Jeff Buckley Biography - Artistopia Music

Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scotty Moorhead,Browne (2001), p. 58 was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician. Buckley gained popularity in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan's East Village, such as Sin-é, and he gradually focused more on his own material


	Essential Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen Sale $14.97

	Sketches (For My Sweetheart the Drunk) Jeff Buckley Sale $14.99

	So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley Jeff Buckley Sale $8.97

	In Rainbows Radiohead Sale $9.99

	Kind of Blue Miles Davis Sale $6.99

	Jeff Buckley - Live in Chicago Sale $12.99

. After much interest from record labels he signed with Columbia and, after recruiting a band, recorded what would be his first and only studio album, Grace.

Over the following two years, the band toured widely to promote the album, including concerts in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Australia. In 1997, he stopped touring and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to experiment with new material for a second album. During his time there, he recorded many four-track demos and completed his third recording session for his new album with his band, with Tom Verlaine as producer. While awaiting the arrival of his band from New York, he drowned during an evening swim in the Wolf River. His body was found on June 4, 1997. publisher=Marie Claire

Since his death, there have been many posthumous releases of his material, including a collection of four-track demos and studio recordings for his unfinished second album My Sweetheart the Drunk and expansions of debut album Grace and his Live at Sin-é EP. Buckley's first #1 came posthumously in March 2008 when "Hallelujah" topped Billboard's Hot Digital Songs following a performance of the song by Jason Castro on American Idol. The song also reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart at Christmas 2008. Buckley and his work continue to re

Biography

Early life

Born in Anaheim, California, Buckley was the only son of Mary Guibert and Tim Buckley. His mother was a Panama Canal Zonian of mixed Greek, French, American and Panamanian descent, while his father was the descendant of Irish immigrants from Cork. Buckley was raised by his mother and stepfather, Ron Moorhead, in Southern California, and had a half-brother, Corey Moorhead. Buckley moved many times in and around Orange County while growing up with a single mother, an upbringing Buckley called "rootless trailer trash". As a child, Buckley was known as Scott "Scotty" Moorhead based on his middle name and his stepfather's surname. His biological father, Tim Buckley, was a singer-songwriter who released a series of highly acclaimed folk and jazz albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s. However, Buckley was not close to his father, due in part to his parents' divorce and his father's touring schedule, and would later comment that he had only met him once at the age of eight years old. first=David After his father died of a drug overdose in 1975, he chose to go by Buckley and his real first name which he found on his birth certificate. To members of his family he remained "Scotty".

Buckley was brought up around music. His mother was a classically trained pianist and cellist. His stepfather introduced him to Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Pink Floyd at an early age. first=Bill Buckley grew up singing around the house and in harmony with his mother, later noting that all his family sang. Buckley began playing guitar at the age of five after discovering an acoustic guitar in his grandmother's closet. Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti was the first album he ever owned; first=Matt the hard rock band Kiss was also an early favorite. At the age of 12, he decided to become a musician, and received his first electric guitar—an imitation black Gibson Les Paul—at the age of 13. He attended Loara High School, and played in the school's jazz band. During this time, he developed an affinity for progressive rock bands such as Rush, Genesis, and Yes, as well as jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola.

In 1984, he graduated from high school and moved north to Hollywood to attend the Musicians Institute. He graduated from the one-year course at the age of 18. Buckley was not satisfied with his experience at the school and later said in Rolling Stone that "it was the biggest waste of time". However, in an interview with Double Take Magazine he noted that he did appreciate studying music theory there saying, "I was attracted to really interesting harmonies, stuff that I would hear in Ravel, Ellington, Bartók." Musician Ben Harper later lauded Buckley for his imaginative chords and chord progressions.

Early career

Buckley spent the next six years working in a hotel and playing guitar in various struggling bands, spanning a diverse range of styles from jazz, reggae, and roots rock to heavy metal. He toured with the dancehall reggae artist Shinehead and also played the occasional funk and R&B studio session, collaborating with fledgling producer, Michael J. Clouse to form X-Factor Productions. Throughout this period, Buckley limited his singing to backing vocals.

