Jeff Buckley Critical Lens

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In today’s society, artists and performers tend to shamelessly produce meaningless works for profit and notoriety, rather than creating something expressive and of personal value to themselves. It is very rare to find a musician who is as talented as he is modest. It is a contradiction in profession and personality such as performing arts and shyness that reveals the depth and pureness of an artist. From 1991 to 1997, singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley countered his flourishing fame and talent with a genuine demureness that followed him throughout his entire life. Because of this conflict between his career and his personality, Buckley never fell victim to fame, thus allowing him to excel musically and remain true to his roots. Despite the daft, ever-changing and money hungry music industry of the 1990s, Jeff Buckley’s gifted and bashful personality left a legacy for musicians everywhere. Jeff Buckley’s gift for music was something that was evident early on in his short life. Buckley grew up in a music household with his mother, a pianist, and undoubtedly inherited an ear for music from his biological father, funk musician Tim Buckley. Although it was not until he received a copy of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti from his stepfather when he was twelve that Buckley decided he wanted to become a musician, he had always sung along to the radio with his mother; together and by ear, they would figure out the second and third harmonies of whatever song was playing and sing the parts (“Jeff Buckley 1” 2). People who were fortunate enough to have seen Jeff Buckley perform live throughout the course of his tragically short career attest to the fact that they never heard him sing the same song the same way twice. Even during non-solo shows with his band mates, he would set only the most minimal structure to the songs they played. His close friend Steve Berkowitz recalled a

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