Jeff Buckley

'Jeff Buckley was a pure drop in an ocean of noise.' – Bono It was his take on John Cale's cover version of Leonard Cohen's song 'Hallelujah' that made the number famous and his album – Grace – that caused everyone from Led Zeppelin and U2 to Radiohead and Coldplay to look up to Buckley as an illuminating spirit. But who was the man behind the music? Buckley’s many personal letters are revealed for the first time. His struggle with writers block is explored, as is his ongoing battles with the concept of stardom, his desire for escape and the attempts to deal with the unavoidable legacy of his equally gifted father, Tim Buckley. In A Pure Drop, his friends, peers, enemies, lovers and collaborators all speak of the Jeff Buckley they knew, or in some cases, they thought they knew.

A collection of photographs capture the singer on tour and in the recording studio along with interviews about his life and music.

Acclaimed music journalist Alan Light follows the improbable journey of Cohen's "Hallelujah" straight to the heart of popular culture and gives insight into how great songs come to be, how they come to be listened to, and how they can be forever reinterpreted.

When Jeff Buckley drowned at the age of thirty in 1997, he not only left behind a legacy of brilliant music -- he brought back haunting memories of his father, '60s troubadour Tim Buckley, a gifted musician who barely knew his son and who himself died at twenty-eight. Both father and son made transcendent music that mixed rock, jazz, and folk; both amassed a cadre of obsessive, adoring fans. This absorbing dual biography -- based on interviews with more than one hundred friends, family members, and business associates as well as access to journals and unreleased recordings -- tells for the first time the intriguing, often heartbreaking story of these two musicians. It offers a new understanding of the Buckleys' parallel lives -- and tragedies -- while exploring the changing music business between the '60s and the '90s. Finally, it tells the story of a father and son, two complex, enigmatic men who died searching for themselves and each other.

Jeff Buckley made only one album, but the one he made has proved to be seminal. His talent awed industry giants and moved the hearts of fans spanning generations. But Buckley's untimely death in 1997 left his fans to wonder about all the sonic magic that could have been. Photographer Merri Cyr was there along the way. She has documented Buckley's career from his days at the East Village coffee shop Sin-e to his iconic Grace cover shoot to his rigorous tour around the world as he promoted his unprecedented debut. In 25 Years of Grace, Cyr joins forces with Jeff Buckley biographer Jeff Apter to produce an illustrated tribute to this classic album in celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary. The book features brand new interviews with Buckley insiders, revealing the details about Buckley's signing to a major label, the songwriting process and final song selections, key meetings and collaborations, recording techniques, memorable moments in the studio and more. The book also includes reflections about Buckley and Grace from an array of music artists. Lavishly illustrated with many never-before-seen photographs, 25 Years of Gracetakes a fresh look at the making and legacy of this classic album.

The power and influence of Grace increases with each passing year. Here, Daphne Brooks traces Jeff Buckley's fascinating musical development through the earliest stages of his career, up to the release of the album. With access to rare archival material, Brooks illustrates Buckley's passion for life and hunger for musical knowledge, and shows just why he was such a crucial figure in the American music scene of the 1990s. EXCERPT: Jeff Buckley was piecing together a contemporary popular music history for himself that was steeped in the magic of singing. He was busy hearing how Dylan channeled Billie Holiday in Blonde On Blonde and how Robert Plant was doing his best to sound like Janis Joplin on early Led Zeppelin recordings. He was thinking about doo-wop and opera and Elton John and working at developing a way to harness the power of the voice...In the process, he was re-defining punk and grunge "attitude" itself by rejecting the ambivalent sexual undercurrents of those movements, as well as Led Zeppelin's canonical "cock rock" kingdom that he'd grown up adoring. He was forging a one-man revolution set to the rhythms of New York City and beyond. And he was on the brink of recording his elegant battle in song for the world to hear.

"Suddenly, this skinny, longhaired kid who had been lounging against the wall inside sprang forward to confront me, rolling and popping his eyes, intensely vibing me with his own personal voodoo. He looked electric, on fire--as if he was about to jump out of his own skin. He was the very image of the young Tim Buckley--same sensual, red-lipped mouth, same sensitive, haunted, blazing eyes. He was a beautiful boy: so charismatic, so handsome, his chiseled face both angelic and demonic. This was obviously Jeff Buckley." Touched By Grace is a revealing account of the time Gary spent working with Jeff Buckley during Jeff's early days in New York City. It describes their magical first performance together at the Greetings From Tim Buckley concert in 1991, the creation of their landmark songs 'Grace' and 'Mojo Pin,' their plan to take on the world together in Gary's band Gods and Monsters--and then the moment when Jeff pulled the plug, opting instead to pursue a solo deal with Columbia Records, the very label that had recently cut short its contract with the original incarnation Gods and Monsters. In this fascinating and revelatory book, Gary writes with heartfelt honesty about the highs and lows of this unique creative collaboration, providing an eye-opening insight into a world of music, passion, betrayal, and more.

"Jeff Buckley ... the estranged son of cult sixties musician Tim Buckly, Jeff emerged from a bland suburban background and long years of hand-to-mouth struggle to become the most ecstatically received singer-songwriter of the mid-nineties."--Page 4 of cover.