Nicholas Rodney Drake (June 19, 1948 – November 25, 1974) was an English
singer-songwriter and musician best known for his
acoustic, autumnal songs. His primary instrument was the guitar, though he was also proficient at
piano, clarinet, and saxophone. Although he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, Drake's work has since grown
steadily in stature, to the extent that he is now widely considered one of the most influential English singer-songwriters of the
last 50 years.[2][3][4]
Drake signed to Island Records when he was twenty years old, and released his debut
album Five Leaves Left. By 1972 he had recorded a further two albums, although
none sold more than five thousand copies during their first release, and his reluctance to perform live or be interviewed
contributed to his lack of commercial success. Drake battled with depression and
insomnia throughout his life, and the topics were often reflected in his lyrics.
Upon completion of his third album, 1972's Pink Moon, he withdrew from both live
performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. On 25
November, 1974, Nick Drake died from an overdose of the prescribed antidepressant,
Tryptizol.
There was residual interest in Drake's music through the mid-1970s, but it was not until the 1979 release of the retrospective
album Fruit Tree that his back catalogue came to be reassessed. By
the mid-1980s, Drake was being credited as an influence by such artists as Robert
Smith and Peter Buck. In 1985, The Dream
Academy reached the UK and US charts with "Life in a Northern Town", a
song written for and dedicated to Drake.[5] By the early
1990s, he had come to represent a certain type of 'doomed romantic' musician in the UK music press, and was frequently cited by
artists including Kate Bush, Paul Weller, and
The Black Crowes.[6] Drake's first biography was written in 1997, and was followed in 1998 by the documentary film A
Stranger Amongst Us. In 2000, Volkswagen featured the title track from
Pink Moon in a television advertisement, and within one month Drake had sold more
records than he had in the previous thirty years.[7] He is
the only artist to have all his studio albums on Rolling
Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Biography
Early life
Childhood
Nicholas Rodney Drake was born on 19 June, 1948, into an upper
middle class English family living in Rangoon, Burma. His father
Rodney (1908–1988) had moved there in the early 1930s to work as an engineer with the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation.[8] In 1934, Rodney met the daughter of a senior member of the Indian Civil Service, Mary Lloyd
(1916–1993), known to her family as Molly. Rodney proposed in 1936, though the couple had to wait a year until Molly turned
twenty one before they were allowed by her family to marry.[9] In 1950, they returned to the Warwickshire village of
Tanworth-in-Arden,[10] to live in the country estate of Far Leys. Drake had one older sister, Gabrielle, later a successful film and TV actress. Both parents were musically inclined, and they each
wrote pieces of music. In particular, recordings of Molly's songs which have come to light following her death are remarkably
similar in tone and outlook to the later work of her son.[11] Mother and son share a similar fragile vocal delivery, and both Gabrielle and biographer
Trevor Dann have noted a parallel sense of foreboding and fatalism in their music.[11][12] Encouraged by Molly, Drake learned to play piano at an early age, and began to compose his own
tunes, which he would record on a reel-to-reel tape recorder she kept
in the family drawing room.[4]
In 1957, Drake enrolled at Eagle House School, an English public boarding school in
Berkshire. Five years later, he graduated to Marlborough
College in Wiltshire, where his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all
attended. He developed an interest in sport, becoming an accomplished sprinter (his record for the 100 yards dash still
stands)[13] and captain of the school's rugby team for a
period. School friends recall Drake at this time as having been confident and "quietly authoritative," while often aloof in his
manner.[14] His father Rodney remembered: "in one of his
reports [the headmaster] said that none of us seemed to know him very well. All the way through with Nick. People didn't know him
very much."[15]
Drake played piano in the school orchestra, and learned clarinet and saxophone. Sometime between 1964 and 1965, he formed a
band with four other school friends. He mainly played piano, and occasionally contributed alto
sax and vocals. Titled The Perfumed Gardeners, the group performed Pye covers
and jazz standards, as well as numbers by The Yardbirds and Manfred Mann. The line-up briefly included Chris de Burgh, but he
was soon ejected as his taste was seen as "too poppy" by the other members.[16] Drake's academic performance began to deteriorate, and while
he had accelerated a year in Eagle House, at Marlborough he began to neglect his studies in favour of music. He attained seven
