LOS ANGELES (AP) — Elliott Smith, a singer-songwriter whose dark, introspective songs won him critical acclaim and an Academy
Award nomination, was found dead by his live-in girlfriend Tuesday. He was 34.
Smith appeared to have committed suicide, Los Angeles County Coroner Records Supervisor Marsha Grigsby told AP Radio.
Smith released five solo albums that received widespread acclaim from rock critics and garnered modest commercial success. His
song "Miss Misery," recorded for the film "Good Will Hunting," was nominated for an Oscar in 1998.
Smith subsequently signed with DreamWorks Records and recorded two albums with bigger budgets that featured denser
arrangements than his early work. "XO" (1998) and "Figure 8" (2000) continued Smith's critical winning streak, and took him to
the middle reaches of Billboard's Top 200 albums chart.
Smith's songs often were compared with those of Alex Chilton, Nick Drake and the Beatles, his favorite band. Lyrically, they
addressed dark subject matter such as drug addiction, troubled relationships and loneliness — though Smith tried to distance
himself from the label of confessional songwriter.
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