elliott Smith

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Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), better known as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and musician. His primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, bass, harmonica and drums. Although born in the Midwest and primarily raised in Texas, Smith spent the majority of his life in Portland, Oregon.

After playing in the rock band Heatmiser for several years, Smith's career as a solo artist began in 1994 with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars. He eventually signed a major label contract with DreamWorks Records, for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream 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.

The singer battled with depression, alcohol addiction and drug use for many years, and the topics would often appear in his lyrics. Smith died in 2003, aged 34, from two apparently self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest. However, as of 2006, the evidence surrounding his death remains inconclusive. In 2004, ANTI- Records released From a Basement on the Hill, which Smith had been working on since about 2000 and was still in unfinished form when he died.

Biography

Early life

Steven Paul Smith was born on August 6, 1969 at Clarkson Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Bunny Welch (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. Gary joined the Air Force and was sent to the Philippines as a physician.

Smith and his mother soon after left Omaha and moved to Duncanville, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. In July 1973, Bunny was remarried to Charlie Welch, who was allegedly abusive to both his new wife and new stepson. This time seems to have impacted Smith immensely; he graphically 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." Shutt, 2002, p. 3 The name "Charlie" would reoccur in songs throughout the years, such as "Flowers For Charlie" and "No Confidence Man". In contrast, his biological parents' names were never mentioned specifically in any song.

The family was a part of Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints through much of Smith'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. Nugent, 2004, pp. 12-14

Smith learned to play both the piano and guitar as a 9-year-old and wrote his first song when he was 13. Interestingly, many of the people on his mother's side of the family were non-professional musicians: his grandfather was a Dixieland drummer and his grandmother was in a glee club. He has cited his influences while growing up as Bob Dylan, KISS, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams, but most importantly The Beatles. One of his first memories was of listening to the White Album at his father's apartment. Smith continued to be a dedicated fan of The Beatles (as well as their solo projects) and once noted that he had been listening to them frequently since he was about "four years old." Smith said this when asked "Have you been listening to a lot of Beatles lately?" in Strange Parallel.

At 14, Smith moved from Texas to Portland, Oregon, to live with his father, who was then working as a psychiatrist. It was around this time that Smith first began trying drugs and alcohol with friends. He also began experimenting with recording for the first time, borrowing a friend of a friend's four-track recorder.Shutt, 2002, p. 2 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 Scholarship finalist.

During his high school years, Steven Smith soon began calling himself "Elliott", since he thought "Steve" sounded too much like a jock name. S. R. Shutt's biography of Smith speculates that it was either inspired by a street name in Portland, or it was suggested by his then-girlfriend (who had derived it from the last name of her ex-boyfriend). Shutt, 2002, p. 4

Heatmiser

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 he, “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. Shutt, 2002, p. 8

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. The pair were also on unemployment, which they considered an "artist grant."

Roman Candle

Shortly before the dissolution 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 chemical dependancy, depression, and betrayal. His first release, Roman Candle (1994), was supposedly a collection of demos that didn't fit as Heatmiser songs and 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. Shutt, 2002, p. 3 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. 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. Several more short tours followed. The two had a brief relationship, and Smith helped her record "I Figured You Out", a song which he also wrote.

Elliott Smith and Either/Or

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 featured 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. The title of the record was 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 during his college years.

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. Quasi also performed as the opening act at many shows on the tour, with Smith sometimes contributing bass, guitar or backing vocals.

The Academy Awards and The Beatles

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 1998, Smith made his network television debut on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. He performed "Miss Misery" solo on his acoustic guitar possibly to acclimate to playing live on television. 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. James Horner and Will Jennings won the award that night for best song with "My Heart Will Go On" (sung by Celine Dion) from the film Titanic. Smith never voiced disappointment about his loss - if anything, he seemed relieved.

In 1998, Smith recorded and contributed a cover version of the Beatles song "Because" to the American Beauty soundtrack, which can be heard during the closing credits of the film. Although this was the only Beatles song that Smith ever officially released, he was known to have recorded at least one other ("Revolution", during the sessions for XO ), and played many during his live concerts. Among the songs he is known to have played during concerts are "Blackbird", "Yer Blues", "I Me Mine", "For No One", "Something", "I'm So Tired", "Jealous Guy", "I'm Only Sleeping", "Give Me Love", "My Sweet Lord", "Isn't it a Pity?" and "Long, Long, Long".

Smith was also rumored to have recorded a version of "Hey Jude" for the 2001 Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums to be played during the opening scenes, but the song never materialized. In a December 2004 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Anderson said that although Smith was lined up to record the song, he "was in a bad state and just wasn't able to." However, The 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.

XO and Figure 8

In 1998, after the success of Either/Or and "Miss Misery", Smith signed to the major label DreamWorks Records, beginning a relationship that would end approximately five years later under clouded circumstances. Smith battled a heavy bout of depression around this time. While in North Carolina, he became severely intoxicated and jumped off a cliff. Miraculously, he landed on a tree, which despite stabbing him badly, broke his fall. Gowing, Liam. "Mr. Misery". SPIN. Volume 20 number 12. December 2004.

