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Tim Buckley

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For the basketball coach, see Tim Buckley (coach).
Tim Buckley

Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American vocalist and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album (1966) was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound. He died at age 28, survived by his son Jeff Buckley from his marriage to Mary Guibert.

Biography

Early life and career

Tim Buckley was born in Washington DC on St. Valentine's Day, to Elaine and Tim Charles Buckley Jr. He spent his early childhood in Amsterdam, New York, an industrial city approximately 40 miles northwest of Albany; here at five years old he made his first acquaintance with music, his mother's progressive jazz recordings (she was a fan of Miles Davis).

Tim's musical life began in earnest after his family moved to Bell Gardens in southern California in 1956. His grandmother had introduced him to Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, his mother to Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and Judy Garland and his father to the country music of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.[1] When he attended Bell Garden's public schools he was ready to catch the folk bug going around. At age 13 he taught himself the banjo, and with his new friend, Dan Gordon, and several others formed a folk group inspired by the Kingston Trio that played local high school events.[2]

During his initial high school years he was a popular and engaged student; he was elected to numerous offices, played on the baseball team and quarterbacked the football team.[3] During a football game he broke the first two fingers on his left hand, permanently damaging them. He later said that the injury prevented him from playing barre chords. This disability may have led to his use of extended chords, many of which don't require barres.[4]

His last two years in school, which included a short stint at Loara High School in Anaheim, California,[5], found him disillusioned. Tim quit football and cut classes regularly; he had decided school was of little value and that it would be more fruitful for him to focus most of his attention on music. He befriended Larry Beckett, his future lyricist, and Jim Fielder, bass player with whom he formed two separate musical groups, The Bohemians, who initially played popular music, and later added originals co-written by Buckley and Beckett,[6] and The Harlequin 3, a folk group which regularly incorporated spoken word and beat poetry into their gigs.[1]

In 1965 during French class at Loara High School Tim met Mary Guibert, one grade his junior and his soon to be wife. Their relationship inspired some of Tim's music, and provided him time away from his turbulent home life (Tim's father, a highly decorated WW II veteran, had become unstable, angry and occasionally violent in his later years. He had suffered a serious head injury during the war; that, along with a severe work related injury, was said to have affected his mental balance).[7]

Mary and Tim married on the 25th of October, as Mary was pregnant (it turned out to be a hysterical pregnancy).[3] The marriage angered Mary's father enough for him to forgo the wedding; while Tim's father attended, but joked to the priest, "I give it six months". Shortly after the wedding Mary realized that she was not with child after all.

Tim's father's prediction soon showed signs of becoming fulfilled. The marriage was tumultuous, some ups and lots of downs. Tim moved out to his own apartment. Mary soon became pregnant. After several months of married and "pregnant," life, Tim found himself neither willing nor able to cope with marriage, and with pregnancy in particular. From then on Mary and Tim only saw each other sporadically. They divorced in October 1966 about a month before Jeffrey Scott (Jeff Buckley) was born.[8]

By the time Buckley had graduated from high school he and lyricist/friend Beckett had written a couple dozen songs; several were to appear on Tim's debut album Tim Buckley. "Buzzin' Fly", also written during this period, and was featured on Happy Sad his 1969 LP.[8]

Buckley's ill conceived college career (1965, Fullerton College) lasted only two weeks. College and a fledgling music career were too much for him to cope with.[2][3] His mini stint at Fullerton completed, Buckley now dedicated himself fully to his music and to playing L.A. folk clubs. During the summer of 1965 he played regularly at a club co-founded by Dan Gordon. Later in the year he played various Orange County coffeehouses and the Monday night hootenannies at the famed Los Angeles' Troubadour.[9] That year Cheetah magazine deemed Tim Buckley an up-and-comer, one of "The Orange County Three", along with Steve Noonan and Jackson Browne.[1]

February 1966, Following a gig at L.A.'s It's Boss, Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black recommended Buckley to Mother's manager, Herb Cohen. Cohen saw potential in Tim and soon [2] landed him an extended gig at the Nite Owl Café (Greenwich Village, NYC). Tim's new girl friend, Jainie Goldstein, (Buckley had been living alone at the time) drove Tim cross country to the Nite Owl gig in her VW bug.[7] While living in the Bowery (NYC) with Jainie, Tim ran into Lee Underwood again. This time they made an impression on each other (their first encounter had been a fleeting one at the Troubadour). Buckley asked Underwood to play guitar for him at the Nite Owl and from there they became life long friends and collaborators.

