Nick Drake (1948–1974) was an English singer-songwriter who made just three albums — Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter, and Pink Moon — before his death at 26. Barely heard in his lifetime, they are now cornerstones of acoustic music; Pink Moon is the stark masterpiece, Five Leaves Left the lusher way in. Browse Nick Drake vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Nicholas Rodney Drake was born in Yangon (Rangoon), Burma on June 19, 1948 to British colonial administrators. He was raised in Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire from age four. He attended Cambridge University before signing with Island Records (through producer Joe Boyd's discovery). His three studio albums Five Leaves Left (1969), Bryter Layter (1970), and Pink Moon (1972) received minimal commercial success during his lifetime - combined sales reportedly below 5,000 copies during his life. He died on November 25, 1974 at age 26 from an antidepressant overdose ruled as suicide. His work was rediscovered through the 1979 Island Records box set Fruit Tree and subsequent reissue programs across multiple decades. The 1999 use of his song Pink Moon in a Volkswagen commercial brought him mainstream attention 25 years after his death. He is widely cited as one of the most important folk and singer-songwriter figures in popular music history.
Nick Drake's sound combines folk, English folk, baroque folk, singer-songwriter, acoustic folk, chamber folk, and folk rock with his distinctive intimate vocal delivery, virtuosic fingerstyle guitar work (use of unusual tunings), Robert Kirby's signature orchestral arrangements (particularly on the first two albums), and lyrical content addressing nature, depression, isolation, and personal experience drawing on English Romantic literary traditions.
Original Island Records pressings of the early-1970s Nick Drake catalog are widely collected, with collector premiums on original pressings. The Drake catalog has been associated with audiophile and acoustic guitar collecting communities.
Listeners new to Nick Drake typically start with Pink Moon (1972) or Five Leaves Left (1969).
