Jeff Buckley (32)

Jeff Buckley
1966-1997
Angst-ridden indie pinup
Cause of Death: Drowning
Mystery White Boy: Buckley's otherwordly voice, moody good looks and bloodline (his dad, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, also died young) made him a cult hero; drowning in a Mississippi riptide made him perfectly tragic. He has inspired songs by peers from Aimee Mann to Rufus Wainwright and is the industry standard for dreamy singer-songwriter comparisons.
A Prolific Afterlife: Mary Guibert, Buckley's mother and estate manager, joked that she'd become "Jeff Buckley Inc." after his death. She oversees his growing post-mortem catalogue, including three versions of his debut, Grace, one of them a Legacy Edition that pushed sales of the record to nearly 800,000. Buckley's archives may be limited, but Guibert's skilled repackaging keeps them fruitful. Further feeding the myth are a 2004 documentary, a thoughtful bio-recently optioned for film-and a heady book on Grace by Princeton prof Daphne Brooks.
Dial Jeff for Sad: Buckley's voice has become the sound of onscreen sorrow: Recently, characters have grieved to his version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in The West Wing, The O.C., House and the Nic Cage flick Lord of War.