History Music / JeffBuckley

Two movies based on his life have been made: ''Greetings from Tim Buckley'', played there by Creator/PennBadgley, and ''Mystery White Boy'' (a nickname Jeff often went under whilst touring), played there by ReeveCarney.

The son of Music/TimBuckley, his first public exposure was in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity singing and playing guitar with the loosely knit supergroup Gods and Monsters. After that, he worked in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, singing mostly cover songs until he garnered the interest of Creator/ColumbiaRecords, which led to the creation of his first and only studio album, ''Music/{{Grace}}'', released in 1994. Working on that album was RecordProducer Andy Wallace, who previously made a name for himself mixing Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}.''

* LongTitle: "Lover You Should've Come Over", "I Know We Could Be So Happy Baby (If We Wanted to Be)"
** Officially unreleased classic "All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun"

* SimilarlyNamedWorks: Jeff wrote two different songs named "You And I". The first of the two, from 1993 was renamed to "Dream Of You And I" and included on the album ''You And I'' (which gave the compilation its title). The second from 1997, "You And I" was on ''Sketches From My Sweetheart The Drunk''. "Dream Of You And I" is a short mid-tempo acoustic song in which Jeff describes a dream he had. "You And I" is an extremely slow, minimalist song with strings.

* RegionalBonus: The European and Australian editions of ''Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk'' include "Gunshot Glitter" as a bonus track. The Japanese version has this as well as "Thousand Fold" (which was released in Europe as the B-Side to Everybody Here Wants You).
** The Australian edition of "Mystery White Boy" has a bonus disc of live versions of "That's All I Ask", "Grace" and "So Real".
** The European version of ''Grace (Legacy Edition)'' includes Strawberry Street as an unlisted bonus track.
** The US vinyl release of ''Grace'' from 2008 includes a bonus 7" of "Forget Her" and "Strawberry Street", which was not included on European Versions.

** Also, Buckley's cover of "Back in N.Y.C.", originally written by Music/{{Genesis}}.

--> '''Jeff:''' Boy, I hope I can pull this into some sense now!
--> '''Interviewer:''' You can do it. Come on, focus!

* CoverVersion: He had quite a few... "Lilac Wine", "Corpus Christi Carol", "Yard of Blonde Girls", [[Music/{{Genesis}} "Back in N.Y.C."]] and "Satisfied Mind", for starters. Not to mention "Hallelujah", which is arguably the song he's most widely known for.

Despite passing away at only 30, Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley (also known as Scott Moorhead, November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997) is fondly remembered as an inspired guitarist and singer/songwriter of the 1990s. The son of Music/TimBuckley, his first public exposure was in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, singing and playing guitar with the loosely knit supergroup Gods and Monsters. After that he worked in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, singing mostly cover songs until he garnered the interest of Creator/ColumbiaRecords and created his first and only studio album, ''Music/{{Grace}},'' in 1994. Working on that album was RecordProducer Andy Wallace, who previously made a name for himself mixing Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}.''

Buckley spent much of the next two years promoting ''Grace''. Sales of the album were mostly lackluster, and the songs received little play on the radio. Despite that, he was a critical darling and received almost entirely positive reviews. His cover of "[[Music/LeonardCohen Hallelujah]]" was noted as one of his best efforts, and included in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. [[Music/LedZeppelin Jimmy Page]] even called ''Grace'' his "favorite album of all time", high praise from the man Buckley counted as one of his chief influences.

In early 1997, Buckley moved to Memphis to begin work on his second album, recording 4 track demos at his house in preparation for a recording session with [[RecordProducer Andy Wallace]], while also playing gigs at Barristers', a small club in downtown Memphis underneath a car park. But then tragedy struck. On May 29, 1997, he disappeared while going for an evening swim in Wolf River Harbor, a channel of the Mississippi river; having waded out into the river, fully dressed, while shouting the lyrics to "[[Music/LedZeppelin Whole Lotta Love]]", he was swept away while a friend was moving their belongings away from the incoming tide. His body wasn't found until June 4. After an autopsy, it was confirmed that Buckley had taken no illegal drugs or alcohol, and his death was entirely accidental.

