Tim Buckley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tim Buckley
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Tim Buckley in 1974
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Timothy Charles Buckley III |
| Born | February 14, 1947 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | June 29, 1975 (aged 28) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1966–1975 |
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Timothy Charles Buckley III (born February 14, 1947 – died June 29, 1975) was an American musician. He started his music journey with folk rock songs. Later, he explored many different styles like psychedelia, jazz, and funk. He was known for his amazing voice, which could sing five different octaves (a very wide range!).
His album Happy Sad in 1969 was his most popular, reaching number 81 on the music charts. His 1970 album Starsailor was more experimental and became a favorite for many fans later on. This album included his most famous song, "Song to the Siren." Tim Buckley passed away when he was 28 years old. He had two sons, Taylor and Jeff.
Contents
Early Life and Music Beginnings
Tim Buckley was born in Washington, D.C., on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1947. His mother, Elaine, was Italian American. His father, Timothy Charles Buckley Jr., was a brave soldier from World War II. Tim also had a sister named Kathleen. He spent his early childhood in Amsterdam, New York. When he was five, he started listening to his mother's cool jazz music, especially Miles Davis.
Tim's musical journey really began when his family moved to Bell Gardens in southern California in 1956. His grandmother introduced him to music by Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. His mother played him songs by Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. His father shared country music from Hank Williams and Johnny Cash.
In the early 1960s, folk music became very popular. Tim taught himself to play the banjo at age 13. He formed a folk group with friends, inspired by The Kingston Trio. They played at local high school events.
During high school, Tim was a good student and athlete. He played on the baseball team and was the quarterback for the football team. However, he broke two fingers on his left hand during a football game. This injury made it hard for him to play certain guitar chords. Because of this, he started using special chords that didn't need his injured fingers.
Tim went to Loara High School in Anaheim, California. He often skipped classes and quit football to focus on music. He became friends with Larry Beckett, who would later write lyrics for his songs. He also met Jim Fielder, a bass player. Together, they formed two bands: the Bohemians, who played popular music, and the Harlequin 3, a folk group that included poems and spoken performances in their shows.
Tim and Larry wrote many songs together. Some of these songs appeared on Tim's first album, Tim Buckley. The song "Buzzin' Fly" was written during this time and was later on his 1969 album, Happy Sad.
Tim only attended Fullerton College for two weeks in 1965. After leaving college, he focused completely on music. He played in folk clubs around Los Angeles. In the summer of 1965, he often performed at a club co-founded by Dan Gordon. He also played at coffeehouses in Orange County and at Monday-night hootenannies at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.
In February 1966, a drummer named Jimmy Carl Black suggested Tim to his manager, Herb Cohen. Cohen saw Tim's talent and got him a long-term job at the Night Owl Cafe in Greenwich Village, New York. Tim's girlfriend, Jainie Goldstein, drove him to New York. While living there, Tim met Lee Underwood and asked him to play guitar. They became close friends and worked together for many years.
Under Cohen's help, Tim recorded a demo with six songs. He sent it to Elektra Records owner Jac Holzman, who offered him a recording contract.
Folk Rock Music
In August 1966, Tim recorded his first album, Tim Buckley, in Los Angeles. It took only three days! He later said, "I was only 19, and going into the studio was like Disneyland. I'd do anything anybody said." The album featured Tim and a band of friends. Lee Underwood's mix of jazz and country guitar playing became a special part of Tim's early sound. The album's producers, Jac Holzman and Paul Rothchild, and the added strings by Jack Nitzsche, gave the record its mid-1960s sound.
The album's folk-rock style was common for the time. Critics noticed Tim's unique voice and catchy songs. Lee Underwood felt the album was "a first effort, naive, stiff, quaky and innocent [but] a ticket into the marketplace." Jac Holzman agreed, thinking Tim wasn't fully comfortable with his own music yet.
Elektra released two songs from the album as singles: "Wings" and "Aren't You the Girl." Tim then recorded "Once Upon a Time" and "Lady Give Me Your Key," but these were not released as singles. "Lady Give Me Your Key" was later released in 2017 on a collection of unreleased acoustic songs. "Once Upon A Time" appeared on an anthology in 2009.
Goodbye and Hello, released in 1967, was a more ambitious album for the 20-year-old Tim. It featured poetry and songs with different rhythms. Elektra trusted Tim and his group, giving them freedom with the album's content. Larry Beckett continued to write lyrics, and the album included songs written by Tim alone and with Larry. Critics praised the improved lyrics and melodies. They also liked how Tim's voice had grown, appreciating both his low and high (falsetto) singing.
The album's themes were different from his first. Larry Beckett wrote about the feelings of war in "No Man Can Find the War." Lee Underwood liked that Tim explored darker topics with "Pleasant Street." "I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain" was a personal song about his former wife and child. This mix of personal folk songs and political themes attracted both folk fans and anti-war audiences. Elektra even advertised Tim on the Sunset Strip, which was unusual for a solo artist. Tim didn't like being compared to Bob Dylan, saying he didn't care much for Dylan's work. While Goodbye and Hello didn't make Tim a huge star, it did better on the charts, reaching number 171.
Tim's growing fame led to his album The Best of Tim Buckley being used in the 1969 film Changes. He also performed "Song to the Siren" on the last episode of The Monkees TV show. Tim was often shy with the press and avoided interviews. After appearing on The Tonight Show, he was a bit rude to Johnny Carson. On another TV show, he refused to lip sync to "Pleasant Street."
