Five artists inspired by Jeff Buckley
Jeff Buckley had a short musical career, yet his influence has been astounding. Rising to prominence in the early 1990s after frequently performing covers in Manhattan venues such as the Sin-é, the musician released one studio album, Grace, in 1994. It featured his legendary rendition of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, alongside a mixture of other cover tracks and original material.
Buckley died aged 30 in a tragic accidental drowning incident, only three years after the release of his debut album. Since his passing, multiple posthumous releases have been shared, such as Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk and Songs to No One 1991–1992, which contain demos and unfinished material that give a greater insight into his musical mind.
Not only did Buckley possess an incredible vocal range, but he was also an incredible guitarist and lyricist. Whether singing an original piece or covering a legendary artist like Nina Simone, he made his performance sound completely original. His Live at Sin-é EP demonstrates the admirable range that Buckley harnessed, moving effortlessly between French-language tracks, classic R&B, jazz standards, and Sufi devotional music, accompanied by just his electric guitar.
He was highly respected by artists that significantly inspired him, such as Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, who called Grace his “favourite album of the decade”, and Bob Dylan, who labelled the singer “one of the great songwriters of this decade.” Buckley is now part of the canon of great musicians he once admired, although his premature death prevented him from ever seeing how wide his influence would spread. Check out some of the most significant artists who have cited Buckley as a major inspiration, below.
Five artists inspired by Jeff Buckley:
Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke has had a fruitful career as the frontman of Radiohead, as well as collaborating with other musicians on projects such as The Smile and Atoms for Peace, creating solo albums and writing film scores. Like Buckley, Yorke has an impressive vocal range, yet it was the American musician that supposedly gave the Radiohead singer the confidence to sing falsetto.
Buckley inspired the creation of ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ from Radiohead’s 1995 album The Bends. Hitting a creative wall, the band decided to take a break from recording to watch Buckley play in London. “He just had a Telecaster and a pint of Guinness. And it was just fucking amazing, really inspirational,” said bassist Colin Greenwood. “Then we went back to the studio and tried an acoustic version of ‘Fake Plastic Trees’. Thom sat down and played it in three takes, then just burst into tears afterwards. And that’s what we used for the record.”
Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey began her musical career in the mid-2000s, performing at open-mic nights whilst studying at Fordham University. Like Buckley, Del Rey made a name for herself by regularly performing in underground New York venues. She once shared: “I moved to New York when I was 19, and I’ve had a love affair with the place ever since. That’s when I found Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen – my masters – and I’ve never really listened to anything else since.”
Buckley’s influence is evident in Del Rey’s sound, particularly on her soft-rock album Ultraviolence, which features a rendition of Simone’s ‘The Other Woman’, which Buckley also covered. Discussing the late musician, who she called a “big inspiration,” she said, adding: “We talk about these people like we know them. They’re a part of our relationship. We always say, ‘All our friends are dead and they never knew us.'”
Anna Calvi
Mercury Prize-nominated musician Anna Calvi is a Buckley disciple who has frequently expressed her intense admiration for him. “A friend gave me Grace on cassette when I was 17, and they told me: ‘If you like Radiohead, you’ll like this.’ I listened, and I was so amazed by this voice I’d never heard before that I stayed up all night listening again and again. It altered the course of my life.”
Calvi also discussed how Buckley influenced her performance style, stating: “When I’m onstage, I try to harness that sense of risk-taking that he had, really going to the edge of what I feel is humanly possible to do, with this body that I have.”
For Calvi, Buckley’s music encapsulates a nostalgic time in her life. “You felt he was going beyond what his capabilities were, like he was reaching for something. The way he played his guitar, too, that reverby effect, had a huge impact on me. And that music is just in me now. […] It’s the feeling of falling in love for the first time. That’s how I feel when I listen to Jeff Buckley.”
Matt Bellamy
Muse frontman Matt Bellamy’s vocals have often been compared to Yorke’s (much to the Radiohead frontman’s dismay), perhaps because they both took significant inspiration from Buckley. Bellamy, like Yorke, cites Buckley as one of the reasons he decided to sing falsetto. He shared: “Back then, it wasn’t really cool to sing falsetto because Nirvana and all that stuff was in. We saw Jeff Buckley do a concert, though, and he wasn’t scared to be a high-voiced male. I think that helped me open up and not be afraid to use more expressive and emotional vocal style.”
Last year, Bellamy even acquired Buckley’s yellow telecaster guitar that he used throughout the recording of Grace. He said: “Jeff’s Telecaster that he recorded the whole Grace album with, and the song ‘Hallelujah’, has a sound like nothing I’ve ever heard.” The Muse singer recorded a new rendition of his 2009 track ‘Guiding Light’ on Buckley’s guitar.
Adele
Adele is one of the most successful British singers, with her third album, 25, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time. It was the best-selling album of 2015, selling 17.4 million copies within the year. 25 also won Adele two Grammys, a Brit Award, a Billboard Music Award, and countless other accolades. However, when asked about the music that inspired the album, Adele cited Buckley as a significant influence.
“I try to listen to music that might uplift me, but I don’t really connect with it,” she once said. “So mainly, Jeff Buckley. And that’s been my entire life I’ve done that. I remember falling out with my best friend when I was like seven and listening to Jeff Buckley because my mum was a huge fan. Grace has always been around me.”
