Biography
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Born
12 September 1968
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Died
30 July 2012 (aged 43)
Bill Doss (born September 12, 1968 in Dubach, Louisiana, United States – July 30, 2012 in Athens, Georgia, United States) was an American pop musician among the co-founders of the influential Elephant Six Collective, based in Athens, Georgia. One of the leaders of the collective, Doss was a key creative force behind The Olivia Tremor Control, and later a member of The Apples in Stereo, all the while working on solo material with his side-project The Sunshine Fix.
Though he spent much of his childhood in Dubach, Louisiana, Doss moved to the nearby town of Ruston in his last year of high school, where he befriended Will Cullen Hart, Robert Schneider and Jeff Mangum, his future collaborators and Elephant Six co-founders. In early 1993 Doss self-released A Spiraling World of Pop, which later helped comprise still-developing Olivia Tremor Control songs. Before The Olivia Tremor Control, Doss had spent some time in the army, after which he joined fellow Elephant Six member Julian Koster's New York-based band Chocolate USA before heading back to Athens, Georgia, where he was still a resident at the time of his death.
In the genesis of The Olivia Tremor Control, Hart and Doss began to pool their musical influences, Hart being a proponent of experimentation and the avant-garde, and Doss of 60's pop melodies reminiscent of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Zombies. In 1996, the group released Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle, which has gone on to become one of the most critically acclaimed releases in the Elephant Six discography. From Playing BBC sessions for John Peel to recording ambient sounds on their front porch, the group developed both their melodic elements and experimental elements at equal rates. After the release of the second Olivia Tremor Control album, Black Foliage: Animation Music Vol. 1, the band quietly parted ways.
Post-Olivia Tremor Control, Doss went on to revive The Sunshine Fix, releasing the first full-length Sunshine Fix album, Age of the Sun, in 2002. Two years later, Doss released Green Imagination (which featured artwork and videos by Kevin Evans). In early 2006, Elephant Six co-founder Robert Schneider brought Doss along on tour to play keyboards with The Apples in Stereo, later featuring him on their 2007 album New Magnetic Wonder, and listing him as a full-fledged band member on the 2010 album Travellers in Space and Time.
On July 30, 2012, Doss was found dead of as-yet unknown causes in his Athens home, his death was announced to the public the following day. In the months preceding his death, he was producing new music in his own studio in Athens, including an Olivia Tremor Control reunion album of sorts.
Doss was married to freelance photographer Amy Hairston Doss, whom he met while both were attending Louisiana Tech University.
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