After Larry Beckett joined the Army, Tim developed his own unique style. He started to dislike the jazz/blues-rock music he was known for, calling it "white thievery and an emotional sham." He found inspiration from jazz legends like Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk. His music then sounded very different from his earlier recordings.
In 1968, Tim toured Europe twice, visiting Denmark, the Netherlands, and England. He appeared on John Peel's Top Gear radio show on the BBC. Later that year, he recorded Happy Sad. This album showed his folk and jazz influences and became his highest-charting album, reaching number 81.
Later Music and Challenges
During 1969, Tim started writing and recording for three new albums: Blue Afternoon, Lorca, and Starsailor. He was inspired by the unique singing of avant-garde musician Cathy Berberian. He began to mix ideas from modern composers into his avant-garde rock music. Tim chose eight songs for Blue Afternoon, which sounded similar to Happy Sad. However, Lee Underwood later wrote that Tim's heart wasn't fully in Blue Afternoon. He felt it was just an album to please his record company.
Even though Tim's music never sold huge amounts, his next albums did appear on the charts. Lorca was very different and some of his folk fans didn't like it. Blue Afternoon was criticized at first for being boring, but people have re-evaluated it over the years. Blue Afternoon was Tim's last album to appear on the Billboard charts, reaching number 192. After these albums, Tim focused on what he believed would be his best work, Starsailor.
Starsailor featured free jazz sounds and Tim's most extreme singing. His voice went from high screams to deep, soulful baritone. This very personal album also included the more accessible "Song to the Siren." This song has since been covered by many famous artists like Robert Plant and Bryan Ferry. However, the album was not popular with critics or the public at the time.
Tim was struggling financially and couldn't make the music he wanted. He thought about acting and made a low-budget film called Why? (1971), which was never released.
In 1970, Tim changed his band and formed a new funk group. He recorded three more albums: Greetings from L.A., Sefronia, and Look at the Fool.
In 1975, Tim started talking to the press about a live album comeback. He began performing new versions of his older songs, but not from Starsailor or Lorca. He did this to connect with his audience, whom he had sometimes ignored in the past.
His Passing
On June 28, 1975, Tim Buckley finished a short tour with a show in Dallas. He played to a sold-out crowd of 1,800 people. He celebrated the end of the tour with his band and friends.
Tim Buckley passed away at 9:42 p.m. on June 29, 1975.
He passed away with very few belongings, only a guitar and an amplifier. About 200 friends and family attended his funeral in Santa Monica. His 8-year-old son, Jeff, had only met his father once and was not invited to the funeral. Jeff later said that not being invited "gnawed" at him. This led him to perform his father's song "I Never Asked to Be Your Mountain" in 1991 at a tribute concert for Tim.
Family Life
In 1964, Tim met Mary Guibert in French class. Their relationship inspired some of Tim's music. They married on October 25, 1965. When Mary became pregnant, Tim found it hard to deal with becoming a father. They divorced in October 1966, about a month before their son, Jeff Buckley, was born. Jeff later said about his father, "He left my mother when I was six months old... So I never really knew him at all."
In April 1970, Tim married Judy Brejot Sutcliffe in Santa Monica. He adopted her son, Taylor Keith Sutcliffe.
Music Albums
Studio Albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
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| Goodbye and Hello |
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171 |
| Happy Sad |
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81 |
| Blue Afternoon |
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192 |
| Lorca |
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| Starsailor |
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| Greetings from L.A. |
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| Sefronia |
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| Look at the Fool |
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Live Albums
- Dream Letter: Live in London 1968 (1990)
- Peel Sessions (1991/1993)
- Live at the Troubadour 1969 (1994)
- Honeyman: Live 1973 (1995)
- Once I Was (1999)
- Copenhagen Tapes (2000)
- Live at the Folklore Center 1967 (2009)
- Venice Mating Call (2017)
- Greetings From West Hollywood (2017)
- Live at the Electric Theatre Co. (2019)
- Bear's Sonic Journals: Merry-Go-Round at the Carousel (2021)
Compilation Albums
- The Late Great Tim Buckley (1978) – Released only in Australia
- The Best of Tim Buckley (1983)
- Morning Glory (1994)
- Works in Progress (1999)
- The Dream Belongs to Me: Rare and Unreleased 1968–1973 (2001)
- Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology (2001)
- Tim Buckley/Goodbye and Hello (2001) – Combines his first two albums
- Take 2: Greetings from L.A./Tim Buckley (2005) – A 2-CD set of these two albums
- Tim Buckley (2011) – A special 2-CD set with his debut album and unreleased recordings
- Starsailor: The Anthology (2011) – A 2-CD set
- Wings: The Complete Singles 1966–1974 (2016)
Other Releases
- Thin Wires in the Voice (1999) – A book with a 3-song CD
- Tim Buckley: My Fleeting House (2007) – A DVD of his live performances
- Tim Buckley: Lady, Give Me Your Key: The Unissued 1967 Solo Acoustic Sessions (2016) – Demo songs from 1967
Books About Tim Buckley
- Once He Was: the Tim Buckley Story (1997) by Paul Barrera
- Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley (2001) by David Browne
- Blue Melody: Tim Buckley Remembered (2002) by Lee Underwood
- Voci da una nuvola – Il segreto di Nick Drake e Tim Buckley (2015) by Giampiero La Valle
Tribute Albums
- Sing a Song for You: Tribute to Tim Buckley (2000)
- Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley (2005)
See Also
In Spanish: Tim Buckley para niños