Smith's first release for the label was later that year. Titled XO, it was produced by the team of Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock. XO 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, chamberlins and elaborate string arrangements; however, his familiar doubled tracked vocal and acoustic guitar style was still apparent. The album went on to sell more than 200,000 copies (more than double that of each of his two Kill Rock Stars releases), becoming the best selling release of his career. Nugent, 2004, pp. 201

On October 17, 1998, Smith appeared on Saturday Night Live. Lucy Lawless (of TV's fame) was the evening's guest host. He sported a worn T-shirt featuring an image of Steve Martin, an apparent nod to the comedian/musician who had hosted SNL frequently.

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.

Public Appearances, 2001-2002

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." Fans were shocked at his inability to remember songs he had been playing for close to a decade straight, and the crowd would often have to shout out the lyrics (and in some cases, guitar chords) when Smith couldn't think of them. At each show he played 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.

In the first of only three concerts he performed in 2002, Smith co-headlined Northwestern University's "A&O Ball" with Wilco on May 2 in Chicago. Due to lackluster on-campus ticket sales, the promoters opened ticket sales to the public on the day of the show. Smith's performance was described as "undoubtedly one of the worst performances ever by a musician" and an "excruciating...nightmare". Online zine Glorious Noise eerily predicted, "I seriously hope he's okay and that he gets his sh*t together. But it would not surprise me at all if Elliott Smith ends up dead within a year."

On November 25, 2002, Smith was involved in a brawl with the Los Angeles Police Department at a Flaming Lips/Beck concert. 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. Wayne Coyne, a friend of Elliott and lead singer of The Flaming Lips, stated concern over Smith's appearance and actions, saying that he "saw a guy who had lost control of himself. He was needy, he was grumpy, he was everything you wouldn't want in a person. It's not like when you think of Keith Richards being pleasantly blissed out in the corner."

Recording of From a Basement on the Hill

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 Margaret Mittleman, who had handled him since the Roman Candle days.

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. 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."

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 .

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) 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. Smith jokingly labeled his new experimental way of recording "The California Frown" (a play on the Beach Boys' "California Sound"). 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."

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".

Final years and death

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." Nugent's book says that during this time, Smith hardly ever ate, subsisting primarily on ice cream, which was also the only thing kept in his freezer. He would go for several days without sleeping, and then sleep for an entire day.

He attempted to go to rehab several times, but he said he "couldn't honestly do the first step [admit that he had a drug/alcohol problem]... I couldn't say what you were supposed to say and mean it." After several particularly dark years for Smith, things began to improve. 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 needle 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 psych meds and other things. I was even on an antipsychotic, although I'm not psychotic." 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 (sometimes abused) regiment of psychological medication.

Rumors of Smith's improving condition 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 method he was still unfamiliar with.

Elliott Smith died on October 21, 2003 in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, California at age 34, from two stab wounds to the chest during an emotional fight with Jennifer Chiba. 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 he 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:

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. Speaking to Benjamin Nugent, Robin Peringer (one of Smith's few close friends towards the end of his life) said that Smith was a "cutter", which Peringer felt could explain the "possible defensive wounds". Fritz Michaud, a sound engineer during the Basement sessions, claimed to Nugent that "Elliott literally wouldn't have been caught dead without his shirt on," possibly explaining why the stab wounds penetrated his clothing (something rarely 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.

Reactions to Smith's death

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 Los Angeles and Portland all the way to countries as far away as Iceland. A petition was soon put forth with intent to make part of the Silver Lake area a memorial park in Smith's honor. It received over 10,000 signatures, but no plans to go forth with the park have been announced.

As typical with deaths in the entertainment industry, a memorabilia rush occurred in the months and years following his death. Hastily silk screened clothing (often featuring a picture of Smith and a few lines from one of his songs) - although unlicensed - flooded the market, along with bootlegs of concerts and copies of Smith's trademark leather wrist band. eBay auctions for the rare vinyl versions of XO and Figure 8 skyrocketed, with some selling at nearly $300.

Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, a biography by Benjamin Nugent, was rushed to publication and hit stores shortly after From the Basement on the Hill, barely beyond the one year anniversary of the musician's death. It contained long interviews with Rob Schnapf, David McConnell, (former girlfriend) J.J. Gonson, and Pete Krebs. However, some of those who were likely the closest to Smith refused to speak to the author: his family, Joanna Bolme, Jennifer Chiba, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss all declined to be interviewed.

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

Completion and release of From a Basement on the Hill

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 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", "Stickman" "Suicide Machine" (a reworking of the Figure 8 era unreleased instrumental, "Tiny Time 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. 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."

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. The producer also noted that the track "Ostriches & Chirping", a 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."

