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Solo musician and former Wilco member, Jay Bennett, died yesterday in his sleep in Urbana, Ill. The cause of death has not been determined. He was 45 years old.
Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times spoke with Edward Burch, a friend and collaborator of Bennett's, who gave the following statement yesterday: "Early this morning, Jay died in his sleep and an autopsy is being performed. The family is in mourning and is unavailable for comment at this time... He was an extremely talented musician and a great person, and I'll miss him terribly."
Additionally, Wilco's publicist released the following statement from Jeff Tweedy: "We are all deeply saddened by this tragedy. We will miss Jay as we
remember him -- as a truly unique and gifted human being and one who
made welcome and significant contributions to the band's songs and
evolution. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends in this very
difficult time."
Bennett made headlines earlier in the month when he brought suit against Tweedy, seeking $50,000 in damages for his time in Wilco. Although he had been dealing with a hip injury and preparing for surgery, Bennett was also working on a new solo album, Kicking at the Perfumed Air, which was to be the first of three releases.
Related links:
News: Wilco's Jeff Tweedy Responds to Jay Bennett Lawsuit
News: Download Jay Bennett's New Album for Free
Jay Bennett on MySpace
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Holy crap. Jay Bennett's dead.
This stopped me in my tracks when I heard the new on the radio this morning before leaving for work.
Incidentally, if he was 45, then he wasn't born in 1963. That would make him 45 last year...
Sure, if his birthday was January 1.
His birthday was November 15th, 1963, according to Wikipedia, making him 45 when he died.
Such a sad story. Jay Bennett was such an amazing musician and contributed so much to Wilco's sound and evolution. All you have to do is listen to A.M. and then put on Being There or Summerteeth and it becomes obvious. Without Jay, who knows if the band would have started down such an adventurous path? I pretty much love all of Wilco's albums, but Summerteeth is still probably my favorite. All the Mellotron, Moog and E-bow guitar Jay played on there gets me every time. So sad and beautiful.
I listened to the Trifecta - Beeing There, Summerteeth, Yankee - over (and over) yesterday and noticed Jay's signature on nearly every song and thought to myself: 'this song would probably suck if Jay hadn't worked on it".
It was Jay who took Wilco from County (AM) to Alt-Country (YHF) and thank god for that! I still think the parts today are incredible, but it takes three guys to do the same amount of work that Jay did solo. Wow!