Musician

Died On This Date (May 29, 1997) Jeff Buckley / Popular Singer-Songwriter

themusicsover May 29, 2010 2 Comments

Jeff Buckley
November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997

Jeff Buckley was the son of Tim Buckley, an American avant-garde rock musician who also died at a young age in 1975. Jeff Buckley followed in his father’s professional footsteps by becoming an accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right. Buckley’s career started to develop in the mid-’90s when as he started making a name for himself gigging around New York’s East Village. Record companies began to take notice with Columbia Records ultimately signing him and releasing Grace, his 1994 debut. The album contained his cover of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah,” which landed at number 259 on Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.” The album would eventually go gold in the US, no doubt with the help of some very famous fans. Jimmy Page called it his favorite album of the ’90s, and David Bowie claimed it as one of his ten “Desert Island Discs.” But sadly, Buckley’s career would be cut much too short. After spending the next couple of years touring and promoting Grace as well as participating in a few other recordings, Buckley settled into a life in Memphis where he began working up new material for his second album. On the evening of May 29, 1997, Buckley drowned while swimming in the Wolf River Harbor, just off the Mississippi River. According to band roadie, Keith Foti, Buckley went into the water fully clothed, including his boots. At one point while on shore, Foti got up to move their gear out of the way of an oncoming wake, and when he looked back out to the water, Buckley was nowhere to be found. Despite attempts to find him, Buckley remained missing until his body was discovered and brought ashore almost a week later. An autopsy revealed he had no illegal drugs in his body and his death was ruled an accidental drowning.

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