Tim Buckley

Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. He began his career based in folk rock, but subsequently experimented with genres such as psychedelia, jazz, the avant-garde, and funk paired with his unique five-octave vocal range.

His commercial peak came with the 1969 album Happy Sad, reaching No. 81 on the charts, while his experimental 1970 album Starsailor went on to become a cult classic. The latter contained his best known song, “Song to the Siren.”

Buckley died at the age of 28 from a heroin and morphine overdose. He left behind one biological son, Jeff, who himself was a highly regarded singer who died young, as well as an adopted son, Taylor. On the evening of June 29, he accompanied longtime friend Richard Keeling to his house. At some point, Keeling produced a bag of heroin, some of which Buckley snorted.

Attempts by friends and paramedics to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The coroner‘s report stated that Buckley died at 9:42 p.m. on June 29, 1975, from “acute heroin/morphine and ethanol intoxication due to inhalation and ingestion of overdose”.

 

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