From: Heather
Corrigan <heathkev@cox.net>
..
don't forget that Jeff Buckley (I think one of the most promising singer/poets)
drowned in the Miss. in "97" right after finishing his second
Album, the one that was supposed to catapult him to mainstream success.
Here's a blurb..
Since he was the son of cult songwriter Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley faced
more expectations and pre-conceived notions than most singer/songwriters.
Perhaps it wasn't surprising that Jeff Buckley's music was related to
his father's by only the thinnest of margins. Buckley's voice was grand
and sweeping, which fit with the mock-operatic grandeur of his Van Morrison-meets-
Led Zeppelin music. Buckley began playing as a high school student in
New York. Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles to study music; while
he was there, he performed with several jazz and funk bands, as well
as playing with Shinehead, a leader in the dancehall reggae movement.
A few years later, he moved back to New York, forming Gods & Monsters
with the experimental guitarist Gary Lucas. The band became a hip name,
yet their life-span was short. Buckley began a solo career playing clubs
and coffeehouses, building up a considerable following. Soon, he signed
a record deal with Columbia Records, releasing the Live at Sin-e EP
in November of 1993. It received good reviews, yet they didn't compare
to the raves Buckley's full-length debut, 1994's Grace, received. Unlike
the EP, the album was recorded with a full band, which gave the record
textures that surprised some of his long-time New York followers. Nevertheless,
it made several year-end "Best of 1994" lists and earned him
a belated alternative hit, "Last Goodbye," in the spring of
1995. A long hiatus followed as Buckley worked on material for his follow-up
effort, provisionally titled My Sweetheart, the Drunk. Originally slated
to be produced by Tom Verlaine, who later dropped out of the project,
Buckley finally began work on the record in Memphis during the late
spring of 1997. On the night of May 29, he and a friend travelled to
the local Mud Island Harbor, where Buckley spontaneously decided to
go swimming in the Mississippi River and leaped into the water fully-clothed.
A few minutes later, he disappeared under the waves; authorities were
quickly contacted, but to no avail -- on June 4, his body was finally
found floating near the city's famed Beale Street area. Buckley was
30 years old. A collection of unreleased recordings, Sketches (For My
Sweetheart the Drunk), appeared in 1998. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine,
All-Music Guide (On UBL)