Jeff Buckley Movie

I was really happy this morning to read that a new biopic based on the tragically short but brilliant life of singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley was underway. His story is one that will be told brilliantly through film. 

Jeff Buckley (raised as Scotty Moorhead) was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician. He spent many of his early years as a guitar for hire in LA until he amassed a pretty good following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs. He gradually started writing his own material and finally after rebuffing it for most of his career signed to a major label Columbia. He recruited a band and quickly recorded what would end up being his only studio album, Grace.

Over the next two years Jeff toured relentlessly throughout the US, Europe and Japan. In 1996, they stopped touring and tried to focus efforts on a second album. Buckley soon moved to Memphis, Tennessee to finish recording the album, slated to be called My Sweetheart the Drunk. He also continued playing small solo shows in the area while waiting for the rest of his band to arrive from NYC.

In a tragic turn of events, Buckley drowned during a spontaneous evening swim - fully clothed - in the Wolf River. Another tale of a musician taken from us way too soon.

He is known most for his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Here is my favorite version.