[/caption]This is the 7th post in our Musician of the Day series.
Nick Drake was perhaps one of the most singular musicians in British history. He was born in 1948 and was considered to be very bright. He was given a scholarship to Cambridge but preferred to spend his time smoking marijuana and playing music. He began performing in small clubs and venues in London, something that would become a quite rare occurrence in his older years. But at the age of 20 it got him an introduction to Joe Boyd, an American producer who had become quite influential for producing albums in the British folk scene.
The two hit it off and in 1968 the pair began putting together Drake’s first album Five Leaves Left. From beginning to end the album was strife with difficulties with disagreements between Boyd and Drake, post-production issues and poor marketing. Both music reviewers and Drake were unsatisfied with the album, and it failed to make much of an impact on the music world.
Nine months before graduation Nick dropped out of Cambridge and went to focus on a career in music. He began playing folk gigs, but the reception was less than welcome as the folk fans wanted upbeat sing-a-longs and someone with more stage presence. It was this awkward response to his performances that caused Nick to retreat from doing them. In 1970, Nick released another album, Bryter Later, and under the encouragement of Boyd, made it a jazzier, more popular sound.
Again the reviews were less than what Nick wanted and the album sold fewer than 3,000 copies. The failure of both albums plunged Nick into a depression that was surrounded by suspected drug use. In 1972, he produced one more album entitled Pink Moon. It, like the others, failed to sell more than 5,000 copies. In 1974, he died due to an overdose of antidepressant medicine; a suicide was suspected but disputed by friends and family.
Despite the initial poor reception of his albums, today Nick Drake is seen as one of the most influential British musicians of the last 50 years.
To learn more about Bryter Music
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