The singer developed a kind of “Grace” obsession and also decided to go on stage because of Jeff Buckley.
When Norah Jones talks about her formative influences, her tone is often reserved. Almost as if she didn’t want to diminish the greatness of her role models with too many words. The openness with which she speaks about Jeff Buckley is all the more remarkable.
His untimely death made him a mythical figure, but for Jones he and his masterpiece “Grace” became something of an obsession. Looking back, she not only describes the emotional impact that Buckley’s music had on her, but also the lasting impression of his artistic radicalism, for example when dealing with songs by Leonard Cohen or Judy Garland.
Editorial recommendations
In an interview with MUSIKEXPRESS in 2012, Norah Jones revealed why she became a musician because of Jeff Buckley:
“Unfortunately, I never met him. I was still in high school when he died. But I listened to his album Grace non-stop for almost a year. It was one of the reasons why I wanted to become a musician myself. When he died, I cried for days. It fills me with pride that many years later he is almost more popular than when he was alive. He couldn’t just sing the songs of Leonard Cohen or Judy Garland, he took them to a new level. And his own pieces are also great.”