GCE O-Levels in 1963, but this was fewer than his teachers had been
expecting, and he failed 'Physics with Chemistry'.[17] In
1965, Drake paid £13 for his first acoustic guitar, and was soon experimenting with open tuning and finger-picking
techniques.[18]
University
In 1966, Drake won a scholarship to study English literature at Fitzwilliam College, University of
Cambridge. He delayed attendance to spend six months at the University of
Aix-Marseille, France, beginning in February 1967. While in Aix, he began to practice guitar in earnest, and to earn money
would often busk with friends in the town centre. Drake began to smoke cannabis, and that spring he travelled with friends to Morocco, because,
according to travelling companion Richard Charkin, "that was where you got the best pot."[19] Drake likely took his first LSD trip while in Aix,[20] and lyrics written during this period - in particular for the song "Clothes of Sand" - are
suggestive of an interest in hallucinogenics.[21]
Upon returning to England, he moved into his sister's flat in Hampstead, London, before
enrolling at Cambridge that October. His tutors found him to be a bright student, but unenthusiastic and unwilling to apply
himself to study.[22] Dann notes that he had difficulty
connecting with staff and fellow pupils alike, and points out that official matriculation photographs from this time reveal a
sullen and unimpressed student.[23] Cambridge placed
much emphasis on its rugby and cricket teams, yet by this time Drake had lost interest in playing sport, preferring to stay in
his college room smoking cannabis, and listening to and playing music. According to fellow student Brian Wells: "they were the
rugger buggers and we were the cool people smoking dope."[23] In September 1967, he met Robert Kirby, a music student who
went on to orchestrate many of the string and wood arrangements for Drake's first two albums.[24] By this time, Drake had discovered the British and American folk music scenes, and was influenced by performers such as Bob Dylan,
Josh White and Phil Ochs. He began performing in local
clubs and coffee houses around London, and in February 1968, while playing support to Country Joe and the Fish at the Roundhouse in
Camden Town, made an impression on Ashley
Hutchings, bass player with Fairport Convention.[1] Hutchings recalls being impressed by
Drake's skill as a guitarist, but even more so by "the image. He looked like a star. He looked wonderful, he seemed to be 7
ft."[15]
Hutchings introduced Drake to the 25-year old American producer Joe Boyd, owner of the
production and management company Witchseason Productions. Witchseason were, at the time,
licensed to Island Records,[25] and Boyd, as the man who had discovered Fairport Convention and been responsible for
introducing John Martyn and The Incredible String
Band to a mainstream audience, was a significant and respected figure on the UK folk
scene.[15] He and Drake formed an immediate
bond, and the producer acted as a mentor figure to Drake throughout his career. A four track
demo, recorded in Drake's college room in the spring of 1968, led Boyd to offer a management, publishing, and production contract
to the 20-year old, and to initiate work on a debut album. According to Boyd: "In those days you didn't have cassettes—he brought
a reel-to-reel tape [to me] that he'd done at home. Half way through the first song, I felt this was pretty special. And I called
him up, and he came back in, and we talked, and I just said, 'I'd like to make a record'. He stammered, 'Oh well, yeah, okay'.
Nick was a man of few words."[15] In a 2004
interview, Drake's friend Paul Wheeler remembered the excitement caused by his seeming big break, and recalled that the singer
had already decided not to complete his third year at Cambridge.[15]
![Nick Drake, c. 1969. No moving images of the adult Drake exist; he was only ever captured in still photographs.[26]](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/7/76/120px-Nick_Drake.jpg)
Nick Drake, c. 1969. No moving images of the adult Drake exist; he was only ever captured in still photographs.
[26]
Drake began recording his debut album Five Leaves Left later in 1968, with
Boyd assuming the role of producer. The sessions took place in Sound Techniques studio, London, with Drake skipping lectures to
travel by train to the capital. Inspired by John Simon's production of
Leonard Cohen's first album, Boyd was keen that Drake's voice would be recorded in a
similar close and intimate style, "with no shiny pop reverb".[27] He also sought to include a string arrangement similar to Simon's,
"without overwhelming...or sounding cheesy".[27] To
provide backing, Boyd enlisted various contacts from the London folk rock scene, including
Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson, and Pentangle bassist Danny Thompson.[28] He recruited John
Wood as engineer, and drafted Richard Hewson in to provide the string arrangements.