* CloudCuckoolander: One of the defining traits of Buckley's live shows was his tendency to interact with the audience by spoofing his favorite artists. A lot of the interviews conducted with him also feature him going off on tangents. This aspect of his personality is especially prominent on the Live at Sin-é EP.

* CoverAlbum: You And I is one, minus a version of "Grace" and an unreleased song "Dream Of You And I".

* CruelTwistEnding: His life had one. Jeff died the same night his band-mates returned to Memphis to start recording ''My Sweetheart the Drunk''. He had been looking forward to reuniting with his close friends, describing it as having the colour put back in his life. His death occurred while they were on the way from the airport. The long series of coincidences that made up the outcome of that night, is almost a case of RealityIsUnrealistic.
* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Sadly, Buckley didn't achieve widespread success until after his drowning.
* DisappearedDad: Jeff never really got to know his father Tim, who died from a heroin overdose in 1975, when Jeff was eight. Tim left prior to Jeff's birth, and whilst things mellowed out enough for Jeff to go and stay with Tim for a couple of weeks in 1975, Tim died a few months later that year.

* GenreRoulette: Jeff started off making punk and hard rock (heard on his Babylon Dungeon demo tape), went on to experimental folk and rock music with Gary Lucas (with Gods And Monsters and on the retrospective Songs To No One) and then became an acoustic covers artist (heard on Live At Sin-E). When he made Grace, it featured material from all these periods, plus "So Real", which had been newly written. My Sweetheart The Drunk would have continued in this vein but also took on some ambient and trip hop influences (which are particularly noticeable on its only single, "Everybody Here Wants You").
* GreatestHitsAlbum: So Real - Songs From Jeff Buckley, which was released to capitalise on the popularity of Hallelujah. It has two tracks of interest to fans, a previously unreleased live rendition of The Smiths' I Know It's Over plus a previously promo-only acoustic version of So Real. Despite this, it's largely regarded as a pointless release due to it only collecting from two proper albums and some live material.

** Many of his songs of of "Sketches", with "I Know We Could Be So Happy Baby (If We Wanted To Be)" particularly standing out.

* NamesTheSame: Jeff wrote two different songs named "You And I". The first of the two, from 1993 was renamed to "Dream Of You And I" and included on the album "You And I" (which gave the compilation its title). The second from 1997, "You And I" was on "Sketches From My Sweetheart The Drunk". "Dream Of You And I" is a short mid-tempo acoustic song in which Jeff describes a dream he had. "You And I" is an extremely slow, minimalist song with strings.

* RealSongThemeTune: "New Year's Prayer" was used as the theme to the first three seasons of ''Series/TheDeadZone''.

** The version of "I Know We Could Be So Happy (If We Wanted To Be)" on Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk is a reworked, four track version of a song he recorded with a full band a year earlier (which leaked). It was chosen over the full band version despite its rawness because it was the last version he recorded, and thus reflected the version he would have recorded had he decided to include it on the final album.

* RegionalBonus: The European and Australian editions of "Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk" include "Gunshot Glitter" as a bonus track. The Japanese version has this as well as "Thousand Fold" (which was released in Europe as the B-Side to Everybody Here Wants You).

** The European version of Grace (Legacy Edition) includes Strawberry Street as an unlisted bonus track.
** The US vinyl release of Grace from 2008 includes a bonus 7" of "Forget Her" and "Strawberry Street", which was not included on European Versions.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: To [[http://www.meltingpotblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/timvsjeff.jpg his father]], naturally.
* SurprisinglyGentleSong: Picture this: You're listening to "Music/SketchesForMySweetheartTheDrunk", which is full of NightmareFuel. Finally, you get to the penultimate song on the album, "Jewel Box", which is one of the prettiest love songs Jeff ever wrote. It's jarring, to say the least.

* UnkemptBeauty: As stated above, despite his frequent MessyHair, he was seen as a sex symbol during his short life, with People Magazine naming him No. 12 on their list of the 50 most beautiful people in 1994.

* IncrediblyLongNote: One note in "Hallelujah" lasts 23 seconds.