Herb Cohen had signed Buckley, but not the Bohemians. "It was always understood that, ultimately, it was about Tim," Fielder noted);[6] Cohen recorded a six song demo acetate disc, which he sent to Elektra records owner Jac Holzman.[1][6] Holzman was very much taken by Buckley's music and, after seeing him play live, offered Tim an Elektra recording contract.[2]

Folk rock

Tim recorded his debut album, Tim Buckley, in three days in Los Angeles, August 1966. Tim was generally not happy with his albums after the fact; he described this one as "like Disneyland".[1] The album's folk-rock style was largely typical of the time, although many people including Lee Underwood felt that the string additions by Jack Nitzsche "did not enhance its musical quality;"[7] critics did note Tim's distinctive voice and tuneful compositions.[2]

The record featured Buckley and a backing band of Orange County friends, as well as Lee Underwood. Underwood's mix of jazz and country improvisation on a twangy telecaster became a distinctive part of Tim's early sound. Jac Holzman and Paul Rothchild's production style and Jack Nitzsche's string arrangements cemented in the record's mid-sixties sound.

"Song of The Magician"
from Tim Buckley
Demonstrating the sixties sound of the record
Problems playing this file? See media help.

On later reflection, those involved with the album saw it as demonstrative of the potential of the group. Lee Underwood summed it up as "a first effort, naive, stiff, quaky and innocent [but] a ticket into the marketplace".[4] Producer Jac Holzman expressed similar sentiments, stating in 1991, that Tim "wasn't really comfortable in his own musical skin".[2] Larry Beckett suggested that the band's desire to please audiences held them back.[6]

Elektra released two singles promoting the debut album; "Wings" appeared in December with "Grief in My Soul" as a b-side, and "Aren't You the Girl" with "Strange Street Affair Under Blue" the next month. Herb Cohen suggested that Buckley should work with producer Jerry Yester and Elektra's demand for a new single represented their first challenge. Buckley and Beckett planned a songwriting session and listened to the radio relentlessly in search of making a hit record. The results were "Once Upon a Time" and "Lady Give Me Your Key". The former was not well regarded by the pair but they felt the latter had much potential.[10] Despite this, Elektra decided not to release it as a single and the songs are assumed to remain in Elektra's record vaults. Rhino Records hoped to include "Lady Give Me Your Key" on Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology, but could not find the songs in time for its release.[6]

Main article: Goodbye and Hello

Goodbye and Hello, released in 1967, featured late 1960s-style poetry and songs in different timings and has been described as an ambitious release for the then 20-year-old Buckley.[1][11] Reflecting the confidence Elektra had in Buckley and group, they were given free rein on the music and content of the album.[10] Beckett continued as lyricist and the album consisted of half Buckley originals and half Beckett–Buckley collaborations. Critics noted the improved lyrical and melodic qualities of Buckley's music.[12] Buckley's voice had also developed since the last release and the press appreciated both his lower register and higher falsetto in equal measure.[11]

"I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain"
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Pleasant Street"
both tracks from Goodbye and Hello
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The topic matter of the album also distinguished it from its predecessor. Beckett addressed the psychological nature of war in "No Man Can Find the War",[10] and Underwood welcomed Buckley's entry into darker territory with "Pleasant Street".[4] "I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain" represented a confessional lyric to his estranged wife and child.[11] Underwood also judged that the mix of introspective folk songs and political-themed content attracted folk fans and anti-war audiences alike.[4] Elektra owner Jac Holzman had much faith in the young up-and-comer, renting advertising space for the musician on the Sunset Strip which was virtually unheard of for an unestablished solo act.[12] The album reflected the feeling in the US at the time, Holzman stating: "the combined effect of his words, his music, his passion, his persona struck a particular resonance."[1] Despite having some aspects in common with Bob Dylan, in terms of musical style and fashion sense, Buckley distanced himself from comparisons, expressing a general apathy towards the artist and his work.[13] Whilst Goodbye and Hello did not make Buckley a star, it performed better in the charts than his previous effort, peaking at #171.[11]

