By 1972, he had recorded two more albums—Bryter Layter and Pink Moon. [98] In early 1999, BBC Two aired a 40-minute documentary, A Stranger Among Us—In Search of Nick Drake. The piano overdub on "Pink Moon" displays a musicality absent from some of the barer tracks on Drake's final album. All the way through with Nick. [19] In 1965, Drake paid £13 (equivalent to £254 in 2019[20]) for his first acoustic guitar, a Levin, and was soon experimenting with open tuning and finger-picking techniques. He stammered, "Oh, well, yeah. He was prescribed antidepressants, but felt uncomfortable and embarrassed about taking them, and tried to hide the fact from his friends. [18], Drake's attention to his studies deteriorated and, although he had accelerated a year in Eagle House, at Marlborough he neglected his studies in favour of music. At that particular gig he was very shy. To earn money, he would busk with friends in the town centre. He had tried to stay in touch with Sophia Ryde, whom he had met in London in 1968. I saw Nick Drake perform live supporting Fairport Convention in the Spring of 1970 in my home town of Wolverhampton at the Civic Hall. "[53], In 1971, Drake's family persuaded him to visit a psychiatrist at St Thomas's Hospital, London. At one point he could not afford a new pair of shoes. [99] The LA Times saw it as an example of how, following the consolidation of US radio stations, previously unknown music was finding audiences through advertising. And I never saw him again. Ralph McTell, who also performed that night, remembered: "Nick was monosyllabic. [99] In November 2014, Gabrielle published a biography of Drake. One of Molly’s songs was called Poor Mum, a bittersweet riposte to her son’s celebrated song Poor Boy from Bryter Layter. Fans will purchase this hoping to get some insight into ND's life and songs. Across the decades, that image of those glamorous strolling siblings remains poignant. The discography of Nick Drake, an English folk musician and singer-songwriter, consists of three studio albums, five singles, seven compilation albums, two box sets, one video album and various soundtrack and compilation appearances.. Drake was born on 19 June 1948 in Yangon, Burma, returning with his family to England in 1950. A&R manager Muff Winwood recalled "tearing his hair out" in frustration and said that without Blackwell's enthusiastic support "the rest of us would have given him the boot". Boyd believes that this uplift in spirits was followed by a "crash back into despair". "[83] There was no suicide note, although a letter addressed to Ryde was found close to his bed. Now Boyd has assembled some of … I think he helped her through it.”. “Far Leys was not only a refuge – it was a prison too,” says Gabrielle. [2] In 1950, the family returned to England to live in Warwickshire[11] at their home, Far Leys, in Tanworth-in-Arden, south of Birmingham, where Rodney worked from 1952 as the chairman and managing director of Wolseley Engineering. Had he not failed, had he realised how much he was really on the brink of success it probably wouldn’t have satisfied him to go on doing that. I'm too set in my ways to hear." His public profile remained low throughout the 1970s, although his name appeared occasionally in the music press. And that is helping them. [60] Drake appears on Pink Moon accompanied only by his own carefully recorded guitar save for a piano overdub on the title track. [17] He and Drake formed an immediate bond, and Boyd acted as a mentor to Drake throughout his career. "[47], Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): "I'm not inclined to revere suicides. "[17], Drake lived a frugal existence; his only income was a £20-a-week retainer he received from Island Records (equivalent to £244 in 2019[20]). You really wouldn't want it to be any longer. Nick was a man of few words. Drake's music remained available through the mid-1970s, but the 1979 release of the retrospective album Fruit Tree allowed his back catalogue to be reassessed. “My dad was wonderful at the piano. As Gabrielle puts it in the book: “Nick had no outer skin; no defences with which to parlay.”. It’s a beautiful book, certainly, but hard to read because it includes so much hitherto private pain – not just family letters, but Rodney’s diary of his son’s struggle with depression. [52] He was initially believed to suffer from major depression, although his former therapist suggested he was suffering from schizophrenia. I know Joe has said that the women singing on "Poor Boy" was a tip of the hat to Leonard Cohen's " So Long, Marianne " but that's about it. "[31], Drake ended his studies at Cambridge nine months before graduation and in late 1969 moved to London. It’s 40 years since Nick Drake died, aged 26. He formed a band, the Perfumed Gardeners, with four schoolmates in 1964 or 1965. On 5 August 1969, Drake recorded five songs for the BBC's John Peel show ("Cello Song", "Three Hours", "River Man", "Time of No Reply" and an early version of "Bryter Layter"), three of which were broadcast the following night. He produced music in the late 60s and early 70s and after that left the music world. I did "Time of No Reply," another Nick Drake tune and then one of my own songs. What makes Nick Drake such a mysterious figure is that during his life, he recorded three studio albums that sold no more than 5,000 copies, but now many recording artists such as Robert Smith of The Cure and Peter Buck of REM credit him as influences. [55] Island Records urged Drake to promote Bryter Layter through interviews, radio sessions and live appearances. [42] In an interview, his sister Gabrielle said: "He was very secretive. [81], During the early hours of 25 November 1974, Drake died at his home from an overdose of amitriptyline, an antidepressant. Dylan's Blonde on Blonde (esp the two long epics) was the last rock album he played regularly and the two instrumentals on Beach Boys' Pet Sounds were a huge influence on how he wanted Bryter Layter to pan out. Whether his death was an accident or suicide has never been resolved. So I turned around. After all, the early 1970s were a time of widespread drug use amongst the rock industry, and the onset of many casualties. And I don’t believe that he could have coped with the adulation of fans for very long. Last modified on Wed 31 May 2017 12.27 EDT, One evening in the late 1960s, Gabrielle Drake was walking down Haymarket in London with her younger brother, Nick. We’ve just played Five Leaves Left [Nick’s debut album] on the stereo and we think it’s beautiful.’”, After Nick’s death, Gabrielle recalls, she and her husband, Louis de Wet, sat with Molly and Rodney at Far Leys listening to the last songs he recorded, among them the shattering Black Eyed Dog (included on the 1986 posthumous collection Time of No Reply), its imagery recalling Winston Churchill’s description of his own depression as a black dog. ‘My brother once said to my mother, “If only I could feel that my music had helped anyone at all …” and I just wish he could have known how many people his music has helped.’. That image of Nick Drake as too beautiful for this world (like the Van Gogh of Don McLean’s song Starry Starry Night) has proved enduring even if, as Gabrielle tells me, it misses the stubbornness and steel of her brother: “I used to find him incredibly frustrating, obstinate and difficult, but I cannot remember ever not loving him or not admiring him,” she says. As well as the only place he could be.” The diaries chronicle the years of Nick’s depression at Far Leys, often uncommunicative, often disappearing without saying a word. [110] On 4 April 2018, he was inducted into the Folk Hall of Fame at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. There is also a signed boxed edition, £150, rememberedforawhile.com, It’s 40 years since Nick Drake died, aged 26. Now his sister, Gabrielle, has written a revealing book about the singer-songwriter, ‘It’s trite to say nobody understood Nick. His mother said that around dawn he left his room for the kitchen. [33], 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. "[52], By late 1974, Drake's weekly retainer from Island had ceased, and his severe depression meant he remained in contact with only a few close friends.