Jeff Buckley died suddenly and tragically in 1997 before his second album was complete. He was recording Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, which would be released posthumously in 1998, when a swimming accident took his life. He was 30-years-old.
Buckley was on the brink of global superstardom when he died. But his critically acclaimed first album was enough to establish his pervasive influence on music and a cult following still evident today in the excitement generated by the release of You and I.
The Independent spoke to Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert in 2008 about his legacy at a time when his version of Leonard Cohen's “Hallelujah” was being discussed again. The X-Factor cover of "Hallelujah" was climbing to the charts and would go on to secure the coveted Christmas number one spot. Buckley’s 1984 cover would chart right behind at number two.
Ms Guibert gave a poignant account of what the world could have expected from her son if he had not passed away so prematurely.
“If Jeff had lived, he would now be on a level with Bono,” she said. “He would have toured the world and had a lifelong career, and at the end of it, he would have been that guy sitting in a wheelchair with the microphone specially lowered six inches, so that we could all hear him sing ”Hallelujah“ one more time.”
Read the interview in full here.
.jpg?w=600)
