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Music

Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit Has Died at 36

In a statement, the musician's family said "we are utterly devastated with the tragic loss of our beloved Scott."
Lauren O'Neill
London, GB

Police have confirmed that a body found last night at Port Edgar in Edinburgh, Scotland is that of Scott Hutchison, the Frightened Rabbit frontman who had been missing since Wednesday May 9. He was 36. His cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

Hutchison started Frightened Rabbit as a solo endeavor, before enlisting his brother Grant to work on the debut album Sing the Greys, released in 2006. The band expanded from there and went on to make four more records, released between 2008 and 2016, while Hutchison also released a solo album under the moniker Owl John in 2014. Most recently, he had released an album as part of the indie supergroup Mastersystem, which featured Grant as well as members of Editors and Minor Victories.

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Since news of his death broke today, a number of prominent members of Scotland's music community have offered tributes to Hutchison online. Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian wrote "Tragic news about Scott Hutchison. The whole music community in Scotland was praying for a different outcome," while DJ Edith Bowman said "Can't really believe I’m reading this. Saddest awakening ever. Love and best wishes to all the Hutchison and Frabbit family."

His family has also released a statement, which can be read in full below:

As a family, we are utterly devastated with the tragic loss of our beloved Scott. Despite his disappearance, and the recent concerns over his mental health, we had all remained positive and hopeful that he would walk back through the door, having taken some time away to compose himself.

Scott, like many artists, wore his heart on his sleeve and that was evident in the lyrics of his music and the content of many of his social media posts.

He was passionate, articulate and charismatic, as well as being one of the funniest and kindest people we knew. Friends and family would all agree that he had a brilliant sense of humour and was a great person to be around.

In addition to his musical success, Scott was a wonderful son, brother, uncle and friend. Despite whatever else was going on in his life he always had time for those he cared for.

Depression is a horrendous illness that does not give you any alert or indication as to when it will take hold of you. Scott battled bravely with his own issues for many years and we are immensely proud of him for being so open with his struggles.

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His willingness to discuss these matters in the public domain undoubtedly raised awareness of mental health issues and gave others confidence and belief to discuss their own issues.

To all of those who have come forward with such kind messages of support over the past couple of days, we wish to express our most sincerest of thanks.

We have been overwhelmed by the love that has been conveyed, not only to Scott, but to our family. It means the world to us.

We also want to thank Police Scotland and the Dakota Hotel for all of their assistance since Wednesday.

We now ask that our privacy be respected so that we may come to terms with our loss.

Last week, Scott sat down with Noisey writer Josh Modell to rank his records. You can read that interview here.

This story will be updated as more details become available.

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