Sparklehorse front man and multi instrumentalist Mark Linkous committed suicide in Knoxville, Tennessee on Saturday.
Linkous shot himself in the heart in front of a friend’s house, in the early hours of the morning, he was 47.
He was on the verge of completing another studio album after his May 2009 release Dark Night of the Soul which included contributions from The Flaming Lips, Frank Black, Neutral Milk Hotel and David Lynch.
Sparklehorse rose to fame after touring their debut album Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot supporting Radiohead in 1996. During the tour Linkous overdosed on a combination of Heroin, alcohol and anti-depressants causing his heart to stop and leaving him in a wheelchair for six months.
It is perhaps for the 1998 album Good Morning Spider that the band will be best remembered.
Colin Greenwood of Radiohead has been one of many to pay his respects to the singer, he told Pitchfork:
“I was very sad to hear the news that Mark Linkous has died. He and his band toured with us in Europe, at the start of OK Computer, and they were great every night. His first two records were very important to me, and I carried his music from the tour into my life, and my friends’ lives too… Mark wrote and played some beautiful music, and we’re lucky to have it. Rest in Peace.”
