This article is about Tim Buckley the musician. For the webcomic artist, see Tim Buckley (artist).
Timothy Charles Buckley III ( February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an experimental vocalist and performer who incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, and avant-garde rock in a short career spanning the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Buckley often regarded his voice, which spanned up to five and a half octaves by some accounts, as an instrument, a talent most noticeable on his albums Goodbye and Hello, Lorca, and Starsailor. He was the father of singer Jeff Buckley, also known for his three-and-a-half octave voice, who died in 1997.
Born in Washington DC, Buckley lived for 10 years in New York before moving to southern California. During his childhood, he was a fan of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Nat King Cole, and Miles Davis, although country music was his foremost passion. He left school at 18 with twenty songs written with Larry Beckett under his belt — many of which later featured on his debut album. Mothers Of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black introduced Tim to Herb Cohen, and he quickly got him signed to Elektra record company.
Buckley released his debut album Tim Buckley on Elektra in 1966. A folk-rock album, it contained psychedelic melodies written with input from Beckett.