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 record. The record he would have delivered would have had more songs, would have had different mixes and a little more in-your-face". Schnapf also expressed that the final result that he and Bolme had produced was not the album that Smith would have made. Schnapf also said that they did not add anything to the songs, and only mixed whatever had been recorded: "I would never presume to add anything. We didn't add anything."

Other releases

A 40 minute concert DVD of Smith playing at the July 17, 1999 Yo Yo A Go Go Festival, titled Elliott Smith - Olympia, Washington, was announced to be released sometime during 2004 by HIQI Media, but has since been legally challenged by DreamWorks and is currently in limbo. In April 2006, the film was leaked online.

A collection of tracks was circulated via internet download known as The Basement Tapes or simply Basement II. The album is composed of 22 tracks mostly unreleased songs as well as a couple of covers. The album is available through most Elliott Smith media sites.

While Schnapf and Bolme have made it clear that they wished and considered From a Basement on the Hill to be the singer's final record, it is unknown if the Smith family or DreamWorks plan to release any more posthumous Elliott Smith albums.

Jennifer Chiba and the Smith family

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."

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."

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 . The outcome of the case is not known.

Samples

==Notable tributes== The following notable artists recorded tributes to Smith upon his death:

• 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.
• Earlimart, whose lead singer was friends with Elliott around the time of his death, wrote many of the songs on "Treble & Tremble" about him.
• Brainwarmer wrote the song "Elliott Smith's Guitar" about playing Elliott Smith's Rickenbacker guitar at Jackpot! Studios in Portland, Oregon, where Smith had recorded.
• The title track of Rhett Miller's third album, The Believer, was written about Smith.
• Christopher O'Riley, a pianist, recorded a tribute record, Home to Oblivion: an Elliott Smith Tribute
• Bright Eyes covered "The Biggest Lie" several days after Smith's death. The performance was released on their 2005 live album, Motion Sickness. Saddle Creek labelmates Rilo Kiley have also covered the song at several concerts.
• Bayside covered Baby Britain on the Bayside Acoustic EP.
• Bad Astronaut cover "Needle in the Hay" on their first album Acrophobe.
• theSTART lead singer Aimee Echo wrote the lyrics to the song "You, Me and a Knife" about Smith's death after she had read about it that day.
• The Rilo Kiley songs "Ripchord," "It Just Is" and several others from their 2004 release More Adventurous are about Smith. The band was friendly with the musician towards the end of his life, and they have stated that Smith was a primary influence in their songs.
• Gruvis Malt's 2005 concept album, Maximum Unicorn, contains a tribute to Smith entitled "Mr. Smith Goes to Heaven". Mr. Smith is also a character in the album's metaphorical story arc who tells protagonist Thomas Jackson of the "mythical and enigmatic" Maximum Unicorn, initiating his quest to capture the beast.
• Pete Yorn states on his "Live From New Jersey" album that his song "Bandstand In The Sky," while written for Jeff Buckley, has been previously performed in honor of Elliott Smith.
• Expunged Records released a tribute record titled "To: Elliott From: Portland" in 2006 featuring various artists from Portland, OR.
• Madeleine Peyroux recorded a cover of "Between the Bars" on her latest album Careless Love.

Selected discography

Main article: Elliott Smith discography

Image	Release date	Title	Label
	July 14 1994	Roman Candle	Cavity Search Records
	July 21 1995	Elliott Smith	Kill Rock Stars
	February 25 1997	Either/Or	Kill Rock Stars
	August 25 1998	XO	DreamWorks
	April 18 2000	Figure 8	DreamWorks
	October 19 2004	From a Basement on the Hill	ANTI-Records (Domino Records UK and Australian Release)

Filmography

• Lucky Three: An Elliott Smith Portrait (1997), as himself, directed by Jem Cohen.
• Strange Parallel (1998), as himself, directed by Steve Hanft.
• Southlander (2001), as a bus driver, directed by Steve Hanft and Ross Harris.

References

Footnotes

See also

• Heatmiser
• Singer-songwriter

External links

Official

• [Sweet Adeline: The Official Elliott Smith website]
• [Official discussion site]
• [ElliottSmith.com]
• [Cavity Search Records]
• [Kill Rock Stars]

Unofficial

• [Elliott Smith] at the All Music Guide
• [] at MusicBrainz
• [Elliott Smith quotes]
• [BBC obituary for Elliott Smith]
• [Pitchfork.com article reporting Elliot Smith's death]
• [Elliott Smith on Myspace]

Media

• [BlamoNet Elliott Smith Image Gallery]
• [Trash Treasury] - Download hub and webforum; large collection of live recordings
• [link] - Extensive collection of full-length live recordings on Archive.org
• [ElliottSmithBsides.com] - Unreleased Elliott Smith Demos
• [Say Yes (live at redfest 9.19.03)] - Video footage from his final public performance
• [Two video recordings of the leaked DVD concert, including the pro-shot video and an alternate audience version.]

Elliott Smith

Albums: Roman Candle | Elliott Smith | Either/Or | XO | Figure 8 | From a Basement on the Hill

Related: Elliott Smith discography | Heatmiser

 

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