His higher profile also led to more opportunities; the album was used as a soundtrack to Hall Bartlett's 1969 movie Changes and Micky Dolenz landed Tim a spot to perform "Song to the Siren" on the final episode of The Monkees TV show.[1][11] However, Buckley was wary of the press and media, often avoiding interviews or being unresponsive when they were necessary.[14] After scoring a slot on the Tonight Show, Buckley was standoffish and insulting towards the host and on another TV appearance he outright rejected a plan to lip-synch to "Pleasant Street" and refused to play.[1] Buckley did not see the album's sales as a path to commercial success, but rather an opportunity to express his musical creativity.

After Beckett left for the Army, Buckley was free to develop his own individual style, without the literary restraints of before. Uneducated both vocally and instrumentally in the finer aspects of melody and lyric structure, the quality of the tracks he produced demonstrate the natural talent he possessed.

He described the jazz/blues-rock that he was associated with at the time as "White thievery and an emotional sham."[4] With this opinion strongly set, he rebelled against what was commercial, and persevered on a course of development that alienated many of his fans. Drawing inspiration from jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Roland Kirk, and vocalist Leon Thomas, his subsequent independently-recorded music was vastly different from previous recordings.

In 1968, Buckley recorded the jazz-sounding folk-structured Happy Sad. This would be his best charting album, peaking at #81. Dissatisfied with playing the same old material continuously, and disenchanted with the music business that he felt was restraining him from producing new material, he began to weave in new songs into his performances, featuring an increasingly minimalist sound from his heavily orchestrated first two albums, and introducing a vibraphone player into his band. However, this attempted rejuvenation was a commercial failure; becoming largely based on improvisation, his performances were less accessible to the audiences who saw him as a folk-rock poster boy.

Middle period

Buckley playing at the Fillmore East in October 19, 1968. Photo: Grant Gouldon

During 1969, Buckley began to write and record material for three different albums: Lorca, Blue Afternoon, and Starsailor. Inspired by the singing of avant-garde musician Cathy Berberian, he decided to integrate the ideas of composers such as Luciano Berio and Iannis Xenakis in an avant-garde rock genre. He started to fully use his voice's impressive range. According to guitarist Lee Underwood, Buckley knew that Lorca had little to no chance in the commercial market, and due to his old friend Herb Cohen starting up a new label venture with Frank Zappa, Straight Records, he wanted to provide an album of older material that was a step back from his current direction, but one that would have a better shot at making a dent in the public's minds. Selecting eight songs that had yet to be recorded, these tracks evolved into the sessions for the forgotten classic Blue Afternoon, an album that was quite similar to Happy Sad in style.[15] Underwood himself contradicts this with a 1977 article he wrote for Down Beat Magazine chronicling Buckley's career - he states that Buckley's heart was not into the Blue Afternoon performances and that the album was a perfunctory response to please his business people.[16]

Neither album sold well, with the near-simultaneous release of each seemingly "cancelling out" the other. Lorca was viewed as a failure by many fans who, shocked by its completely different style, found the vocal gymnastics too abstract and far removed from his previous folk-rock rooted albums; while Blue Afternoon was seen by some as boring and tepid - "[not] even good sulking music" one critic mocked. Blue Afternoon was Buckley's last album to hit the Billboard charts, reaching #192. After the lack of success for both records, Buckley began to focus more on what he felt to be his true masterpiece, Starsailor.

Starsailor came completely out of left field, with free jazz textures under Tim's most extreme vocal performance; ranging from high shrieks to deep, soulful baritone. Different from his first three albums, this personal album shared the same response as Lorca. Impervious to Buckley's avant-garde style, few of his fans were aroused, and most disliked it. It included the more accessible "Song to the Siren", later covered on record by This Mortal Coil, Robert Plant, John Frusciante, and Bryan Ferry.