Initial recordings did not go well; the sessions were irregular and rushed, taking place during studio downtime borrowed from
Fairport Convention's production of their Unhalfbricking album. Tension arose
between artist and producer as to the direction the album should take—Boyd was an advocate of George Martin's "using the studio as an instrument" approach, while Drake preferred a more organic sound.
Dann has observed that Drake appears "tight and anxious" on bootleg recordings taken from the sessions, and notes a number of
Boyd's unsuccessful attempts at instrumentation.[29] Both
were unhappy with Hewson's contribution, which they felt was too mainstream in sound for Drake's songs.[30] Drake suggested using his college friend Robert Kirby as a replacement,
although Boyd was skeptical at taking on an amateur music student lacking prior recording experience. However, he was impressed
by Drake's uncharacteristic assertiveness, and agreed to a trial.[31] Kirby had previously presented Drake with some arrangements for his songs,[25] and went on to provide a spare
chamber music quartet score associated with the sound of the final album.[32] However, Kirby did not feel confident enough to score the
album's centerpiece "River Man", and Boyd was forced to stretch the Witchseason budget to hire the veteran composer
Harry Robinson, with the instruction that he echo the tone of
Delius and Ravel.
Post-production difficulties led to the release being delayed by several months, and
the album was poorly marketed and supported when it finally arrived.[34] Reviews in the music press were few and lukewarm. In July, Melody
Maker referred to the album as "poetic" and "interesting"; NME wrote in October
that there was "not nearly enough variety to make it entertaining".[35] It received little radio support outside of BBC's John
Peel, who would occasionally play tracks.[36]
Drake was unhappy with the inlay sleeve, which printed songs in the wrong running order and reproduced verses omitted from the
recorded versions.[37] His disappointment in the final
result is reflected in an interview comment made by his sister Gabrielle: "He was very secretive. I knew he was making an album
but I didn't know what stage of completion it was at until he walked into my room and said, 'There you are.' He threw it on to
the bed and walked out!"[25]
London
Drake ended his studies at Cambridge just nine months before graduation, and in autumn 1969 moved to London to concentrate on
a career in music.[38] His father remembered
"writing him long letters, pointing out the disadvantages of going away from Cambridge...a degree was a safety net, if you manage
to get a degree, at least you have something to fall back on; his reply to that was that a safety net was the one thing he did
not want."[11] Drake spent his first few months in
the capital drifting from place to place, occasionally staying at his sister's Kensington flat, but usually sleeping on friends’
sofas and floors.[39] Eventually, in an attempt to bring
some stability and a telephone into Drake's life, Boyd organised and paid for a ground floor bedsit in Belsize Park, Camden.[40]
In August, Drake recorded three unaccompanied songs for the BBC's John Peel show. Two months later, he opened for Fairport Convention at the Royal Festival Hall in
London, followed by appearances at folk clubs in Birmingham and Hull. Remembering the performance in Hull, folk singer
Michael Chapman commented: "The folkies did not take to him; [they] wanted
songs with choruses. They completely missed the point. He didn't say a word the entire evening. It was actually quite painful to
watch. I don't know what the audience expected, I mean, they must have known they weren't going to get sea–shanties and
sing-alongs at a Nick Drake gig!"[1]
The experience reinforced Drake's decision to retreat from live appearances; the few concerts he did play around this time were
usually brief, awkward, and poorly attended. Drake seemed unwilling to "perform", and rarely addressed his audience. As many of
his songs were played in different tunings, he frequently paused to retune between numbers.[41]
Although the publicity generated by Five Leaves Left was minor, Boyd was keen to build on what momentum there was.
