Tim Buckley

Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley performing at the Fillmore East on October 19, 1968
Background information
Birth name	Timothy Charles Buckley III
Born	(1947-02-14)February 14, 1947 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died	June 29, 1975(1975-06-29) (aged 28) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Folk rock psychedelic folk progressive folk jazz fusion experimental rock blue-eyed soul funk
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter guitarist
Instruments	Vocals guitar kalimba vibraphone
Years active	1966–1975
Labels	Elektra Straight DiscReet Rhino
Associated acts	Larry Beckett Jim Fielder Van Dyke Parks Lee Underwood Jerry Yester
Website	timbuckley.net
Notable instruments
Guild 12 String Guitar Fender Electric XII

Timothy Charles "Tim" Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music and style changed considerably through the years; he began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument" sound. Though he did not find commercial success during his lifetime, Buckley is admired by later generations for his innovation as a musician and vocal ability. He died at the age of 28 from a heroin overdose, leaving behind his sons Taylor and Jeff Buckley, the latter of whom later went on to become a musician as well.

Tim Buckley was born in Washington, D.C. on St. Valentine's Day, to Elaine (née Scalia), an Italian American, and Timothy Charles Buckley Jr., a highly decorated World War II veteran who was the son of Irish immigrants from Cork. He spent his early childhood in Amsterdam, New York, an industrial city approximately 40 miles northwest of Albany; at five years old he began listening to his mother's progressive jazz recordings, particularly Miles Davis.

Buckley's musical life began in earnest after his family moved to Bell Gardens in southern California in 1956. His grandmother introduced him to the work of Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, his mother to Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland and his father to the country music of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. When the folk music revolution came around in the early 1960s, Buckley taught himself the banjo at age 13, and with several friends formed a folk group inspired by the Kingston Trio that played local high school events.