Editing Elliott Smith (section)

== Early life ==
Steven Paul Smith was born on August 6, 1969, at the Methodist Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, the only child of Gary Smith, a student at the [[University of Nebraska Medical Center]], and Bunny Kay Berryman, an elementary school music teacher. His parents divorced when he was six months old, and Smith moved with his mother to [[Duncanville, Texas]]. He had half-siblings through his mother, Darren Welch and Ashley Welch,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ashley-welch-elliott-smiths-sister-during-elliott-smith-news-photo/134346354 | title=Ashley Welch, Elliott Smith's sister during Elliott Smith | date=November 28, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2013/10/elliott-smith-mr-misery-10-year-anniversary-death/|title=Elliott Smith: 'Mr. Misery' Revisited, Years After the Singer-Songwriter's Controversial Death|first=Liam|last=Gowing|date=October 21, 2013|website=SPIN}}</ref> and a half-sister Rachel Smith through his father.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/10/22/elliott-smith-is-dead | title=Elliott Smith is Dead | date=October 22, 2003 }}</ref> Smith later had a tattoo of a map of Texas drawn on his upper arm and said: "I didn't get it because I like Texas, kind of the opposite. But I won't forget about it, although I'm tempted to because I don't like it there."<ref name="Shutt page 6">{{cite web |url=http://www.sweetadeline.net/bio6.html |title=Elliott Smith: Biography – Page 6 |last=Shutt |first=S. R. |website=Sweet Adeline |access-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref>

Smith endured a difficult childhood<ref name="Gowing">{{cite magazine|last=Gowing |first=Liam |date=December 2004 |title=Mr. Misery |magazine=Spin |volume=20 |issue=12 |pages=80–92 |url=https://www.spin.com/2013/10/elliott-smith-mr-misery-10-year-anniversary-death/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222181447/https://www.spin.com/2013/10/elliott-smith-mr-misery-10-year-anniversary-death/ |archive-date=December 22, 2013 |access-date=April 17, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and a troubled relationship with his stepfather Charlie Welch.<ref name="Shutt page 3">{{cite web |url=http://www.sweetadeline.net/bio3.html |title=Elliott Smith: Biography – Page 3 |last=Shutt |first=S. R. |website=Sweet Adeline |access-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref> Smith stated he may have been sexually abused by Welch at a young age—an allegation denied by Welch.<ref name="Gowing" /><ref name="Carpenter">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.spin.com/2009/10/why-i-cant-listen-to-elliott-smiths-music/ |title='Why I Can't Listen to Elliott Smith's Music' |last=Carpenter |first=Ellen |date=October 21, 2009 |magazine=Spin | access-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref> He wrote about this part of his life in "Some Song". The name "Charlie" also appears in songs "Flowers for Charlie" and "No Confidence Man". In a 2004 interview, Jennifer Chiba, Smith's partner at the time of his death, said that Smith's difficult childhood was partly why he needed to sedate himself with drugs as an adult: "He was remembering traumatic things from his childhood – parts of things. It's not my place to say what."<ref name="Gowing" />

For much of his childhood, Smith's family was a part of the [[Community of Christ]]{{sfn|Nugent|2004|pp=12–14}} but began attending services at a local [[Methodism|Methodist]] church. Smith felt that going to church did little for him, except make him "really scared of Hell".{{sfn|Nugent|2004|pages=12–14}} In 2001, he said: "I don't necessarily buy into any officially structured version of spirituality. But I have my own version of it."<ref name="Shutt page 2" />

Smith began playing piano at age nine, and at ten began learning guitar on a small [[Steel-string acoustic guitar|acoustic guitar]] bought for him by his father.<ref name="Under the Radar 2">{{cite web |url=http://undertheradarmag.com/issue4/elliottsmith.html |title=UTR – Issue 4 |last=Kagler |first=Marcus |year=2003 |website=Under the Radar | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615125926/http://undertheradarmag.com/issue4/elliottsmith.html |archive-date=June 15, 2006 |access-date=April 17, 2013}}</ref> At this age he composed an original piano piece, "Fantasy", which won him a prize at an arts festival.<ref name="Shutt page 2">{{cite web |url=http://www.sweetadeline.net/bio2.html |title=Elliott Smith: Biography – Page 2 |last=Shutt |first=S. R. |website=Sweet Adeline |access-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref> Many of the people on his mother's side of the family were non-professional musicians; his grandfather was a [[Dixieland]] drummer, and his grandmother sang in a [[glee club]].<ref name="Shutt page 2" />

[[File:Lincoln High School - Portland Oregon.jpg|alt=A side view of Lincoln High School—a brick, two-story building with an American flag|thumb|Smith graduated from Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon.]]

At fourteen, Smith left his mother's home in Texas and moved to Portland, Oregon, to live with his father, who was then working as a psychiatrist. It was around this time that Smith began using drugs, including alcohol, with friends. He also began experimenting with recording for the first time after borrowing a [[Multitrack recording|four-track recorder]].<ref name="Shutt page 2" /> At high school, Smith played clarinet in the school band and played guitar and piano; he also sang in the bands Stranger Than Fiction<ref name="Shutt page 3" /> and A Murder of Crows,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sweetadeline.net/amurderof.html |title=Elliott Smith: A murder of crows |website=Sweet Adeline |access-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref> billed as either Steven Smith or "Johnny Panic".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pushby.com/forrest/arc/005521.html |title=Recorded Music: Elliott Smith, 1969–2003 |date=October 23, 2003 |website=pushby.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118211329/http://www.pushby.com/forrest/arc/005521.html |archive-date=November 18, 2006 |access-date=June 24, 2013}}</ref> His bandmates included [[Jason Hornick]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-02 |title=The Untold Story of Elliott Smith's Teenage Band |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/article/the-untold-story-of-elliott-smiths-teenage-band/ |access-date=2023-03-03 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}</ref> He graduated from [[Lincoln High School (Portland, Oregon)|Lincoln High School]] as a [[National Merit Scholarship Program|National Merit Scholar]].<ref name="Shutt page 4">{{cite web |url=http://www.sweetadeline.net/bio4.html |title=Elliott Smith: Biography – Page 4 |last=Shutt |first=S. R. |website=Sweet Adeline |access-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref>

After graduation, Smith began calling himself "Elliott", saying that he thought "Steve" sounded too much like a "jock" name, and that "Steven" sounded "too bookish".<ref name="Shutt page 4" /> According to friends, he had also used the pseudonym "Elliott Stillwater-Rotter" during his time in the band A Murder of Crows.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/oct/24/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries |title=Elliott Smith: Gentle singer with a delicate message of brutality and despair |last=Peschek |first=David |date=October 24, 2003  | access-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref> Biographer S. R. Shutt speculates that the name was either inspired by Elliott Avenue, a street that Smith had lived on in Portland, or that it was suggested by his then-girlfriend. A junior high acquaintance of Smith speculates Smith changed his name so as not to be confused with [[Steve Smith (musician)|Steve Smith]], the drummer of [[Journey (band)|Journey]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beingtheremag.com/content/0502/smith.html |title=Being There |last=Pittman |first=Mark |year=2004 |website=Being There |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050217100436/http://www.beingtheremag.com/content/0502/smith.html |archive-date=February 17, 2005 |access-date=April 17, 2013}}</ref>