He moved to New York City in February 1990, but found few opportunities to work as a musician. He was introduced to qawwali, the devotional music of Pakistan, and to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, one of its best-known singers.Browne (2001), pp. 106–107 Buckley was an impassioned fan of Khan, and during his cafe days, he had often covered Khan's songs. In January 1996, he interviewed Khan for Interview magazine and wrote liner notes for Khan's Supreme Collection, Vol. 1 compilation. Buckley also became interested in blues-legend Robert Johnson and hardcore punk band Bad Brains during this time. Buckley moved back to Los Angeles in September when his father's former manager, Herb Cohen, offered to help him record his first demo of original songs. Buckley completed Babylon Dungeon Sessions, a four song cassette that included the songs "Eternal Life", "Unforgiven" (later titled "Last Goodbye"), "Strawberry Street" (heard on the Grace Legacy Edition), and punk screamer "Radio".Browne (2001), p. 205 Cohen and Buckley hoped to attract attention from the music industry with the demo tape.Browne (2001), pp. 108–109

Buckley flew back to New York early the following year to make his public singing debut at a tribute concert for his father called "Greetings from Tim Buckley".Browne (2001), pp. 130–134 The event, produced by show business veteran Hal Willner, was held at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn on April 26, 1991. Buckley rejected the idea of the concert as a springboard to his career, instead citing personal reasons regarding his decision to sing at the tribute. He performed "I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain", a song Tim Buckley wrote about an infant Jeff Buckley and his mother, accompanied by experimental rock guitarist Gary Lucas.Browne (2001), pp. 136–137 Buckley returned to the stage to play "Sefronia – The King's Chain", "Phantasmagoria in Two", and concluded the concert with "Once I Was" performed acoustically with an impromptu a cappella ending, due to a snapped guitar string. Willner, the show's organiser, later recalled how Buckley made a strong impression with the set closer. first=Penny Buckley's performance at the concert was counter-intuitive to his desire to distance himself musically from his father. Buckley later explained his reasoning to Rolling Stone: "It wasn't my work, it wasn't my life. But it bothered me that I hadn't been to his funeral, that I'd never been able to tell him anything. I used that show to pay my last respects." The concert proved to be his first step into the music industry that had eluded him for years.

On subsequent trips to New York in mid-1991, Buckley began co-writing with Gary Lucas resulting in the songs "Grace" and "Mojo Pin", and by late 1991 he began performing with Lucas' band Gods and Monsters around New York City. After being offered a development deal as a member of Gods and Monsters at Imago Records, Buckley moved back to New York to the Lower East Side at the end of 1991. The day after Gods and Monsters officially debuted in March 1992, Buckley decided to leave the band.

Buckley began performing at several clubs and cafés around Lower Manhattan, but Sin-é in the East Village became his
Over the next few months, Buckley attracted admiring crowds and attention from record label executives.Browne (2001), pp. 170–71 Industry maven Clive Davis even dropped by to see him. By the summer of 1992, limos from executives eager to sign the singer lined the street outside Sin-é. Buckley signed with Columbia Records, home of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, for a three-album, essentially million-dollar deal in October 1992. Recording dates were set for July and August 1993 for what would become Buckley's recording debut, an EP of four songs which included a cover of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do". Live at Sin-é was released on November 23, 1993, documenting this period of Buckley's life.

