Jeff Buckley - The Voice of Angels

Jeff Buckley was on the verge of becoming a legend with a single album, Grace, destined to remain one of the masterpieces of the '90s, when an absurd death took him away. But his whole life was marked by a negative fate.

Jeffrey Scott Moorhead was born on November 17, 1966 in Orange County, to Mary Guibert (who later remarried Ron Moorhead) and Tim Buckley. His father, one of the greatest singers and composers in the history of rock, was just beginning his career at that time, recording his first album and separating, after just a few weeks, from young Jeff and his mother. Tim died of an overdose at the age of 28, entering the legend of American music and, despite himself, dragging his son along with him, whom he saw for the first time only a few weeks before his death, unaware of the equally adverse fate awaiting Jeff as well.

At 17, Jeff formed his first band, Shinehead, in Los Angeles. In 1990 he returned to New York and, with his friend Gary Lucas, formed Gods & Monsters. But internal disputes soon led the project to collapse. Jeff Buckley then began a solo career, playing the Greenwich Village circuit and becoming known above all for his appearance at the tribute concert in honor of his father, where he performed "Once I Was" (from "Goodbye and Hello"). His first performances took place at a small East Village club in New York called Sin-é. In 1993, after a few years paying his dues, Jeff got the chance, through Columbia, to record his first album live, right in "his" club. Live at Sin-é contains only four tracks, two of which are covers, one by Edith Piaf and the other by Van Morrison, and two original songs, "Mojo Pin" and "Eternal Life".

To promote the album, Jeff and his band set off on a tour of North America and Europe. Given the modest success, his record label launched a promotional campaign for his first full-length album, Grace, released in the US in August 1994. The album reveals the full extent of Jeff's talent: his pleading voice seems to gather courage as it goes, building into an intense and anguished crescendo. The lyrics — true torments of the soul and the depths within — draw on the repertoire of his father Tim, but also of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Van Morrison. The record contains ten tracks: three written by Jeff, two co-written with his friend Gary Lucas, one with Michael Tighe and one with Mick Grondahl and Matt Johnson, plus three covers, among them a spine-chilling, gorgeous rendition of Cohen's "Hallelujah".

On the album, Jeff Buckley plays guitar, harmonium, organ and dulcimer, backed by Mick Grondahl on bass, Matt Johnson on drums and percussion, and Michael Tighe and his friend Gary Lucas on guitars. Grace truly is a work brimming with grace, performed by a thoroughly accomplished band, with songs that showcase Jeff's vocal gifts (particularly the other two covers, "Lilac Wine" and "Corpus Christi Carol") to achieve an almost unbearable intensity. Buckley's singing starts out soft, modulating its inflections in the style of folk singers, but always ends in a dramatic, almost "mystical" crescendo, brushing up against blues and gospel. It's a style built for impact, leaving listeners breathless on ballads like "Lover", "Eternal Life" and "Dream Brother", as well as on the aching title track. Musically, it's the jangle of Gary Lucas's guitar and the soft keyboard textures laid down by Buckley that heighten the songs' sense of religiosity (half of them drawing on liturgical inspiration). Elegant, at times symphonic arrangements, poised between folk and rock, pop and soul, blend seamlessly with the delicate fabric of the melodies.

In 1997 work began on his new album, My Sweetheart the Drunk, which would be released posthumously, in a rather raw and visibly unfinished form, under the title Sketches (For My Sweetheart the Drunk).

On the night of May 29th, the artist went with a friend to Mud Island Harbor (Tennessee), where he decided to go for a swim in the Mississippi and dove into the river fully clothed. A few minutes later, perhaps caught in the wake of a passing boat, he disappeared beneath the water. Police intervened immediately, but to no avail. His body was found on June 4th, near the famous Beale Street Area. He was only 30 years old. Investigations would establish that the musician was under the influence of neither drugs nor alcohol.

In 2000, Columbia, under the supervision of Michael Tighe and Jeff's mother, released Mistery White Boy, a live collection, and Live in Chicago (on DVD and VHS), a 1995 concert recorded at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago. In 2001 came Live à l'Olimpya, a portrait of the young Jeff in his beloved Paris, featuring songs from his first album along with a few covers.

In 2016, You And I attempted to piece back together some songs lost among the American artist's sessions. Listening to Buckley's sweet voice is always a pleasure, as is discovering once again just how skilled he was at absorbing the essence of other artists' songwriting and making it his own. But Jeff's talent, evident in most of the tracks — the reworkings of Dylan's “Just Like A Woman,” Sly Stone's “Everyday People,” Louis Jordan's “Don't Let The Sun Catch You Cryin',” and the Smiths' ballad “I Know It's Over,” the most focused episodes of the bunch — isn't matched by an overall cohesion that would give the record the consistency it needs. An early, embryonic version of the song “Grace” and the idea for a song explained in the negligible spoken-word piece “Dream Of You And I” make up what, until then, Jeff Buckley had written in his own hand. Pure gold, certainly, for the genuine and numerous fans of his music, but material of little consequence for everyone else.

Emerging from New York's folkie, bohemian circuit, Jeff Buckley proved himself a musician of real pedigree, as well as a muse for many rock artists, even in recent times. Though less brilliant than his father, he managed in his own way to carry on his fragile, desperate spirit, establishing himself as one of the cult “figures” of the Nineties.

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