Jeff Buckley was an American singer-songwriter who helped define the 1990s. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas on February 1, 1966, and passed away in 1997 at the age of 30. His band, the Flying Burrito Brothers (named after his father's trucking company), was known for its finger style rhythm section and eclectic mix of folk, country, jazz, blues, rockabilly and psychedelic rock. The Burrito Brothers broke up in 1975 after releasing two albums for Columbia Records
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He then formed the band the Graceounds with his sister Mimi. The band broke up in late 1975 when Jeff went to Los Angeles to record his debut solo album, "Grace". After the Graceounds broke up, he signed with Epic Records and released his self-titled eponymous debut album in March of 1976.
Very few copies were sold due to Epic's lack of promotion and distribution. Buckley returned to Texas briefly before returning to Los Angeles later that year to record "Greetings from L.A.", his sophomore album with the G3 tour following shortly thereafter. After this tour ended, he returned again to Texas.
In 1986 he recorded "Tied to a Star", which featured a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". It became his first successful single release but only reached number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart due to radio airplay being limited by Buckley's label's limited promotional efforts. Despite this lack of commercial success, "Tied to a Star" remains one of Buckley's most popular songs.
Throughout the early 1980s, Buckley toured extensively with Emmylou Harris as opening act on her Unplugged Tour as well as with other artists including Brad Paisley and John Mellencamp. This allowed him to develop a following among college students who often smuggled bootlegged copies of his records into venues where he was not performing so that they could listen to them. In 1987 he signed with Columbia Records who released "Grace" in Europe but otherwise ignored it during it initial release period.
At this time Buckley also wrote several songs for Janis Joplin's posthumous album Pearl (alongside Richard Perry), which she had finished recording after his own death prior to her own tragic passing at age 27 in October of that same year. The song "Mystery Girl" became one of his most successful singles; it peaked at number 15 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1990. That