MUMBAI: Singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt died Friday afternoon in Athens, Ga., his record label has confirmed. He‘d been in a coma; the cause of that coma has not been confirmed, but frequent collaborator Kristin Hersh said that it had been a suicide attempt.

The news about the singer‘s condition first spread through the Internet on Wednesday through Twitter posts by former ‘Throwing Muses‘ singer Kristin Hersh, who has collaborated with Chesnutt.

Chesnutt, 45, has been in a wheelchair since a car accident when he was 18, and was discovered in the late ‘80s by R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, who produced his first two albums. Since then, Chesnutt has released 13 more albums, including two this year, ‘At the Cut‘ and ‘Skitter on Take-Off‘.