That same year his cover of The Beatles "Because" was the end-credit song for the Academy Award winning film "American Beauty". Elliott performed "Miss Misery" on the Academy Awards telecast March 23, 1998.Įlliott signed a solo deal with DreamWorks Records in 1998 and quickly released xo, his fourth solo album. That song, "Miss Misery," went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. Elliott granted it and agreed to write a new song for the picture. In 1997 director and Portland resident Gus Van Sant sought Elliott's permission to use some of his songs in the film "Good Will Hunting" (Van Sant had been a friend and fan of Smith's since hearing roman candle). He also recorded three albums with Heatmiser in the early '90s: Dead Air and Cop and Speeder (both on Frontier) and Mic City Sons (Virgin/Caroline). He followed that disc with elliott smith (1995) and either/or (1997), both issued on the influential independent label Kill Rock Stars. After graduation, Elliott moved back to Portland and formed the band Heatmiser along with Neil Gust, his friend and fellow-musician from Hampshire College.Įlliott released his first solo album, roman candle (Cavity Search), in 1994. He attended Hampshire College and graduated in 1991 with a major in political philosophy. While in high school he changed his name to "Elliott" and formed his first band, Stranger than Fiction. He graduated in 1987 as a National Merit finalist. At fourteen, Elliott moved to Portland, OR to live with his father, stepmother, and two half-sisters.Įlliott started to write and record songs at home in Portland on a four-track recorder. From the age of five to thirteen, Elliott lived with his mother, stepfather and two half-siblings in Dallas. By the time Elliott was 5, both his father and mother had remarried and his father and stepmother moved to Portland, Oregon. After discharge, his father moved to Los Angeles to complete a psychiatric residency program at UCLA. Air Force, and sent to the Philippines as a physician. That same year, his father was drafted, assigned to the U.S. When Elliott was one year old his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother to Dallas, Texas. His father Gary Smith was in medical school at the University of Nebraska, and his mother Bunny was an elementary school teacher. Elliott Smith was born Steven Paul Smith in Omaha, Nebraska on August 6, 1969.