R.I.P Sparklehorse

Mark Linkous, best known as Sparklehorse, committed suicide on March 6, shooting himself in the heart in an alley outside a friend's home. Linkous, whose depression was evident in his melancholy recordings and lyrics, was 47 and died in Knoxville, Tennessee. He leaves behind a wealth of acclaimed music despite flying under the mainstream radar. He recently recorded with Danger Mouse on the album Dark Night of The Soul.

Sparklehorse opened for Radiohead on their OK Computer tour in 1996, and the band's bassist Colin Greenwood said, "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."

In a 2007 interview with the Chicago Sun, Linkous said he hoped his music could keep him "from slipping down into the vortex again and not being able to keep my head above water".

Aimee-Lee Curran
10 Mar 2010