1970's Bryter Layter, again produced by Boyd and engineered by Wood, introduced a
more upbeat,[42] jazzier[43] sound. Disappointed by his debut's poor commercial
performance, Drake sought to move away from his pastoral sound, and agreed to his producer's
suggestions to include bass and drum tracks on the recordings. "It was more of a pop sound, I suppose", Boyd later said, "I
imagined it as more commercial."[44] Like its
predecessor, the album featured musicians from Fairport Convention, as well as contributions from John Cale on two songs: "Northern Sky" and "Fly". Trevor Dann has noted that while sections of "Northern Sky"
sound more characteristic of Cale, the song was the closest Drake came to a release with chart potential.[45] In his 1999 biography, Cale admits to taking heroin during this period,[46] and his
older friend Brian Wells began to suspect that Drake was also using.[47] Both Boyd and Wood were confident that the album would be a commercial success,[48] but it went on to sell fewer than three thousand
copies. Reviews were again mixed: while Record Mirror praised Drake as a "beautiful
guitarist—clean and with perfect timing, [and] accompanied by soft, beautiful arrangements", Melody Maker described the album as "an awkward mix of folk and cocktail jazz".[41]
Soon after the release, Boyd sold Witchseason to Island Records, and moved to Los Angeles to work with Warner Brothers in the development of soundtracks for film. The loss of this key mentor figure, coupled
with the album's poor sales, led Drake to further retreat into depression. His attitude to London had changed: he was unhappy
living alone, and visibly nervous and uncomfortable performing at a series of concerts in early 1970. In June, Drake gave one of
his final live appearances at Ewell Technical College, London. Ralph McTell, who also performed that night remembered that "Nick was monosyllabic. At that particular gig
he was very shy. He did the first set and something awful must have happened. He was doing his song, "Fruit Tree", and walked off
halfway through it. Just left the stage."[49] His frustration turned to depression,[50] and in 1971 Drake was persuaded by family to visit a psychiatrist at St Thomas's Hospital, London. He was prescribed a course of antidepressants, but he felt
uncomfortable and embarrassed about taking them, and tried to hide the fact from his friends.[51] He knew enough about drugs to worry about their side effects, and was concerned
about how they would react with his regular cannabis intake.[52]
![Drake photographed by Keith Morris in November, 1971. "It was like intruding on private grief. Previously we'd made pictures together. On this occasion I recorded him."[53]](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/0/04/150px-Nick_Drake_Pink_Moon_Insert.jpg)
Drake photographed by Keith Morris in November, 1971. "It was like intruding on private grief. Previously we'd made pictures
together. On this occasion I recorded him."
[53]
Island Records was keen that Drake promote Bryter Layter through press interviews, radio sessions and live appearances.
Drake, who was by this time smoking what Kirby has described as "unbelievable amounts" of cannabis[54] and exhibiting "the first signs of psychosis," refused. By the winter of 1970, he had isolated himself in London.[38] Disappointed by the reaction to Bryter Layter, he turned his
thoughts inwards, and withdrew from family and friends. He rarely left his flat, and then only to play an occasional concert or
to buy drugs. "This was a very bad time," his sister Gabrielle Drake recalled, "he once said to me that everything started to go
wrong from (this) time on, and I think that was when things started to go wrong."[55]
Although Island neither expected nor wanted a third album,[56] Drake approached Wood in October 1971 to begin work on what would be his final release. The
sessions took place over two nights, with only Drake and his engineer present in the studio.[4] The bleak songs of Pink Moon
are short, and the eleven-track album lasts only 28 minutes, a length described by Wood as "just about right. You really wouldn't
want it to be any longer."[15] Drake had
expressed dissatisfaction with the sound of Bryter Layter, and believed that the string, brass and saxophone arrangements
had resulted in a sound that was "too full, too elaborate".[57] Drake appears unaccompanied on Pink Moon, save for a
single piano overdub on the title track. "He was very determined to make this very stark,
bare record", Wood later recalled. "He definitely wanted it to be him more than anything. And I think, in some ways,
Pink Moon is probably more like Nick is than the other two records."[58]
Upon completion of the album, Drake delivered the master tapes to the front desk of Island Records' office building. He placed
them on a receptionist's desk, and left without speaking to anyone. The tapes lay there over the weekend, unnoticed until later
in the next week. An advertisement for the album placed in Melody Maker in February opened with "Pink Moon - Nick Drake's
latest album: the first we heard of it was when it was finished."[60] Pink Moon went on to sell fewer copies than either of
its predecessors, although it did receive some favourable reviews. In Zigzag magazine, Connor McKnight wrote "Nick Drake
is an artist who never fakes. The album makes no concession to the theory that music should be escapist. It's simply one
musician's view of life at the time, and you can't ask for more than that."[61]
Island Records founder Chris Blackwell felt Pink Moon had the potential to
bring Drake to a mainstream audience, however his staff were disappointed by the artist's unwillingness to undertake any
promotional activity. A&R manager Muff Winwood recalls "tearing his hair out" in
