The Tragic Story Behind Jeff Buckley’s Unfinished Second Album Revealed in New Sneak Peek [Exclusive]

1 week ago 18

Jeff Buckley poses for a picture in front of a microphone

Britta DeVore is a Senior Author for Collider who has been known to dabble with Reality News as well.

Have you seen stories about 'Chucky,' 'Scream,' 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,' 'The Boys,' 'Vanderpump Rules,' or any of 'The Real Housewives' franchises? That's probably a Britta DeVore-curated piece of art, and it sounds like you have great taste.

When she isn't sitting behind her laptop bringing readers her hot takes on upcoming projects or keeping the dream alive in the Senior News team, Britta can usually be found outside hiking or inside behind her drum set. She currently plays in two bands, Kid Midnight and Watergate, both based in Brooklyn. An obsessive traveler, Britta loves long road trips to the South West and has a soft spot in her heart for canyons, rivers, and forests.

She also has a tiny cat named Athena that she loves more than anything else in the world and is always happy for new brewery recs.

It’s been nearly two decades since the world lost one of the most promising, growing voices in music when Jeff Buckley tragically passed away on May 29, 1997. Through the release of his 1994 album, “Grace,” the singer-songwriter pulled on the heartstrings of listeners around the world, with his cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” rising to unbelievable heights and becoming a career-defining hit overnight. At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, celebrated documentarian Amy Berg (Deliver Us from Evil) debuted her latest project, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, ahead of its summer theatrical release. Soon, audiences will be able to invite the story of the legendary performer into their own home when the in-depth doc drops on Blu-ray, DVD, and on demand on January 6. Today, Collider is thrilled to share an exclusive first look at the project with our readers, which focuses on Buckley’s plans to launch his second album — one that would never be fully imagined as the singer passed away while mid-creation.

Sitting down with an interviewer, Buckley can be seen in our exclusive clip mulling over his highly-awaited sophomore album, revealing that this was the year he was going to begin getting to work on it. Cracking a now unfortunate and morbid joke, Buckley tells the interviewer that he can’t promise when it will be released because “I could be a corpse by then,” unknowingly foreshadowing the tragedy of his future. Speaking out about the stress that they saw wash over their friend and musical peer during this trying time in his life, those closest to Buckley reveal just how much pressure was mounting with the studio expecting more hits as they’d seen on the singer’s debut album. With millions of dollars already spent on the album’s production, Buckley was in dire straits to deliver a massive success in what Aimee Mann describes as an impossible game to win.

Groundbreaking singer-songwriter Mann is just one of the notable names and familiar voices that audiences hear speak about the life of Buckley. Considering his prominence in the scene ahead of his death and the stamp that he left on the art, it’s not surprising that so many folks were willing to come forward and chat about the friend and talent they lost far too soon. In addition to Mann, Berg’s latest documentary also catches up with plenty of friends and exes from Buckley’s past, as well as his mother, Mary Guibert, and a slew of other folks, including Rebecca Moore, Joan Wasser, Ben Harper, Michele Anthony, Susan Silver, and the late Chris Cornell.

Meet the Filmmaker Behind ‘It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley’

Documentary fans will undoubtedly recognize Berg’s name as one of the biggest documentarians of our time. In 2006, Berg went up against the Roman Catholic Church with her Academy Award-nominated documentary, Deliver Us from Evil, with other titles in her roster including The Case Against Adnan Syed, Janis: Little Girl Blue, Prophet’s Prey, and West of Memphis.

Check out our exclusive sneak peek at It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley above, and welcome the tale of the magnificent late musician into your home on January 6 via Blu-ray, DVD, or digital.