Posted from AP 11 minutes ago (John A. is quick!)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=529&e=1&u=/ap/20031022/ap_en_mu/obit_elliott_smithBy RYAN PEARSON, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES - Elliott Smith (news), a singer-songwriter whose dark-tinged, introspective songs and plaintive singing voice won universal critical acclaim, 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 Associated Press Radio.
He sustained a single stab wound to the chest that appeared to be self-inflicted, she said.
Smith's New York-based publicist also confirmed his death.
Smith released five widely acclaimed solo albums that garnered modest commercial success. His song "Miss Misery," recorded for the film "Good Will Hunting," was nominated for an Academy Award in 1998.
Smith's songs were often compared with those of Alex Chilton (news), Nick Drake and the Beatles, his favorite band. They were marked by intricate melodies written over unorthodox chord changes.
Lyrically, they addressed such dark subject matter 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 super intimate confessional singer-songwriterish thing."
And the song I couldn't think of is "Pitselah".