frustration, and admits that despite Blackwell's enthusiastic support, "the rest of us would have given him the boot."[62] However, following persistent nagging from Boyd, Drake
agreed to an interview with Jerry Gilbert of Sounds Magazine.[63] In the only Drake interview ever published, the "shy and introverted folk singer" spoke of his
dislike of live appearances, and very little else.[64] "There wasn't any connection whatsoever", Gilbert has said. "I don't think he made eye
contact with me once. If you wanted to be uncharitable, you could say he was just a spoiled boy with a silver spoon and went
around feeling sorry for himself."[64]
Disheartened and convinced he would be unable to write again, Drake decided to retire from music. Among the career options he
considered were working as a computer programmer, and enrolling in the army.[65]
Home again
Final years
In the months following Pink Moon's release, Drake became increasingly introverted and distant from those close to
him.[67] He returned to live at his parents' home in Far
Leys, and while he resented the regression, he accepted that his illness made it necessary. "I don't like it at home", he told
his mother, "but I can't bear it anywhere else."[11] His return was often difficult for his family; as his sister Gabrielle explained, "good days in
my parents' home were good days for Nick, and bad days were bad days for Nick. And that was what their life revolved around,
really."[15]
He lived a frugal existence, his only source being a £20 a week retainer he received from Island Records. At one point he was
so poor he was unable to afford to buy a new pair of shoes.[69] He would often disappear for days, sometimes turning up unannounced at friends' houses,
uncommunicative and withdrawn. Robert Kirby described a typical visit: "He would arrive and not talk, sit down, listen to music,
have a smoke, have a drink, sleep there the night, and two or three days later he wasn't there, he'd gone. And three months later
he'd be back."[70]
Referring to this period, John Martyn (who in 1973 wrote the title song of his album
Solid Air for and about Drake) described him as the most withdrawn person he'd ever
met.[71] He would borrow his mother's car
and drive for hours without purpose on occasion, until he ran out of petrol and had to ring his parents to ask to be collected.
Friends have recalled the extent to which his appearance had changed.[72] During particularly bleak periods of his illness, he refused to wash his hair or cut his
nails.[65] Early in 1972, Drake suffered a
nervous breakdown, and was hospitalized for five weeks.[47]
In February 1974, Drake again contacted John Wood, stating he was ready to begin work on a fourth album.[73] Boyd was in England at the time, and agreed to attend the recordings.
This initial session was followed by further recordings in July. In his 2006 autobiography, the producer recalled being taken
aback at Drake's anger and bitterness: "[He said that] I had told him he was a genius, and others had concurred. Why wasn't he
famous and rich. This rage must have festered beneath that inexpressive exterior for years."[74] Both Boyd and Wood noticed a discernible deterioration in Drake's performance.
According to Boyd: "It was chilling. It was really scary. He was so... he was in such bad shape he couldn't sing and play the
guitar at the same time. We put down the guitars and overdubbed the voice. It was all one day, we started in the afternoon and
finished about midnight—just for those four tracks."[47] However, the return to Sound Techniques studio raised Drake's spirits; his mother later recalled,
"We were so absolutely thrilled to think that Nick was happy because there hadn't been any happiness in Nick's life for
years."[47]
Death
By autumn 1974, Drake's weekly retainer from Island had ceased, and his illness meant he remained in contact with only a few
close friends. He had tried to stay in touch with Sophia Ryde, whom he had first met in London in 1968.[75] Ryde has been described by Drake's biographers as "the nearest thing" to
a girlfriend in his life, however she now prefers the description 'best (girl) friend'.[76] In a 2005 interview, Ryde revealed that a week before he died, she had sought
to end the relationship: "I couldn’t cope with it. I asked him for some time. And I never saw him again". As with Linda Thompson,
Drake's relationship with Ryde was never consummated.[77]
In the early hours of 25 November, 1974, Nick Drake died at
home in Far Leys from an overdose of amitriptyline, a type of antidepressant. He had gone to bed early the night before, after spending the afternoon
visiting a friend. Around dawn his parents heard him pass towards to the kitchen; they presumed to have a bowl of cereal. He
returned to his room a short while later, and took some pills "to help him sleep".[78] Drake was accustomed to keeping his own hours; he frequently had difficulty sleeping, and would
often stay up through the night playing and listening to music, then sleeping late into the following morning. Recalling the
events of that night, his mother later stated: "I never used to disturb him at all. But it was about 12 o’clock, and I went in,
because really it seemed it was time he got up. And he was laying across the bed. The first thing I saw was his long, long
legs."[79] There was no suicide note, although a letter addressed to Ryde was found near to his bed.[80]
![Nick Drake's gravestone is inscribed with the line 'Now we rise/And we are everywhere', taken from the final song on his final album.[81]](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/1/1a/115px-Drake1.jpg)
Nick Drake's gravestone is inscribed with the line 'Now we rise/And we are everywhere', taken from the final song on his final
album.
