May 26, 2009
Jay Bennett, Ex-Member of Wilco, Dies at 45
Jay Bennett autopsy: Accidental pain-killer overdose
Former Wilco member Jay Bennett died of a pain-killer overdose, the Champaign County coroner said Wednesday, and his office is investigating Bennett?s death as an accident.
Tests showed Bennett died from fentanyl, often prescribed to treat chronic pain, said the coronor, Duane Northrup. Bennett, who died May 24 at his home in Urbana, Ill., had posted a few weeks earlier on his MySpace site that he would need hip-replacement surgery.
?A decade plus of multiple nightly stage jumps and various other rock and roll theatrics had finally taken a toll that I could no longer merely deal with or ignore,? he wrote, but added that he did not have health insurance to cover costs of the surgery.
Bennett, born in northwest suburban Rolling Meadows, was a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and engineer in Wilco from 1994 to 2001, when he departed the band acrimoniously. He sued Wilco founder Jeff Tweedy in early May, claiming that he was owed royalties for songs.