NEW YORK (Top 40 Charts) - Academy Award-nominated singer/songwriter
Elliott Smith died of an apparent suicide yesterday. Smith's body was found at his Los Angeles apartment by a female friend yesterday afternoon, and he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital just over an hour later. Smith reportedly appears to have suffered a single self-inflicted knife wound.
However, police say they are investigating the possibility of foul play. The singer battled drug and alcohol addiction throughout his career. Smith was active in the indie-rock scene of Portland, Oregon of the '90's, first with his band Heatmiser and later, to greater acclaim, as a solo artist.
Towards the end of the decade, Smith had his widest exposure with a Dreamworks record contract and a 1998 Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Miss Misery", which was written for the film "Good Will Hunting". He had largely abandoned the limelight for a quieter career in recent years and was working on his sixth solo album at the time of his death. Elliott Smith was 34.
Elliott Smith's Biography:
Smith was born as Steven Paul Smith on August 6, 1969, in Nebraska. While growing up in Dallas and Portland, Oregon, he played both piano and guitar, and began writing songs when he was 13. Smith attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and graduated with a degree in philosophy. After joining Portland-based punk band Heatmiser, Smith began recording solo. In 1994, he released his debut album Roman Candle, followed by a self-titled LP in 1995, and 1997's album titled Either/Or.
In 1997, film director Gus Van Sant asked Smith to contribute several of his songs to the film Good Will Hunting, which starred Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Robin Williams. The film won two Oscars (out of nine nominations) and earned over $100 million at the box office. 
The wider exposure for Smith's songs allowed him larger production budgets for his next two albums, XO in 1998 and Figure 8 in 2000. Both releases reached the middle of the USA's Top 200 albums chart.
Elliott Smith was recently working on a sixth studio album, to be called From A Basement On The Hill. He recently released a limited-edition single featuring two songs, which quickly sold out.
