Jeff Buckley met his father, the lauded'60s-'70s troubadour Tim Buckley, only a few times. But destiny set father and son on the same path of acclaimed cult-hood cut short by early death. Both sublimated their unmet emotional needs surrounding cold or absent fathers into song. And yet, as Australian rock critic Jeff Apter notes in his well-researched biography, Led Zeppelin was the music that spun Jeff's head around. Like other grunge-era stars, he was uncomfortable with celebrity and acquired a reputation (only partly deserved) as a brooding romantic. As a member of the "pantheon of the posthumous," he became even more influential in death.
A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley (Backbeat), by Jeff Apter
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