After the failure of Starsailor, Buckley's live performances degraded to insincere chores and he eventually ended up unsellable. Unable to produce his own music and almost completely broke, he turned to alcoholic drug binges. He also considered acting, with an unreleased low-budget group therapy-drama entitled Why? (1971) being the only film completed after several abortive meetings with Hollywood producers.[clarification needed] The film is a 3-minute short, shot on videotape, which was a new approach to film technology.[1]

Sex funk period

Tim abruptly disbanded his Starsailor ensemble near the end of 1970, and assembled a new band of funk players including Joe Falsia and Buddy Helm. With this band, he cut three albums of what has been described as "sex funk": Greetings from L.A., Sefronia and Look at the Fool. They were all commercial flops.[citation needed] Tim had alienated much of his hippie fan base with his previous two albums, but retained a tiny but obsessive cult following. Most of his remaining fans saw his adoption of the sex funk style as selling out. As a result, Tim was left with no dedicated fan base. Furthermore, Tim's often sexually frank lyrics ("whip me, spank me") prevented the radio-friendly sounding songs from actually being played over the radio.

Tim is often portrayed as hating these albums, doing them only out of bitter desperation or financial need.[citation needed] This claim is apparently not true,[citation needed] and is disputed by Tim's former guitarist Lee Underwood who insists that Tim was never less than thrilled with anything he did.[citation needed] In interviews from that period, Tim would often omit mention of the Starsailor period, telling absurd stories of him driving taxis during the time in which he was in fact on tour.

In 1975, having alienated his fanbase and squandered his money, Tim dropped his drug dependencies and engaged the musical press regarding a live album comeback. Buckley began performing revamped versions of material drawn from his whole career (except Starsailor and Lorca) as a response to the desires of his audience, desires he had always spurned in the past.

Death

On June 28, 1975, Buckley completed the last show of a tour in Dallas, Texas, playing to a sold-out venue with 1,800 people in attendance.[1] Buckley celebrated the culmination of the tour with a weekend of drinking with his band and friends, as was his normal routine. On the evening of June 29, 1975, Buckley decided to accompany long-time friend Richard Keeling back to his house in the hope of obtaining some heroin.[4] After spending an hour or so at the house, Buckley, in his inebriated state, walked in on Keeling while he was having sex, causing an argument between the two.[1] Keeling, with the aim of placating him, handed Buckley a large dose of heroin and challenged him to "Go ahead, take it all". Given Buckley's contrary and rebellious nature, he duly snorted all the drug laid out for him.[1]

Following this, Buckley was in such a bad condition that friends chose to take him home rather than leave him to his own devices. Upon his return home, his wife Judy, seeing his inebriated state, laid him down on a pillow on their living room floor and proceeded to question his friends as to what had happened.[4] Soon Judy moved Buckley into bed. Checking on him later, she found he had turned blue and was no longer breathing. Attempts by friends and paramedics to revive him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead on arrival.[1]

Having diligently controlled his drug habit while on the road, his tolerance was lowered, and the combination of the drugs he took mixed with the amount of alcohol he had consumed throughout the day was too much. The coroner's report by Dr. Joseph H. Choi stated that he died at 9:42pm, June 29, 1975, from "acute heroin/morphine and ethanol intoxication due to inhalation and ingestion of overdose".[17] Long time friend and lead guitarist, Lee Underwood, has stated that "on many previous occasions Buckley had ingested considerably more alcohol and drugs than this." [18]

Aftermath

Buckley's death shocked many of his friends and relatives. The drug-related death was in stark contrast to how people had seen him at the time. The sound recorder at Buckley's last show noted "someone offered him a drag off of a joint and he refused. He didn't appear strung out in any way. He was very together both physically and psychologically".[17] Some friends were left dazed by the situation, Buckley's old tour manager Bob Duffy stated: "It wasn't expected but it was like watching a movie, and that was its natural ending."[1] Lee Underwood went on to write a biography about him, Blue Melody: Tim Buckley Remembered, reflecting on his life and death and how he had been influenced by Buckley. Other friends saw his fate as more predictable, if not inevitable; his lyricist, Larry Beckett later said of Buckley:

