More than two decades after his death, Elliott Smith has been immortalized with an asteroid named after him. The celestial honour came from a fan listening to his song ‘Shooting Star’...
It has been nearly 23 years since we lost Elliott Smith, the wonderful American indie singer-songwriter behind songs like ‘Waltz #2 (XO)’, ‘Between The Bars’ and ‘Son of Sam’.
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The highly influential musician died in October 2003 at age 34, after suffering two stab wounds to the chest.
Now, Smith has been immortalised in the stars with an asteroid named after him – specifically a minor planet discovered in 2014 which is officially named “(861969) Elliottsmith”.
The tribute came at the initiative of Edinburgh-based independent filmmaker Orlando Campopiano, and has been approved by the International Astronomical Union’s Working Group for Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN).
As reported by Stereogum, Campopiano got the idea while listening to the song ‘Shooting Star’ off of Smith's posthumous album ‘From A Basement On The Hill’ - the singer’s sixth and final studio album which was released one year after his death.
The filmmaker reached out to Smith’s estate, and their proposal was later accepted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
“We just received official approval, and the designation is now live: Asteroid (861969) 2014 OS439 is officially "Elliottsmith",” said Campopiano. “Something very interesting about this is that the catalogue number for the asteroid is 861969, directly mirroring (Smith’s) birth date of 8/6/1969!”
He added: "I hope this introduces at least one new person to Elliott's brilliant discography, and I'm happy to see a permanent legacy in the stars!”
An official citation was published in the IAU’s bulletin, confirming that the asteroid has been named in honour of the “American musician and songwriter [who was] born Steven Paul Smith on August 6, 1969”.
You can check out the asteroid's location, courtesy of NASA and the California Institute of Technology’s Small-Body Database Lookup:
Elliott Smith is not the only musician to have an asteroid named after them. Others include David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Freddie Mercury, Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan.
If you’re not familiar with Smith and his stellar discography, we recommend you start with his third album, 1997’s ‘Either / Or’, and go from there.
You may recognise three tracks in this album as they featured in Gus Van Sant’s film Good Will Hunting: ‘Between The Bars’, ‘Angeles’ and ‘Say Yes’. Smith also contributed a new song, ‘Miss Misery’, for the soundtrack - song which earned him an Oscar nomination.
