Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley was born on November 17, 1966, in Orange, California, United States. His biological father Tim Buckley and his mother, pianist and cellist Mary Guibert didn’t really have a relationship before or after Jeff was born. He met his father only once in his life, at eight years of age. Tim died of a drug overdose in 1975.

He was brought up by his mother and stepfather, Ron Moorhead, in Southern California along with his half-brother Corey. Buckley later dubbed his upbringing as “rootless trailer trash” as the family moved around a lot.

As a child, Buckley went by the name Scott “Scottie” Moorhead but after Tim’s death, he started using his real first name and the surname “Buckley.” However, the members of his family still referred to him as “Scottie”.

He was raised in a musical household. His stepfather, while not a professional musician himself, was a devoted fan of contemporary music, and through him, Buckley learned about Led Zeppelin, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Pink Floyd at an early age. He began playing guitar at the age of five.

At the age of 12, he decided that he would one day become a musician. He was gifted his first electric guitar, a black Les Paul, at the age of 13. He studied at Loara High School and joined the school’s jazz band.

Jeff Buckley began his career playing guitar in numerous struggling jazz, reggae, roots rock, and heavy metal bands. He accompanied the dancehall reggae artist Shinehead on his tour and took part in the occasional funk and R&B studio session. During this period, he exclusively sang as a backup vocalist.

In February 1990, he moved to New York City, where he first experienced Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music primarily from India and Pakistan. He became an ardent admirer of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and did covers of many of Khan’s songs during his “cafe days”.

He went to Los Angeles when his father’s former manager Herb Cohen promised to help him record a demo of his original songs. Titled ‘Babylon Dungeon Sessions,’ the demo was made hoping that it would garner interest from the city’s music industry.

During this period, Buckley and guitarist Gary Lucas performed at a tribute concert for Tim Buckley. Jeff sang one of his father’s songs, ‘I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain’, which was originally written for Jeff and his mother. Jeff used the song to pay his last respects to his departed father.

In late 1991, he was briefly part of Lucas’ band Gods and Monsters, and performed around New York City with them. After leaving the band, he garnered modest fame by performing at several clubs and cafés around Lower Manhattan, including the legendary Sin-é in the East Village. These performances helped him to not only develop a loyal fan base, but also attract attention from record label executives.

Jeff Buckley began collaborating with record producer Andy Wallace in mid-1993 for his debut album. After organizing a band that included bassist Mick Grøndahl and drummer Matt Johnson, he also brought in guitarist Gary Lucas to work on the singles ‘Grace’ and ‘Mojo Pin’ with him. His debut album ‘Grace’ was released on August 23, 1994, and had six songs including ‘Grace’ and Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. The album went on to become a major hit across the globe.