Nick Drake: The Life
The Authorised Biography
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'This is the book we've been waiting for . . . It is a biography to be treasured' Joe Boyd
'The Drake completist could ask for nothing else' Daily Telegraph
'Illuminating. The definitive word on Drake' Observer
In 1968 Nick Drake had everything to live for. The product of a loving, creative family and a privileged background, he was not only a handsome and popular Cambridge undergraduate, but also a new signing to the UK's hippest record label, Island.
Three years later, however - having made three well-reviewed but low-selling albums - Nick had been overwhelmed by a mysterious mental illness. He returned to live in his family home in rural Warwickshire in 1971, and died in obscurity in 1974, aged just 26.
In the decades since, Nick has become the subject of ever-growing fascination and speculation. Combined sales of his records now stand in the millions, his songs are frequently heard on TV and in films, and he has become one of the most widely known and admired singer-songwriters of his generation.
Nick Drake: The Life is the only biography of Nick to be written with the blessing and involvement of his sister and Estate. Drawing on copious original research and new interviews with his family, friends and musical collaborators, as well as deeply personal archive material unavailable to previous writers - including his father's diaries, his essays and private correspondence - this is the most comprehensive and authoritative account possible of Nick's short and enigmatic life.
Includes a foreword by Gabrielle Drake and over 75 photos, many rare or previously unseen.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Morton Jack (Psychedelia), cofounder of the reissue label Sunbeam Records, delivers the definitive biography of English folk singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948–1974), who died from an overdose on antidepressants at 26 following a protracted struggle with mental illness. Mining interviews with friends and family, Morton Jack paints a tender portrait of a musician known for his "husky, resonant" voice, "intricate" guitar playing, and a deep introversion that belied his "ambitious streak" and desire for commercial success. His albums—the lovingly orchestrated Five Leaves Left (1969), pop-influenced Bryter Layter (1971), and spare Pink Moon (1972)—initially failed to gain traction, however, and by the time Drake began to garner international recognition in 1973, he'd started to spiral into probable psychosis, according to Morton Jack. His work was later repackaged and released in several album compilations from the 1980s to the 2000s and has "never lost momentum since." Drake's longtime producer, Joe Boyd, attributes the music's continued relevance to "the fact that... it's not identified with a particular time and place, which allows each generation to create its own connection." While Morton Jack sometimes makes too much of certain aspects of the artist's life (including Drake's apparent lack of academic motivation in secondary school), he sets out an engrossing and ultimately heartwrenching account. (The sections on Drake's steady descent into depression are especially affecting.) The result is a worthy tribute to a talented artist gone too soon.