"He continually took chances with his life. He'd drive like a maniac, risking accidents. For a couple of years he drank a lot and took downers to the point where it nearly killed him, but he'd always escape. Then he got into this romantic heroin-taking thing. Then his luck ran out."[1]

Given the circumstances of his death, police charged Richard Keeling with murder and distribution of heroin.[17][19] The evidence was insufficient and, at the hearing on August 14, 1975, at Santa Monica Municipal Court, Keeling pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.[19][20] Keeling was given the chance to avoid time in jail by doing voluntary work but he failed to keep to the bargain and was sentenced to 120 days in jail and 4 years probation.[21]

Buckley died with little to his name beyond the musical legacy of his nine albums. All he owned was a guitar and an amplifier and he died in debt.[4] Friends and family, some 200 in number, attended the funeral at the Wilshire Funeral Home in Santa Monica. Those in attendance included: manager Herb Cohen, guitarist Lee Underwood, Tim's mother Elaine and sister Katey, and Buckley's widow Judy and His adopted son, Taylor Buckley . who later grew up and joined the u.s. Marines .and now resides in AZ. Buckley's son Jeff was not in atendance at the date of the funeral and instead sang at a Tim Buckley tribute show, held in New York in 1991 to pay his last respects.[22] Reportedly, on the evening of June 29, 1975, a friend heard Buckley's last words: "Bye, bye, baby",[4] perhaps alluding to the line in Ray Charles' "Driftin' Blues".

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilations

Other releases

Books

Tribute albums

References and notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Aston, Martin. "The High". Retrieved 2008-05-04. [dead link]
  2. ^ a b c d e f ""Tim Buckley Biography" by Simon Glickman at enotes.com". Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  3. ^ a b c ""Tim Buckley Chronology 1947-97" by Robert Niemi". Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Tim Buckley Biography by Lee Underwood". Retrieved 2008-05-12. [dead link]
  5. ^ "The Man that Got Away by Dave Peschek". Archived from the original on 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  6. ^ a b c d e ""Dreamy, Driven and Dangerous" By Ben Edmonds Mojo Magazine June 2000". Retrieved 2008-05-19. [dead link]
  7. ^ a b c Blue Melody, Lee Underwood, Tim Buckley Biography
  8. ^ a b Chronology by Robert Niemi, The Tim Buckley Archives
  9. ^ Musician Magazine Article by Scott Isler, The Tim Buckley Archives
  10. ^ a b c "Larry Beckett Interview: April 3, 1999". Retrieved 2008-05-26.
  11. ^ a b c d e Isler, Scott. "Goodbye and Hello". Musician. Archived from the original on 2008-05-18. Retrieved 2008-06-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ a b Hopkins, Jerry. "And God Bless Tim Buckley Too". Archived from the original on 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  13. ^ "Tim Buckley: "An incredibly thin wire – Dylan thin" by Jay Hoster". The Haverford News. Archived from the original on 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-06-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ Sander, Ellen. "The Growing Mystique of Tim Buckley". Hit Parader. Archived from the original on 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2008-06-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "Interview with Lee Underwood". Retrieved 2008-04-29.
  16. ^ "Starsailor Interview by Lee Underwood". Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  17. ^ a b c "Death Claims Tim Buckley by Kim Martin". Retrieved 2008-05-17. [dead link]
  18. ^ Underwood, Lee (1977-06-16). "Chronicle of a Starsailor". Downbeat (transcribed on www.leeunderwood.net). Retrieved 2008-07-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ a b "Suspect Arraigned In Death Of Singer". New York Times 07-09-75. Archived from the original on 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2008-06-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "Stude Gets Probation In Death Of Singer Buckley". LA Times 03-09-76. Archived from the original on 2008-05-18. Retrieved 2008-06-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "Penal Aftermath of Tim Buckley's Death". LA Times 03-23-76. Archived from the original on 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2008-06-03. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ "Jeff Buckley's Debut by Rebecca Kane". Retrieved 2008-05-17.

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