Grace

further Grace
In mid 1993, Buckley began working on his first album with record producer Andy Wallace, who had mixed Nirvana's multi-platinum album Nevermind. Buckley assembled a band, composed of bassist Mick Grondahl and drummer Matt Johnson, and spent several weeks rehearsing.Browne (2001), pp. 201–203 In September, the trio headed to Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York to spend six weeks recording basic tracks for what would become Grace. Buckley invited ex-bandmate Lucas to play guitar on the songs "Grace" and "Mojo Pin", and Woodstock-based jazz musician Karl Berger wrote and conducted string arrangements with Buckley assisting at times.Browne (2001), pp. 204–208 Buckley returned home for overdubbing at studios in Manhattan and New Jersey where he performed take after take to capture the perfect vocals and experimented with ideas for additional instruments, and added textures to the songs.Browne (2001), pp. 224–226

In January 1994, Buckley left to go on his first solo North American tour to support Live at Sin-é. It was followed by a 10-day European tour in March. Buckley played clubs and coffeehouses and made in-store appearances. After returning, Buckley invited guitarist Michael Tighe to join the band and a collaboration between the two resulted in "So Real", a song which was recorded as a late addition to the album. In June, Buckley began his first full band tour called the "Peyote Radio Theatre Tour" that lasted into August. publisher=jeffbuckley.com Pretender Chrissie Hynde, Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, and The Edge from U2 were among the attendees of these early shows.

Grace was released on August 23, 1994. In addition to seven original songs, the album included three covers: "Lilac Wine", based on the version by Nina Simone; "Corpus Christi Carol", from Benjamin Britten's A Boy Was Born, Op.3, a composition that Buckley was introduced to in high school, based on a 15th century hymn; and "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, based on John Cale's recording from the Cohen tribute album, ''I'm Your Fan''. Buckley's rendition of "Hallelujah" has been called "Buckley's best" and "one of the great songs" first=Josh by Time magazine, and is included on ''Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". publisher=Rolling Stone

Sales of Grace were slow and it garnered little radio airplay, however it went on to receive much critical acclaim. The Sydney Morning Herald proclaimed it "a romantic masterpiece" and a "pivotal, defining work". Despite slow initial sales the album went gold in France and Australia over the next two years, achieving gold status in the U.S. in 2002, and selling over six times platinum in Australia in 2006.

Grace won appreciation from a host of revered musicians, including members of Buckley's biggest influence, Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page considered Grace close to being his "favorite album of the decade". Robert Plant was also complimentary. first= Kim Others who had influenced Buckley's music lauded him: Bob Dylan named Buckley "one of the great songwriters of this decade", and, in an interview with Village Voice, David Bowie named Grace as one of the ten albums he would take with him to a desert island. first=Bill The album eventually went on to feature in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, appearing at #303. publisher=Rolling Stone

Concert tours

Buckley spent much of the next year and a half touring internationally to promote Grace. From the album's release, he played in numerous countries, from Australia, to the UK (Glastonbury Festival and the Meltdown Festival at the invitation of Elvis Costello). Following Buckley's Peyote Radio Theater tour, the band began a European tour on August 23, 1994, starting with performances in the UK and Ireland. The tour continued in Scandinavia and, throughout September, numerous concerts in Germany were played. The tour ended on September 22 with a concert in Paris. A gig on September 24 in New York dovetailed on to the end of the European tour and Buckley and band spent the next month relaxing and rehearsing. publisher=jeffbuckley.com

A tour of Canada and the U.S. began on October 19, 1994 at renowned, and now defunct, venue CBGB's. The tour was far reaching with concerts held on both east and west coasts of the U.S., and a number of performances in central and southern states. The tour ended two months later on December 18 at Maxwell's in New Jersey. After another month of rest and rehearsal, the band commenced a second European tour, this time mainly for promotion purposes. The band began the tour in Dublin, Ireland; Buckley has remained particularly popular in Ireland to this day. publisher=Legacy Recordings The short tour largely consisted of promotional work in London and Paris.

In late January, the band did their first tour of Japan, playing concerts and appearing for promotion of the album and newly released Japanese single "Last Goodbye". The band returned to Europe on February 6 and toured various Western European countries before returning to the U.S. on March 6. Amongst the gigs performed during this period, Buckley and his band performed at a 19th century built French venue, the Bataclan, and material from the concert was recorded and later released in October of that year as a four track EP, Live from the Bataclan. Also, songs from a performance on February 25, at the venue Nighttown in Rotterdam, were subsequently released as a promotional-only CD, So Real.

