Jeff Buckley

“Jeff was one of a kind. Any time he played a song it was a different experience. He would trance out and become the music. The Voice within the voice. It was a magical thing to watch.” - Merri Cyr, photographer and friend

Jeff Buckley : Listen on Real Audio

Jeff Buckley was a gifted singer songwriter with a weight of expectations on him due to his famous father. While lesser men would have stumbled under the weight Jeff became not only a talented performer in his own right but managed to replicate this in the studio releasing an album that showed his abilities to the full.

Jeff Buckley was born in 1966, the son of the renowned singer/songwriter Tim Buckley. Raised by his mother he only met his father once at the age of eight. Gifted with a distinctive voice (with a range of 3.5 octaves), and a skillful guitar player, Buckley formalized his abilities at the Los Angeles’ Musician’s Institute.

After playing guitar with a variety of groups his public singing debut came in New York in 1991 at a tribute performance to his father. He wasn’t one of the performers but paid his respects to his father in song before a hushed audience. Following this he initially teamed up with Gary Lucas, with whom he wrote “Grace” and “Mojo Pin”, before becoming a solo performer in New York’s East Village and forming his own band.

In 1994 Buckley released his debut album, “Grace”. His sweeping voice coupled with the textured arrangements that invoked images of Van Morrison and Led Zeppelin won not only critical acclaim but that of his fellow musicians. The album was followed by two years of touring the world as Buckley built up his reputation. It was while on tour that he gave what he considered to be his finest ever performance at the Paris Olympia.

In late 1996 Buckley returned to his roots, touring small clubs across the US under aliases. This enabled him to play to audiences directly again, watch their reactions to his music and learn how to develop his talents further. It brought him back to what he first loved about music.

Throughout his tours Buckley had been working on material for his second album and recording started in early 1997. It was never completed, the day his band arrived to start recording the new material Buckley drowned in a tributary of the Mississippi.

• Buckley’s favorite band was Led Zeppelin.


• The aliases Buckley used on his tour of small clubs included Smackrobotics and Crackrobats.
  


• Jeff Buckley and Chris Cornell (Soundgarden and Audioslave) used to have competitions to see who could write the best song.