"Grace" remains the first and only studio album by California-born singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley, who died in a swimming accident in 1997 at the age of just 31. The album consists mainly of ballads that give Buckley's four-octave voice the space it needs to shine. His song material sounds like a mixture of Robert Plant and Van Morrison, complemented by three cover versions. Buckley's interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is considered by many today to be the most successful version of the title. Jeff Buckley was born in Anaheim, California, in 1966 - his parents had just finished high school at the time. However, he hardly knew his later famous father, the folk singer Tim Buckley, who died in 1975. His mother had separated and taken little Jeff with her. He grew up near New York, taught himself to play the guitar and decided to study music and art in Los Angeles after finishing school. When he returned to New York, he performed in numerous clubs in the East Village, including "Sin-é", where he was discovered by a talent scout from Columbia Records. After a first EP "Live At The Sin-é", his CD "Grace" was released in 1994, which was produced in Woodstock under the direction of Andy Wallace. In addition to songs by Jeff, it also contains cover versions, including "Corpus Christi Carol" by Benjamin Britten and "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. This truly moving piece of music with songs full of melancholy and longing mixes an amazing variety of musical roots. For "Grace", Jeff Buckley received the coveted French "Grand Prix International Du Disque" in 1995 - stars such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Yves Montand, Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel have received this award before him. The success lasted for two years - then Jeff Buckley died in a tragic swimming accident in the waters of the Mississippi in May 1997.