Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead,[1] was an American musician. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by performing cover songs at venues in East Village, Manhattan, such as Sin-é, while gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing interest from record labels[2] and Herb Cohen—the manager of his father, singer Tim Buckley[3]—he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace, in 1994.
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley
Scott "Scottie" Moorhead
November 17, 1966
Anaheim, California, U.S.
East Village, Manhattan, New York
May 29, 1997 (aged 30)
Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
- Musician
- singer
- songwriter
- Vocals
- guitar
- piano
- keyboards
- dulcimer
- percussion
1990–1997
Over the following three years, the band toured extensively to promote Grace, including concerts in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. In 1996, they stopped touring[4] and made sporadic attempts to record Buckley's second album in New York City with Tom Verlaine as the producer.
In 1997, Buckley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to resume work on the album, to be titled My Sweetheart the Drunk, recording many four-track demos while also playing weekly solo shows at a local venue. On May 29, 1997, while awaiting the arrival of his band from New York, he drowned during a spontaneous evening swim, fully clothed, in the Wolf River, a tributary of the Mississippi, where he was caught in the wake of a passing boat; his body was found on June 4.[5]
Since his death, there have been many posthumous releases of his material, including a four-track collection of demos and studio recordings of his unfinished second album My Sweetheart the Drunk, expansions of Grace, and the Live at Sin-é EP. Chart success for Buckley came posthumously; with his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Buckley attained his first number one on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs in March 2008 and reached number two in the UK Singles Chart that December. Rolling Stone included Grace in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time[6] and included Buckley in their list of the greatest singers.[7]
Early life[edit]
Born in Anaheim, California,[1] Buckley was the only son of Mary (née Guibert) and Tim Buckley. His mother was a Zonian of mixed Greek, English, French, and Panamanian descent,[8] while his father was the son of an Irish American father and an Italian American mother.[9] Buckley was raised by his mother and stepfather, Ron Moorhead, in Southern California, and had a half-brother, Corey Moorhead.[10][11] Buckley moved many times in and around Orange County while growing up, an upbringing Buckley called "rootless trailer trash".[12] As a child, Buckley was known as Scott "Scottie" Moorhead, based on his middle name and his stepfather's surname.[1]
His biological father, Tim Buckley, was a singer-songwriter who released a series of folk and jazz albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s, whom he said he met only once, at the age of eight.[13] After his biological father died of a drug overdose in 1975,[14] he chose to go by Buckley and his real first name, which he found on his birth certificate.[15] To members of his family he remained "Scottie".[16]
Buckley was brought up around music; his mother was a classically trained pianist and cellist,[17] and his stepfather introduced him to Led Zeppelin, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and Pink Floyd at an early age.[18] Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti was the first album he owned,[19] and he has noted hard rock band Kiss as an early favorite.[20] He grew up singing around the house and in harmony with his mother,[21] and later noted that all his family sang.[22] He began playing guitar at the age of five after discovering an acoustic guitar in his grandmother's closet.[23] At age 12, he decided to become a musician[19] and received his first electric guitar, a black Les Paul, at age 13.[24] He attended Loara High School[25] and played in the school jazz band;[26] during this time, he developed an affinity for progressive rock bands Rush, Genesis, and Yes, as well as jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola.[27]
After graduating from high school, he moved to Hollywood to attend the Musicians Institute,[28] completing a one-year course at age 19.[29] Buckley later told Rolling Stone the school was "the biggest waste of time",[19] but noted in an interview with DoubleTake Magazine that he appreciated studying music theory there, saying, "I was attracted to really interesting harmonies, stuff that I would hear in Ravel, Ellington, Bartók."[30]
Personal life[edit]
Buckley was roommates with actress Brooke Smith from 1990 to 1991.[118][119] During a tribute concert to his father, Tim Buckley, in April 1991, Buckley met artist Rebecca Moore,[120] and the pair dated until 1993.[121] This relationship became the inspiration for his record Grace[122] and provoked his permanent move to New York.[120] From 1994 to 1995, Buckley had an intense relationship with Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins.[123] They wrote and recorded a duet together, "All Flowers in Time Bend Towards the Sun",[124] which has never been released commercially. In 1994, Buckley began a relationship with musician Joan Wasser, known professionally as Joan as Police Woman.[125] He reportedly proposed marriage to her shortly before his death.[126]