After his death, it was decided by Buckley's mother to release an incomplete version of Jeff's second album, "My Sweetheart the Drunk". Due to the album's unfinished nature, it was retitled "Music/{{Sketches For My Sweetheart the Drunk}}". The album itself is even less known than its predecessor, but among serious fans it has the status of being just as good, [[EvenBetterSequel if not better]], than "Grace". That being said, the album is obviously unfinished, with many songs suffering from poor audio quality and general oddities in terms of songwriting.

Buckley spent much of the next two years promoting ''Grace''. Sales of the album were mostly lackluster, and the songs received little play on the radio. Despite that, he was a critical darling and received almost entirely positive reviews. His cover of "Hallelujah" was noted as one of his best efforts, and included in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. [[Music/LedZeppelin Jimmy Page]] even called ''Grace'' his "favorite album of all time", high praise from the man Buckley counted as one of his chief influences.

* DisappearedDad: Jeff never got to know his father Tim, who died from a heroin overdose in 1975, when Jeff was eight.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: There are a fair number of unreleased, but leaked, Jeff Buckley tracks. Of note is the track "All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun" featuring Elisabeth Fraser. Whilst this song is extremely well regarded amongst fans, Fraser has consistently vetoed its official release due to regarding it as unfinished. There are indications that she's warming up to the idea.

* UnkemptBeauty: As stated above, despite his frequent MessyHair, he was seen as a sex symbol during his short life.

Despite passing away at only 30, Jeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley (also known as Scott Morehead, November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997) is fondly remembered as an inspired guitarist and singer/songwriter of the 1990s. The son of Music/TimBuckley, his first public exposure was in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, singing and playing guitar with the loosely knit supergroup Gods and Monsters. After that he worked in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, singing mostly cover songs until he garnered the interest of Creator/ColumbiaRecords and created his first and only studio album, ''Music/{{Grace}},'' in 1994. Working on that album was RecordProducer Andy Wallace, who previously made a name for himself mixing Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}.''

* MessyHair: Jeff liked playing with his hair, and in some pictures he sports a hairstyle not unlike Giorgio Tsoukalos from AncientAstronauts. After he was voted #12 on ''People Magazine'''s list of "50 most beautiful people" in 1994, he started dyeing it black and let it get greasy, in an attempt to shake off the pretty-boy image.

* MessyHair: Jeff liked playing with his hair, and in some pictures he sports a hairstyle not unlike Giorgio Tsoukalos from AncientAliens. After he was voted #12 on ''People Magazine'''s list of "50 most beautiful people" in 1994, he started dyeing it black and let it get greasy, in an attempt to shake off the pretty-boy image.

* CloudCuckoolander: One of the defining traits of Buckley's live shows was his tendency to interact with the audience by spoofing his favorite artists. A lot of the interviews conducted with him also feature him going off on tangents. This can be seen in the Live at Sin-é EP.

Despite passing away at only 30, Jeff Buckley (1966–1997) is fondly remembered as an inspired guitarist and singer/songwriter of the 1990s. The son of Music/TimBuckley, his first public exposure was in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, singing and playing guitar with the loosely knit supergroup Gods and Monsters. After that he worked in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, singing mostly cover songs until he garnered the interest of Creator/ColumbiaRecords and created his first and only studio album, ''Music/{{Grace}},'' in 1994. Working on that album was RecordProducer Andy Wallace, who previously made a name for himself mixing Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}.''

Despite passing away at only 30, '''Jeff Buckley''' (1966–1997) is fondly remembered as an inspired guitarist and singer/songwriter of the 1990s. The son of Music/TimBuckley, his first public exposure was in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, singing and playing guitar with the loosely knit supergroup Gods and Monsters. After that he worked in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, singing mostly cover songs until he garnered the interest of Creator/ColumbiaRecords and created his first and only studio album, ''Music/{{Grace}},'' in 1994. Working on that album was RecordProducer Andy Wallace, who previously made a name for himself mixing Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}.''

* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: Jeff's cover of "Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin", originally written by EdithPiaf.

* NamesTheSame: "Dream Of You And I" and "You And I" are different songs.