Vic Chesnutt, discovered by REM’s Michael Stipe and regarded with respect by many of the biggest names in the music industry, passed on on Christmas Day from a drug overdose. It isn’t yet known if it was accidental or deliberate.

(From the full article at RollingStone.com)Neutral Milk Hotel’s reclusive Jeff Mangum released a statement that reads, “In 1991 I moved to Athens, Georgia in search of God, but what I discovered instead was Vic Chesnutt. Hearing his music completely transformed the way I thought about writing songs, and I will forever be in his debt.”

Reuters reported today:

The news about the singer’s condition first spread through the Internet on Wednesday through Twitter posts by former Throwing Muses singer Kristin Hersh, who has collaborated with Chesnutt.

“(H)e’s gone…so much to go away in a moment,” she wrote in a subsequent series of messages. “(H)e was supposed to go to *my* funeral, damn it.”

According to MTV: “He put out a total of 13 records over his career (including two in 2009), though he is probably best known for the 1998 compilation Sweet Relief II: The Gravity of the Situation, a benefit CD that saw artists like Garbage, Live, Soul Asylum and Madonna covering Chesnutt’s tunes. The album was a benefit for the Sweet Relief Fund, which sought to provide health care to musicians who needed it…”

Learn more about Vic Chesnutt on his official site, www.vicchesnutt.com.

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