Memphis garage rocker Jay Reatard, who broke out last year thanks to Watch Me Fall, has died at the age of 29, Reatard’s label Matador Records confirmed. According to Memphis’ Commercial Appeal, Reatard was found dead in his Memphis home at 3:30 am this morning and reportedly died in his sleep. “We are devastated by the death of Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., aka Jay Reatard. Jay was as full of life as anyone we’ve ever met, and responsible for so many memorable moments as a person and artist,” Matador Records said in a statement. “We’re honored to have known and worked with him, and we will miss him terribly.”
I’m really stunned. The last two times I saw Jay, he put on an unbelievable show. I’ve been checking daily to see if he was going to be coming back to the area soon, but now I’ll never be able to watch him perform again. That’s tragic, because he was probably the most interesting musician to read about (via his own Facebook statuses, tweets, or on other websites) and listen to. Just on Monday he threatened to kill kids because they slashed his tires. He was just that kind of guy.