Touring recommenced in April with dates across the U.S. and Canada. During this period Buckley and the band notably played Metro in Chicago, which was recorded on video and later released as Live in Chicago on VHS and later on DVD. In addition, on June 4 they played at Sony Music Studios for the Sony Music radio hour. Following this was a month long European tour between June 20 and July 18 in which they played many summer music festivals. During the tour, Buckley played two concerts at the Paris Olympia, a venue made famous by the French vocalist Édith Piaf, that he considered the finest performances of his career. Shortly after this Buckley attended the Festival de la Musique Sacrée (Festival of Sacred Music), also held in France, and performed "What Will You Say" as a duet with Alim Qasimov, an Azerbaijani mugham singer. Sony BMG has since released a live album, 2001's ''Live a L'Olympia, which has a selection of songs from both Olympia performances and the collaboration with Qasimov.

Buckley's Mystery White Boy tour, playing concerts in both Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, lasted between August 28 and September 6 and recordings of these performances were compiled and released on the live album Mystery White Boy. Buckley was so well received during these concerts that his album Grace went gold in Australia, selling over 35,000 copies, and taking this into account he decided a longer tour was needed and returned for a tour of New Zealand and Australia in February the following year.

Between the two Oceanian tours Buckley and the band took a break from touring. Buckley played solo in the meantime with concerts at Sin-é and a New Year's Eve concert at Mercury Lounge in New York. After the break, the band spent the majority of February on the Hard Luck Tour in Australia and New Zealand, but tensions had risen between the group and drummer Matt Johnson. The concert on March 1, 1996 was the last gig he played with Buckley and his band.

Much of the material from the tours of 1995 and 1996 was recorded and released on either promotional EPs, such as the Grace EP, or posthumously on albums, such as Mystery White Boy (a reference to Buckley not using his real name) and ''Live a L'Olympia. Many of the other concerts Buckley played during this period have surfaced on bootleg recordings.

Following Johnson's departure, the band, now without a drummer, was put on hold and did not perform live again until February 12, 1997. Due to the pressure from extensive touring, Buckley spent the majority of the year away from the stage. However, from May 2 to May 5 he played a short stint as bass guitarist with Mind Science of the Mind, with friend Nathan Larson, then guitarist of Shudder to Think. Buckley returned to playing live concerts when he went on his "phantom solo tour" of cafés in the Northeast in December 1996, appearing under a series of aliases: The Crackrobats, Possessed by Elves, Father Demo, Smackrobiotic, The Halfspeeds, Crit-Club, Topless America, Martha & the Nicotines, and A Puppet Show Named Julio. By way of justification, Buckley posted a note on his Internet site stating that he missed the anonymity of playing in cafes and local bars:

DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Jeff
Category:1966 births
Category:1997 deaths
Category:American male singers
Category:American rock guitarists
Category:American rock singer-songwriters
Category:American rock singers
Category:American singers
Category:American songwriters
Category:California musicians
Category:Columbia Records artists
Category:Deaths by drowning
Category:Greek-Americans
Category:French Americans
Category:Irish-American musicians
Category:Irish-Americans
Category:New York musicians
Category:People from Greenwich Village, New York
Category:Panamanian-Americans
Category:People from Anaheim, California
Category:Torch singers
Category:Accidental human deaths in Tennessee

ca:Jeff Buckley
cs:Jeff Buckley
da:Jeff Buckley
de:Jeff Buckley
es:Jeff Buckley
eo:Jeff Buckley
fr:Jeff Buckley
hr:Jeff Buckley
id:Jeff Buckley
is:Jeff Buckley
it:Jeff Buckley
he:?'? ?????
ka:??? ?????
nl:Jeff Buckley
ja:???·?????
no:Jeff Buckley
pl:Jeff Buckley
pt:Jeff Buckley
ro:Jeff Buckley
ru:?????, ????
simple:Jeff Buckley
sk:Jeff Buckley
fi:Jeff Buckley
sv:Jeff Buckley
tr:Jeff Buckley

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Jeff Buckley