Jeff Buckley – Grace, Mystery White Boy / Sony BMG Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd. 2x Audio CD 2007

UPC 886971497229

Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan's East Village such as Sin-é, gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing much interest from record labels and Herb Cohen, the manager of his father, singer Tim Buckley, he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace, in 1994.

Over the following three years, the band toured extensively to promote the album, including concerts in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. In 1996, they stopped touring and made sporadic attempts to record Buckley's second album in New York City with Tom Verlaine as producer.

In 1997, Buckley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to resume work on the album, to be titled My Sweetheart the Drunk, recording many four-track demos while also playing weekly solo shows at a local venue. On May 29, 1997, while awaiting the arrival of his band from New York, he drowned during a spontaneous evening swim, fully clothed, in the Mississippi River when he was caught in the wake of a passing boat; his body was found on June 4.

Since his death, there have been many posthumous releases of his material, including a collection of four-track demos and studio recordings for his unfinished second album My Sweetheart the Drunk, expansions of Grace, and the Live at Sin-é EP. Chart success also came posthumously: with his cover of Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" he attained his first number one on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs in March 2008 and reached number two in the UK Singles Chart that December. Rolling Stone included Grace in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and included Buckley in their list of the greatest singers.

Grace is the only studio album by American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, released on August 23, 1994 by Columbia Records. While the album initially had poor sales and received mixed reviews, in subsequent years it has dramatically risen in critical reputation. The album has been cited by critics and listeners as one of the greatest albums of all time. An extended version of the album (subtitled "Legacy Edition"), celebrating its tenth anniversary, was released on August 23, 2004 and peaked at number 44 in the UK.

Grace re-entered the albums chart in Australia at number 44 for the week of January 29 to February 5, 2007, 13 years after its original release date. It is currently certified 7x platinum in Australia.

Grace was released on August 23, 1994. In addition to seven original songs, the album included three covers: "Lilac Wine", based on the version by Nina Simone; made famous by Elkie Brooks, "Corpus Christi Carol", from Benjamin Britten's A Boy was Born, Op.3, a composition that Buckley was introduced to in high school, based on a 15th-century hymn; and "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen, based on John Cale's recording from the Cohen tribute album, I'm Your Fan. His rendition of "Hallelujah" has been called "Buckley's best" and "one of the great songs" by Time, and is included on Happy Mag's list of "The 10 Best Covers Of All Time",and Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".