Buckley, Jeff

“Music is infinite ... And, although I have heard so much different music in my life, I fall in love countless times with all the melodies, with the very different music. There is something in music ... probably it is called freedom. ”

- Jeff Buckley ^[6]

Endowed like a father, Tim Buckley , with strong vocals, Jeff was formed as a musician under the influence of Crosby , Nash ^[6] , Van Morrison , Led Zeppelin ^[4] and Rush ^[4] . Jeff was greatly influenced by Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan , whom Buckley called “his Elvis” ^[7] . At the age of five, he found an acoustic guitar that his grandmother had bought - in the hope that some of the children would start playing it ^[6] . The first and only meeting with his father took place for Jeff at the age of eight. Father and son talked for about 15 minutes, smiling at each other. A few months later, Tim Buckley died of a drug overdose ^[8] .

Since the mid-1980s, Buckley has been living in Los Angeles . In 1985, he entered the Hollywood Music Institute, ^[8] playing in several groups at the same time to make money ^[6] . In 1990, Jeff recorded his first demo, Babylon Dungeon Sessions ^[8] . In early 1991, he received an offer to play a tribute concert in honor of his father. The event took place on April 26, 1991 and was named “Greetings From Tim Buckley”. “It wasn’t my springboard, it was something very personal,” said Jeff later, “I was disturbed by the fact that I did not attend his funeral. I used this concert to pay homage. ” ^[8]

Jeff quickly began to gain popularity in the New York scene, playing first with Gary Lucas in the group of Gods and Monsters ^[9] , and then performing solo and playing covers at various venues in the East Village , such as the Shiney Cafe ^[8] , and gradually began to focus on his own work.

In October 1993, he signed a contract with the record company Columbia Records ^[9] . Having gathered his group, he recorded the first solo studio album Grace , released in August 1994 (Andy Wallace produced the producer) ^[8] . At first Grace had fairly modest sales and received mixed reviews from critics ^[9] .

Over the next two years, the band performed a tour in support of the album, giving concerts in the United States , Europe , Japan and Australia . In 1995, Buckley performed at the Glastonbury festival. ^[10] Many of his concerts became popular as bootlegs ^[11] .

In 1996, Buckley took part in recording the album Patti Smith Gone Again ^[12] and received the Ivore Novello Award. The end of 1996 and the beginning of 1997, Jeff devotes to intensive work on a new album. In April-May, Jeff gave several performances with the group, introducing new songs to the public, and also gave several solo concerts. In Memphis, Tennessee , Jeff planned to begin the final stage of recording an album involving Andy Wallace ^[12] .

Doom

On May 29, 1997, Jeff's group flew out to Memphis after him, intending to continue working on their second album. That evening, the musician, along with his road , Keith Foti, went to Mud Island River Park to play and watch the sunset. At 9 o'clock in the evening, being fully dressed, Jeff went swimming in the River Wolfe singing the Led Zeppelin song " Whole Lotta Love ". Buckley had already bathed in those places several times. Keith Foti stayed on the beach and was the first to sound the alarm after the disappearance of Jeff. A rescue team went on his search on the same day, but his body was only found and caught on June 4, 1997 ^[8] .

According to the results of the forensic examination , Jeff did not take alcohol or drugs before bathing, and the cause of drowning was an accident ^[8] .

Since his death, a large number of compilations have been released, including demos and sketches for the unfinished album My Sweetheart the Drunk , as well as extended editions of Grace and Live at Sin-é . Success in the charts also came to Buckley posthumously; The cover version of Leonard Cohen's song “ Hallelujah ” led Hot Digital Songs in March 2008 and gained platinum status ^[13] , and also took 2nd place in the UK Singles Chart in December of the same year, almost overtaking the winner of the British music contest The X Factor to Alexander Burke with the same song ^[14] .

The image of Jeff Buckley was embodied by Penn Badgley in the biographical film Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012).

Studio albums

• 1994 - Grace
• 1998 - Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk

Mini Albums

• 1993 - Live at Sin-é EP
• 1995 - Eternal Life EP
• 1995 - Live from the Bataclan EP
• 2002 - The Grace EPs

Compilations

• 2002 - Songs to No One 1991–1992
• 2007 - So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley
• 2010 - The Jeff Buckley Collection
• 2016 - You and I

Concert albums

• 2000 - Mystery White Boy
• 2001 - Live À L'Olympia
• 2003 - Live at Sin-é (Legacy Edition)
• 2009 - Grace Around the World

Concert DVDs

• 2000 - Live in Chicago , 1995
• 2009 - Grace Around the World , 1994/1995

Tribute Albums

• 2005 - Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley
• 2005 - Stars In My Belly: Tribute to Jeff Buckley

Creativity Jeff Buckley was noted by leading publications in the environment of the music press. The composition of Leonard Cohen's “ Hallelujah ” performed by Buckley was included in the list of the 500 best songs of all time by Rolling Stone magazine ^[15] and ranked 15th in the list of 100 Greatest Songs of All Time ( Q 100 ). in 2006 ^[16] , and in 2014 it was recorded in the National Register of Recordings of the Library of Congress ^[17] . Grace took the place in the list of the 500 greatest albums of all times according to the version of Rolling Stone magazine ^[18] and among the top 20 albums and singles according to Q Magazine ( eng. Top 20 Albums And Singles Of The Lifetime Of Q Magazine ) ^[16] .

Tom York ( Radiohead ), Matthew Bellamy ( Muse ) and Chris Martin ( Coldplay ) called Buckley among the most respected musicians for them. Paul McCartney , Bob Dylan , Robert Plant ^{[8] [19]} , Jimmy Page ^{[20] [21] [12]} , Lou Reed ^[12] , Bono ^[8] , Morrissey , Mobi ^[22] , Brad Pitt ^[21] .

DigitalDreamDoor.com ranked Jeff Buckley on the 3rd spot on his list of “The 100 Greatest Rock Vocalists” ( English 100 Greatest Male Rock Vocalists ). According to the site, Buckley lost only to Freddie Mercury (1st place) and Jackie Wilson (2nd place), beating such artists as Robert Plant , Ian Gillan and Elvis Presley ^[23] . Rolling Stone placed him on the 39th line of the “100 Best Voices in History” rating ^[24] .

• Dream Brother. Jeff and Tim Buckley   (Rus.) // Classic Rock. - Ars Long, 2001. - Vol. 2 - № 2 . - ISSN 1997-7646 .

• Official site
• Russian site
• Buckley's official home media library website
• YouTube channel
• Jeff Buckley Videos Official Sony Music videos