Singer-Songwriter Vic Chesnutt Dead at 45
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Singer-Songwriter Vic Chesnutt Dead at 45
Fri., Dec. 25, 2009 9:00 PM PST by Brandi Fowler
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Vic Chestnutt Bobby Bank/Getty Images
Singer and songwriter Vic Chesnutt is dead at 45.
The low-key "Sponge" penner was known for his dark, witty tunes, which have been covered by the likes of Madonna, R.E.M., Smashing Pumpkins and Hootie and the Blowfish.
Chesnutt died Friday in a hospital in Athens, Ga., after being in a coma for a week after taking what a family spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times was an "intentional" overdose of prescription muscle relaxants.
In an interview with the newspaper earlier this month, Chesnutt discussed his country song, "Flirted With You All My Life," which he said served as a sort of confrontational letter to his own thoughts about suicide.
"I've been a suicidal person all my life, and that song is me finally being 'Screw you, death,'" Chesnutt said.
The low-key indie artist spent his career performing from a wheelchair, after a car crash at 18 left him partially paralyzed.
It was that accident that spurred his songwriting career.
"It was only after I broke my neck and even like maybe a year later that I really started realizing that I had something to say," Chesnutt said in an interview on the NPR show Fresh Air.
The late musician leaves behind his wife, Tina Whatley Chesnutt, sister Lorinda Crane, and a bevy of hits from more than 15 albums.
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Folk-rocker Vic Chesnutt dies in Geogia at 45
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP) – 2 hours ago
ATHENS, Ga. — Vic Chesnutt, the folk-rocker whose sometimes dark reflections on life were influenced in part by a car wreck that left him paralyzed, has died. He was 45.
Family friend Christina Stuckey, who answered the phone at Chesnutt's home, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. Chesnutt's record label, Constellation Records, said in a statement on its website that Chesnutt died on Christmas Day, Friday.
The brief statement says "Vic transformed our sense of what true character, grace and determination are all about."
Chesnutt worked with such notable artists as R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe and guitarist Guy Picciotto of the punk band Fugazi.
Chesnutt said in a biography posted on his MySpace page that he came to "a whole new understanding of music" after the 1983 car crash.
He recently had toured with his Vic Chesnutt band, a "supergroup" of sorts featuring members of Canadian bands Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra, as well as Picciotto.
"This is a truly incredible braintrust, with all these people - we've got some of the smartest and most sensitive punk rockers out there," he told the Athens Banner-Herald for a story in October.
The rocker released two albums in the past year, including "At the Cut."
However, Chesnutt had recently struggled with a lawsuit filed by a Georgia hospital after he racked up surgery bills totalling some $70,000, the Athens newspaper reported. He said he couldn't afford more than hospitalization insurance and couldn't keep up with the payments.
The problems baffled his Canadian bandmates, Chesnutt said.
"There's nowhere else in the world that I'd be facing the situation I'm in right now. They cannot understand what kind of society would inflict that on their population," he said. "It's terrifying."
Unlike Canada and other developed industrialized countries, the United States does not provide universal health care coverage. Most Americans obtain their health insurance through their employers, but a self-employed musician like Chesnutt with pre-existing medical conditions would have difficulty obtaining an affordable health insurance policy.
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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