Nick Drake

This is a fantastically researched and clearly-written biography of the singer Nick Drake. It's rather long - over 500 pages - but never loses pace as the author, Richard Morton Jack, takes you through the intricacies of Drake's troubled life. Drake has a certain air of mystery about him that's lasted through the years since his tragic death in 1974, and this book sheds light on many aspects of his life that help to solve some of those puzzles. Written with a warmth and an eye for detail, this is as good as music biographies get.

I’ve been a devoted fan of Nick Drake’s hushed, melancholic music for decades now, and Richard Morton Jack’s superlative biography—the first produced with support from the late singer’s family—sensitively brings to light the real man behind the music.

Drake’s slide into mental illness and early death has been extensively covered, but this book steadfastly avoids glamourising the ‘doomed artist’. The pain Nick’s illness caused himself and his family is depicted delicately but unflinchingly, and without overshadowing his sublime talent.

From the wealth of friends, family, and colleagues interviewed, it seems Nick was always, in part, unknowable. Richard Morton Jack’s book… show more.