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Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith

The whispery, aching voice behind 'Miss Misery', a songwriter whose quiet devastation turned confessional folk into something haunted and unforgettable.

APPLE MUSIC

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Elliott Smith

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About

MOODS · melancholic · intimate · confessional · haunting · fragile · introspective · bittersweet · hushed · aching · autumnal

BIOGRAPHY

Elliott Smith, born Steven Paul Smith on August 6, 1969, studied philosophy and political science at Hampshire College, where he met Neil Gust and formed the indie rock band Heatmiser. He began his solo career in 1994 on Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars before signing to DreamWorks Records in 1997. His song 'Miss Misery', featured on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack, earned an Academy Award nomination in 1997. Smith died on October 21, 2003, from stab wounds; the coroner could not determine whether the death was suicide or homicide, and the case remains officially open.

WHY THEY'RE COOL

Smith's music was built on a whispery, spiderweb-thin voice paired with artful chord changes, exploring addiction, depression, and alienation with unusual delicacy. His self-titled 1995 album laid the groundwork for later triumphs like XO, which Spin named among its top albums of 1999 while ranking Smith its second-best artist that year. Figure 8 continued the critical acclaim, and his posthumous album From a Basement on the Hill became his highest-charting release, proof that his singular, unguarded songwriting only grew more resonant with time.

ON WOKE-1

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