Why did Paul love this book?
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 brings us as close to understanding him as anything ever will, outside of those three perfect albums.
1 author picked Nick Drake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
'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…