[81]
At the inquest that December, Drake's coroner stated that the cause of death was as a result of "Acute amitriptyline
poisoning—self administered when suffering from a depressive illness", and concluded a verdict of suicide. Though this has been disputed by some members of his family,[2] there is a general view that, accidental or not, Drake had by then given up on
the world.[41] Rodney described his son's
death as unexpected and extraordinary; however, in a 1979 interview he admitted to "always [being] worried about Nick being so
depressed. We used to hide away the aspirin and pills and things like that."[77] Boyd has stated that he prefers to believe the overdose was accidental. He recalled that
Drake's parents had described his mood in the preceding weeks as having been very positive, and that he had planned to move back
to London to restart his music career. Boyd believes that this levity was followed by a "crash back into despair". Reasoning that
Drake may have taken a high dosage of his antidepressants in order to recapture this sense of optimism, he said he prefers to
imagine Drake "making a desperate lunge for life rather than a calculated surrender to death".[82] Writing in 1975, NME journalist
Nick Kent comments on the irony of Drake's death at a time when he had just begun to regain a
sense of "personal balance".[69] In contrast,
Gabrielle Drake has said she prefers to think Drake committed suicide, "in the sense that I'd rather he died because he wanted to
end it than it to be the result of a tragic mistake. That would seem to me to be terrible..."[77]
On 2 December, 1974, after a service in the Church of St
Mary Magdalene, Tanworth-in-Arden, Drake was cremated at the Solihull Crematorium and his ashes later interred under an oak tree
in the adjoining graveyard of St Mary's.[83] The funeral
was attended by around fifty mourners, including friends from Marlborough, Aix, Cambridge, London, Witchseason, and
Tamworth.[84] Referring to Drake's tendency to
compartmentalise, Brian Wells later observed that many met each other for the first time that morning.[85] Molly recalled "a lot of his young friends came up here. We'd never met many of
them."[86]
Posthumous popularity
- "During the early Eighties, I drifted away from the music scene. When I returned, I was surprised to find that Nick Drake was
becoming famous."[4]—Ian MacDonald
There were no press obituaries, documentaries or compilation albums in the wake of Drake's death.[87] His public profile remained low throughout the mid and late 1970s, although
occasional mentions of his name began to appear in the music press. Island Records initially saw little commercial value in his
back catalogue, and following a 1975 NME article written by Nick Kent, stated "...we have no intention of repackaging
Nick's three albums, either now or at anytime in the foreseeable future".[88] By this time, his parents were receiving an increasing number of fans and admirers as visitors to
the family home in Far Leys. In 1979, Rob Partridge joined Island Records as press officer, and commissioned the release of the
Fruit Tree box set. Partridge was a fan of Drake's, and had seen
him perform early in 1969: "The first thing I did when I got to Island was suggest we put together a retrospective—the studio
albums plus what whatever else was there. I wasn't necessarily expecting massive vaults with millions of tunes, live recordings
or whatever, but there was very little..." The release brought together the three studio albums, as well as the four tracks
recorded with Wood in 1974, and was accompanied by an extensive biography written by the American journalist Arthur Lubow. However, sales were poor and the album received little press notice; in 1983, Island deleted
Fruit Tree from its catalogue.[18]
By the mid 1980s, Drake was being cited as an influence by musicians such as R.E.M.'s
Peter Buck and Robert Smith of
The Cure. Smith credited the origin of his band's name to a lyric from Drake's song "Time Has
Told Me" ("a troubled cure for a troubled mind").[89]
Drake gained further exposure in 1985 with the release of The Dream Academy's hit
single "Life in a Northern Town", which included an on-sleeve dedication to
Drake.[90] His reputation continued to grow, and by the
end of the 1980s, Nick Drake's name was appearing regularly in newspapers and music magazines in the UK,[91] and though he was still largely a cult figure, he was no longer unknown.
