Music Legend’s Ex Reveals He Was Overwhelmed With Fame Before Tragic Death originally appeared on Parade.
Jeff Buckley’s ex-girlfriend Rebecca Moore opened up about the pressure his faced while navigating fame before his tragic death at the age of 30.
Buckley had his big break when he signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Columbia Records, which introduced him to larger audiences. He released his debut, Grace, in 1994, which was a critical success and was praised by many famous musicians.
“It was a ton of pressure,” Moore, 57, told People of Buckley, whom she dated for three years and split before his death in 1997. “For every artist, a big record contract’s going to be pressure. But this for him had the added weight of legacy of his dad, and he was under pressure to do something unique.”
As his fame grew, Buckley was committed to a relentless touring schedule and he was expected to release a critically acclaimed second album that lived up to the hype of Grace.
“It was just heartbreaking because it was overwhelming for him,” Moore continued of his demanding career. “He once said to me, ‘Rebecca, I can’t even shower in the morning.’ I think all he could focus on was keeping himself upright and getting to the meetings and seeing through the obligations.”
Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, also reflected on the pressure her son faced, revealing that he believed the record label wanted to make him “a commodity.”
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“He wanted to shock people. He wanted to create something that was edgy,” Guibert, 77, said of her son’s career goals. “He wanted to be a Morrissey. He didn’t want to be Michael Bolton.”
Buckley, who was the estranged son of late singer Tim Buckley, was still struggling to create a second album in 1997 when he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to write in solitude. In May of that year, Buckley tragically died in a drowning accident at the age of 30.
Fans can learn more about Buckley’s career and legacy in the documentary It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley.
Music Legend’s Ex Reveals He Was Overwhelmed With Fame Before Tragic Death first appeared on Parade on Aug 10, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
