Prolific producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and short-film maker Richard Swift died the morning of July 3, 2018 in Tacoma, Washington. A post on Swift's Facebook page read, "And all the angels sing 'Que Sera Sera.'"

His passing came only a month after it was revealed that Swift had been hospitalized due to a "life-threatening condition," and a fund was launched to cover his medical bills.

"Today the world lost one of the most talented musicians I know," Dan Auerbach, Swift's bandmate in the Black Keys and the Arcs, wrote in an Instagram post. "I will miss you my friend."

Six days later, Swift's family released a statement confirming that he had suffered from alcohol addiction throughout his life, and that his death was ultimately caused by related "complications from hepatitis, as well as liver and kidney distress."

"Yes, Richard Swift suffered from alcohol addiction, and it's ultimately what took his life., " the statement read "With the support of family and friends and the assistance of MusiCares, Richard had checked himself into rehab for multiple stays over the past two years, but his body gave out before he could overcome the disease. He was diagnosed with hepatitis and liver and kidney distress in June. Multiple hospitals worked to help stabilize him over the course of that month, but his body was unable to heal and, per his wishes and with his family's consent, he was moved to hospice care."

Swift had a prolific career in the Pacific Northwest music scene. While working at a studio called the Green Room in Huntington Beach, Swift made his first records—Walking Without Effort and The Novelist—during his off hours in the early 2000s. A self-taught musician and producer, he played most instruments and engineered the entire project.

Swift signed to Secretly Canadian and re-released the projects as The Richard Swift Collection Vol. 1 in 2005. Swift's last solo full-length under his own name was 2009's The Atlantic Ocean.

In addition to releasing music as a solo artist, Swift was also a member of the Shins from 2011 to 2016, was the touring bassist for the Black Keys in 2014-15, and played drums for the Arcs. He also played keyboards for Starflyer 59 early in his career. As a producer, he worked with Foxygen, Guster, the Mynabirds, Sharon Van Etten, Damien Jurado, Pure Bathing Culture, and many others. In 2016, he released a collaborative covers album with Damien Jurado.

Swift founded his own recording studio, National Freedom, in Cottage Grove, Oregon, overseeing records by Foxygen, Sharon Van Etten, Guster, Pure Bathing Culture, and many others.

Swift was born Ricardo Ochoa was born in California on March 16th, 1977. His parents, Wendy Swift and Enrique Ochoa, met while working at a Mexican restaurant in Orange, California. Swift was bilingual from age three. After that marriage ended, when he was four, Swift's mother married Harold Behr.

According to his older brother Kevin, from Behr's first marriage, Swift endured verbal abuse about his weight, ethnicity, sexuality and more from his stepfather. Kevin could relate to the treatment Swift endured, and the two boys bonded over their love of music, a safe haven from the tumult they felt at home.

"My dad came out very damaged [from the Vietnam War], and plus he was beaten as a kid," sJonathan Behr, Swift's younger brother, told Rolling Stone. "I think that he definitely carried on some of that cycle with Richard." He adds, "I don't know where the line between discipline versus abuse is or was in that scenario, but I know that Richard was traumatized by it."

In 1994, the family moved to Cottage Grove, where Behr became active in the Quaker church. Swift met his wife, Shealynn, while he was a junior at Child's Way Christian School, a private school in nearby Dorena. 

By the late 1990s Swift was a visible figure in the Christian music scene of the Pacific Northwest, leading worship in regional churches and touring with a Christian group. On weekends he played with a band associated with the controversial evangelical men's group Promise Keepers. In 1998, he released his first CD of original worship tunes, under the name Richard Ochoa & The Windrose Band. It helped to land him a record deal with Metro One, a Christian label headquartered in Newport Beach, California.

Swift was a visible figure in the Christian music scene of the Pacific Northwest, leading worship in regional churches and touring with a Christian group. On weekends he played with a band associated with the controversial evangelical men's group Promise Keepers. In 1998, he released his first CD of original worship tunes, under the name Richard Ochoa & The Windrose Band. It helped to land him a record deal with Metro One, a Christian label headquartered in Newport Beach, California.

In June, Swift was hospitalized for 11 days in Springfield, Oregon, where he was diagnosed with hepatitis. As soon as he was released, he left Cottage Grove for a fresh start in Tacoma. On Father's Day, he was admitted to the ICU there. His liver and kidneys were failing. According to Rolling Stone the three rounds of dialysis he endured were excruciating, and he decided against further treatment. He died in hospice care on July 3rd, surrounded by family.

"We are thankful he burned as bright as he did," a statement from Swift's label, Secretly Canadian, reads, "and was as productive as he was, during his time with us. Swift belongs in the canon of urgent, raw American art — alongside his heroes like Walt Whitman, Bo Diddley, Captain Beefheart and Kerouac. Through his music, illustrations, photography and poetry, he created a complex, caustic and, more often than not, devastatingly funny personal language and mythology."

He was survived by his wife Shealynn and their three children Madison, Adrian & Kennedy.