Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous Commits Suicide

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Mar 7, 2010

Mark Linkous, best known under his band name Sparklehorse, has died. According to an official statement from his family, the singer-songwriter committed suicide on Saturday (March 6). He was 47.

The statement reads: "It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear friend and family member, Mark Linkous, took his own life today. We are thankful for his time with us and will hold him forever in our hearts. May his journey be peaceful, happy and free. There's a heaven and there's a star for you."

The L.A. Times reports that Linkous took his own life with a gun.

Linkous began his career as Sparklehorse with 1995's Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. Following widespread success on the college-radio airwaves, he followed up the record with trio of pysch-tinged, and often heartbreaking, experimental folk albums: 1999's Good Morning Spider, 2001's It's a Wonderful Life and 2006's Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain.

In his career, Linkous also collaborated with the likes of Radiohead, Daniel Johnston, PJ Harvey and Tom Waits, among others. Most recently, he released the In the Fishtank collaboration with Christian Fennesz in 2009 and the Dark Night of the Soul project with Danger Mouse, which will soon get a proper physical release after legal troubles with EMI.

Much like in his music, Linkous met more than a few trials and tribulations in his life. While on a European tour with Radiohead in 1996, Linkous overdosed on a combination of anti-depressants, valium, alcohol, and heroin in a London hotel room. Linkous laid unconscious with his legs trapped under him for nearly 14 hours, and was believed to be dead for two minutes. Following the incident, he was confined to a wheelchair for six months.

According to Rolling Stone, Linkous was nearly finished a new studio full-length, which was due out on Anti- Records (who strangely enough released the posthumous release by Elliot Smith, From a Basement on the Hill).

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