School of Seven Bells' Benjamin Curtis dies at 35

Celebrities who died young | Cory Monteith | 1982-2013

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Cory Monteith, star of the hit Fox series “Glee,” was found dead in a Canadian hotel room, according to Vancouver police. The sudden death of the 31-year old Canadian actor came several months after he had voluntarily checked himself into a treatment facility for substance addiction. (Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press)

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Actor Greg Plitt was hit by a Metrolink train in Burbank on Jan. 18, 2015. (Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images)

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Former Disney Channel star Lee Thompson Young, 29, was found dead Aug. 19. He reportedly died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

He rose to fame in 1998 when he starred in the Disney Channel show “The Famous Jett Jackson.” Young most recently played Det. Barry Frost in TNT’s popular police drama “Rizzoli & Isles.” (CBS Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images)

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Mexican American singer Jenni Rivera, a popular recording artist and reality television star, died on Sunday, Dec. 9, in northern Mexico. Mexico’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications said the Learjet carrying seven people, including Rivera, was found in mountainous terrain in Nuevo Leon, just south of Monterrey. There were no survivors, authorities said. “She was the Diana Ross of Mexican music,” said Gustavo Lopez, an executive vice president at Universal Music Latin Entertainment, an umbrella group that includes Rivera’s label. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press)

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Celebrity DJ Adam Goldstein was a Hollywood staple and regular collaborator with stars such as Madonna and Will Smith. Known as DJ AM, he worked the party scene, dated Lionel Richie’s daughter Nicole and struggled on and off with drug addiction. In September 2008, Goldstein and friend Travis Barker escaped a deadly plane crash in South Carolina. Nearly a year later, in August 2009, he died of acute intoxication due to a combination of cocaine and prescription drugs.

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DJ AM agreed to go to rehab the day before his death
What caused DJ AM reportedly to relapse into drug use?
VIDEO: DJ AM’s final interview on his TV show, ‘Gone Too Far,’ about drug abuse (Brett Flashnick / Associated Press)

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Singer Amy Winehouse, 27, died in July 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning. She was the first British female to win five Grammys. (Matt Dunham / Associated Press)

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Ledger’s death shocked not only Hollywood, but a nation who may not have followed the 28-year-old actor’s career much before the breakout hit “Brokeback Mountain.” His turn as the Joker in “The Dark Knight” was awe-inspiring and bittersweet for those closest to him as the performance received numerous accolades including an Oscar. (Carlo Allegri / Getty Images)

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Brittany Murphy died in December 2009 at the age of 32, with the cause of death still under debate. She was in numerous movies, including “Girl, Interrupted,” “8 Mile,” and “Sin City,” and did a lot of voice work, including in the Fox series “King of the Hill.” Despite rumors of drug use, pneumonia and a lack of iron was listed as the official cause of death. When her boyfriend died at the same house of the same causes five months later, toxic mold was introduced as a possible culprit. No final conclusions were reached in either case. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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R&B singer and actress Aaliyah poses for a photo in New York on May 9, 2001. Aaliyah died Saturday, Aug. 25, 2001, when a small plane that was to carry her and eight others back to the United States crashed after takeoff in the Bahamas, authorities said. (Jim Cooper / Associated Press)

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Shakur was just 25 when he was killed in 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. The celebrated rapper had already released five studio albums, served time for a sexual abuse conviction and survived a previous shooting during a robbery. (Perry C. Riddle / Los Angeles Times)

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Former Playboy-playmate-turned-television personality Anna Nicole Smith died from a lethal mixture of prescription drugs on Feb. 8, 2007, after collapsing at a South Florida hotel. The 40-year-old celebrity received a lot of media attention due to her marriage to an octogenarian and the death of her 20-year-old son, also from a combination of prescription drugs. (Steve Ueckert / Associated Press)

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Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, a member of the successful music group TLC with Tionne Watkins and Rozanda Thomas, was killed on April 25, 2002, in a car crash in La Ceiba, Honduras. She was 36. (Geraldine Wilkins / Los Angeles Times)

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Kurt Cobain ushered in a new era in rock in the early ‘90s with his band Nirvana. But fame was never his intention, and it seemed to add to his suffering, brought on by depression, chronic bronchitis and heroin addiction. He died at 27 of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. (Frank Micelotta / Getty Images)

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Mystery surrounds the death of the lead singer of the Doors, who died in 1971 in Paris at the age of 27. The official account is that he was found in a bathtub, and because no foul play was suspected, an autopsy was never performed. Rumors have circulated ever since that Morrison died of a heroin overdose. (Larry Hulst / Getty Images)

By August Brown

Dec. 30, 2013 4:48 PM PT

Benjamin Curtis, the guitarist and producer behind the dream-pop band School of Seven Bells, died Sunday night in New York after a yearlong battle with T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, reports the Dallas Observer. He was 35.

Curtis was raised in Dallas, where he played in various local acts before he and his brother Brandon co-founded the rock trio Secret Machines, which rose to national acclaim with its 2004 debut LP “Now Here Is Nowhere.”

After leaving that group, he started School of Seven Bells in New York in 2007, with twin-sister vocalists Alejandra and Claudia Deheza. The group’s 2008 debut LP “Alpinisms,” for the indie label Ghostly International, won wide praise for its mix of ethereal vocals, heavily distorted guitars and atmospheric electronics.

PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2013

The band moved to the L.A. label Vagrant Records for its 2010 album, “Disconnect From Desire,” and released its final LP, “Ghostory,” in 2012, with Alejandra Deheza as the sole lead vocalist.

In February, the group announced Curtis’ cancer diagnosis, and artists including Devendra Banhart and members of the Strokes and Interpol Banhart participated in fundraising efforts for his treatment. In October, bands including Silversun Pickups, M83, Cocteau Twins and Blonde Redhead wrote messages of support for Curtis during his treatment.