Drake had come to represent a kind of mythical doomed romantic hero in the eyes of many,[92] an "enigma wrapped inside a mystery".[38]
In early 1999, BBC2 aired a 40-minute documentary, A Stranger Among Us—In Search of Nick
Drake, as part of its Picture This strand. The following year, Dutch director Jeroen Berkvens released a documentary
titled A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, featuring interviews with Boyd, Gabrielle Drake, Wood and Kirby. Later that
year, The Guardian placed Bryter Layter at number 1 in its "Alternative top
100 albums ever" list.[71] In 2000,
Volkswagen licensed the title track of Pink Moon to a commercial in the
US, leading to a large increase in record sales,[93] and a number-five placing for Pink Moon in Amazon.com's sales chart.[94] Since
the late 1990s, Drake's music has been featured in the soundtracks of a number of Hollywood films, including Hideous Kinky (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums
(2001), and Garden State (2004).
In recent years, several musicians, including Lucinda Williams, Badly Drawn Boy, and Lou Barlow have cited Drake as an influence. In
2004, nearly 30 years after his death, Drake gained his first chart placing when two singles ("Magic" and "River Man"), released
to coincide with the compilation album Made to Love Magic, made the middle reaches of the UK charts. Later that year, the
BBC aired a radio documentary about Drake, narrated by Brad
Pitt.[41]
Musical style
Drake was obsessive about practicing his guitar playing, and would often stay up through the night, experimenting with
tunings, and working on songs. His mother remembered hearing him "bumping around at all hours. I think he wrote his nicest
melodies in the early-morning hours."[18] A
self taught guitarist,[48] Drake's style is
characterised by his use of cluster chords.[95] Such chords are normally difficult to achieve on the guitar; Drake was
able to get around this by detuning, so that the lower strings were tuned higher than the strings above them.[38] In many songs he accents the dissonant effect of
such non-standard tunings through his vocal melodies.[95]
Drake studied English literature while in Cambridge, and was particularly drawn to the works of William Blake, William Butler Yeats, and Henry Vaughan. However, his lyrics do not invoke the metaphors and imagery typical of such
influences.[4] Instead, Drake employs a
series of elemental[96] symbols and codes,
largely drawn from nature. The moon, stars, sea, rain, trees, sky, mist and seasons are all commonly used, influenced in part by
his rural upbringing.[4] Images related
to summer figure centrally in his early work; from Bryter Layter on, his language is more autumnal, evoking a season
commonly used to convey senses of loss and sorrow.[4] Throughout, Drake writes with detachment, more as an observer than participant, a point of
view described by Rolling Stone "as if he were viewing his life from a great,
unbridgeable distance."[96] This perceived
inability to connect has led to much speculation about Drake's sexuality.[97] Boyd has said he detects a virginal quality in his lyrics and music, and notes that he never
observed or heard of the singer behaving in a sexual way with anyone, male or female.[98] Kirby described Drake's lyrics as a "series of extremely vivid, complete
observations, almost like a series of epigrammatic proverbs", though he doubts that Drake saw
himself as "any sort of poet". Instead he believes that Drake's lyrics were crafted to "complement and compound a mood that the
melody dictates in the first place."[69]
Selected discography
- Further information: Nick Drake discography
Studio albums
![A 1967 photograph of Nick Drake, wrapped in a blanket, and holding a fresh harvest of mushrooms.[1] This image was later used on the cover of the 1994 compilation album Way to Blue.](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/e/e0/220px-Nick_drake_way_to_blue.jpg)
![Insert from the 2004's Made To Love Magic, a compilation of remixed tracks and rarities.[66]](http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/1/13/150px-Nick_drake_Made_To_Love_Magic2.jpg)
