Producer, Musician Richard Swift of The Shins Dies At Age 41

Amy Harris/INVL – Richard Swift
In this July 28, 2016 photo, Richard Swift of The Arcs performs on day 1 of Lollapalooza in Chicago.

Musician, singer-songwriter and producer Richard Swift, who has been in bands such as The Shins, The Arcs and The Black Keys, has died. He was 41.

A representative for Swift said he died Tuesday morning in Tacoma, Washington. A GoFundMe account for Swift set up earlier in June said he was hospitalized due to a serious medical condition.

While the nature of the medical condition nor the cause of Swift’s death has been announced, the GoFundMe account was established June 19 and stated he “is receiving excellent care in Tacoma Washington and everything is being done to allow his body time to repair and heal.”

Pollstar included a report on Swift’s hospitalization as part of our reporting, published June 29, on findings of the Music Industry Research Association’s recently released study of the hardships faced by working musicians, including a link to the GoFundMe effort to assist in paying Swift’s medical costs. He was reportedly uninsured.

The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney said in a post on their Facebook page that Swift was “one of the most talented musicians we have ever worked with.” Swift released his own albums as well and was a valued studio producer and musician for many artists.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>"He was the funniest person we ever met, one of the most talented musicians we have ever worked with and we feel so honored to have known him. RIP Richard.” – Dan & Pat<br><br>Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen <a href=”https://t.co/RAusOLUPDD”>pic.twitter.com/RAusOLUPDD</a></p>— The Black Keys (@theblackkeys) <a href=”https://twitter.com/theblackkeys/status/1014176247637774336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 3, 2018</a></blockquote>

He is credited on albums by The Pretenders, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats and Ray LaMontagne.

Okkervil River posted this tribute to Twitter:

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Richard Swift was a singularly talented musician and producer; his illness and death reveal how fragile everything really is. Love and support to his friends & his family & all those he made beautiful music with. <a href=”https://t.co/QF5Px5HVCR”>https://t.co/QF5Px5HVCR</a></p>— Okkervil River (@okkervilriver) <a href=”https://twitter.com/okkervilriver/status/1014168002080722945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 3, 2018</a></blockquote>

Swift self-released his early solo work, followed by small indie labels like Velvet Blue Music and Spunk Records before signing on with Secretly Canadian Records. There, he released a compilation of previous material as The Richard Swift Collection, Vol. 1, in 2005, according to NPR. He released three additional solo albums for the label: Dressed Up for the Letdown, Richard Swift As Onasis and The Atlantic Ocean.

Secretly Canadian issued a statement reported by National Public Radio.

“We are thankful he burned as bright as he did,” a statement from Swift’s label, Secretly Canadian, reads, “and was as productive as he was, during his time with us. Swift belongs in the canon of urgent, raw American art — alongside his heroes like Walt Whitman, Bo Diddley, Captain Beefheart and Kerouac. Through his music, illustrations, photography and poetry, he created a complex, caustic and, more often than not, devastatingly funny personal language and mythology.”