1) Jeff Buckley Artist profile;
Born: November 17 1966
in Anaheim, California, USA.
He is the son of Tim Buckley whom is also a famous rock musician.
Years active: 1991- 1997
Genre of music played: Alternative rock, folk.
Died: May 29, 1997 (30 years old) Memphis Tennessee, USA.
Buckley's first step as a musician was attending the Musicians Institute in Hollywood at the age of 19 and following spent six years working in hotels playing the guitar for various struggling bands in genres jazz, roots rock, reggae and heavy metal. Buckley said that these were the stepping stones in making him stronger as a music artist.
The above youtube video is of his most famous cover "Hallelujah", which reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart in 2008. The obvious reason for the similarity between my chosen artist and Jeff Buckley is the acoustic music and style. Buckley's dress code was mainly alternative and this represented his diversity to conform to mainstream music. Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah" has been called "Buckley's best" and "one of the great songs" by Time, and is in Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
It was 1993 when Buckley started working on his first album with record producer Andy Wallace, who had mixed Nirvana's multi- platinum album Nevermind. After signing with Columbia he formed a band and completed his only studio album, "Grace". The beginning studio tracks included four-song EP lice At sin-e, which was released in December. He formed a band which included Mick Grondahl as bassist and Matt Johnson as drummer and spent weeks rehearsing.
In September, the trio headed to Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York to spend six weeks recording fundemental tracks for what would develop into Grace. The album Grace had a slow recognition but sold over six times platinum in Australia, went gold in the U.S and France.
When Buckley's music began to get credit he said "There was a time in my life not too long ago when I could show up in a cafe and simply do what I do, make music, learn from performing my music, explore what it means to me, i.e., have fun while I irritate and/or entertain an audience who don't know me or what I am about. In this situation I have that precious and irreplaceable luxury of failure, of risk, of surrender. I worked very hard to get this kind of thing together, this work forum. I loved it and then I missed it when it disappeared. All I am doing is reclaiming it." It was claimed that Jeff Buckley missed the anoymous side to playing in small cafes.
Below is an interview with Jeff Buckley whom is talking about playing in cafes with own experiences.
"Songs come out of poetry, and sometimes poetry comes out of dreams" - this identifies the source of his inspiration. The lyrics he sings doesn't represent social reality but are personal to him and can have multiple and ambigious meaning.
Since Buckley's death in 1997, there have been releases of "sketches for My Sweetheart Drunk". In a production at The Knitting Factory's tenth anniversary concert featuring an assortment of new songs including "Jewel Box", on February 4, 1997, Lou Reed showed interest in working with Buckley and they performed in New York on February 9. The set included lots of Buckley's new material that would emerge on Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk.
This set featured much of Buckley's new ideas that would occur on Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk and a recording has become one of Buckley's most widely distributed bootlegs.
In a BBC review it was said that, " years after his tragically early death, Jeff Buckley’s name is one that constantly crops up when bands list their influences. The list of those who have recorded tribute songs is equally impressive, including PJ Harvey, and Rufus Wainwright." This shows how my artist Tom Sutcliffe might relate to Jeff Buckley and how he may aspire to his music. When looking back to the nineties when Buckley's studio album "Grace" was released it took many years for the album to gain global recognition, it has been said that Buckley was ahead of his time, and that his music inspires most indie and rock music today. Buckley has been described as vulnerable and the reasons for "Forget her" being dropped from the album was because performing the song was too painful for Jeff Buckley.
Born: 7 December 1973
Irish singer-songwriter and musician.
Years active: 1991- present
Genre of music: folk, indie rock, folk rock
Instruments: Drums, guitar, cello, violin and piano.
Damien Rice is known for being a solo artist through his first album "O" whom he collaborated with some artists from Ireland and England producing three top 30 singles in the UK "The Blower's Daughter"..."Volcano"..."Cannonball". The album reached #8 in The UK albums chart and won The Shortlist music prize. Just before working on this first album Rice had been busking around Europe and farming in Tuscany, he returned back to England to produce music with his second cousin music producer David Arnold.
After receiving wide recogition for his first album Rice released a second album "9" in 2006. This album was poignant in his musical career and helped him to be recognised in The Irish Times, whom placed him at number thirty four in a list of "The Best to Irish Acts Right Now" in April 2009, portraying him as "the quiet one, the intense one, the singer-songwriter most revered by the other quiet and intense ones" and as "a most excruiatingly honest songwriter".
"life goes easy on me most of the time" reflects how being in love with someone is hard and isnt just as simple as being happy, there are complications always in the way. The lyrics are poetic and emphasise this sadness and the emotional rollercoaster the couples endure.
Before Rice's solo career he was in rock group "Juniper", releasing only two singles. Rice said that he split from the band due to constant interference from the bands record label "Polygram" saying the image protrayed was fundementally different from what he wanted.
Just like Jeff Buckley Eva Cassidy's dad was also a musician who taught her how to play the guitar at the age of nine and at the age of 11 she was in a band "Easy Street" who were from her local area in Washington D.C. The band played at weddings and local pubs after her period in the band she became involved with band The Stonehench where she met Al Dale who later became her manager. She was also in other bands such as "Eva Cassidy Band" where she was in a long term relationship with band member Chris Biondo.The couple created a duet album "The other side" which included Eva's most famous song, "Over the Rainbow". A year after the album was released Cassidy was honoured with a wammie award by the Washington Area Music Association and performed "over the rainbow" at the event which was described as by the Washington Times as a "show stopper" audience members said her performance was breath taking receiving a further two wammies. "Over the Rainbow" has been covered by many artists such as, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole but it is Eva Cassidy's version which has been most popular and has become her most famous rendition.
This live performance is one of her only recorded live performances. It was recorded 3 January 1996 at Blues Alley. The video on youtube had more than 99 thousand hits, showing how her music speaks to so many people in an emotional way. Looking at the comments on youtube one man said, "I'm a 36 year old man, covered in tattoos and I'm sitting in my living room crying.... This womans voice is like no other, great, great talent like that comes along once in a lifetime!!! And if you can't see or hear what I'm talking about.... You just missed out!!" this audience feedback is evidence of how musically talented Cassidy was. The original video was recorded by a personal friend of Eva and it became the most requested video ever shown on Top Of The Pops 2. Just like Damien Rice and Jeff Buckley, Eva stayed clear of mainstream music so her popularity wasn't very big in the beginning years. Some reviews claim this was due to her being unknown so she wasnt given the chance to be a famous musician in her lifetime, stating that she was adored by all those who heard her music.
Since Eva's death a posthumous album release "Songbird" has sold six times platinum in the UK and gold in the U.S.
When reflecting over the artist chosen i can see a description of "vulnerablity" but i strongly disagree the artists choose to take a stand against mainstream music and all three had little recognition in the beginning of their album releases. I believe that all three artists have created music which can withstand time and different musical era's. All three artists created music in the nineties which didnt achieve status until the early 2000s'.
it is only a first draft i am going to the library to get a biography for the artists and have used websites and my own knowledge for the moment due to writing about how his audience describe him at the moment it is more of a review.
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