Nick Drake: The Biography

Nick Drake's whole life can be summed up by his song "Fruit Tree." He wound up acheiving the sort of eternal fame that befalls those in the public eye who die young. Like so many of us, Patrick Humphries wonders why this happened. Does this biography answer that? No, not really. It recounts his whole life, from childhood to the start of his musical career to his fatal depression and suicide. Humphries seems as bewildered as many he talked to about why this happened. The whole book leaves a lingering bittersweet taste. Anyone who enjoys Drake's music will love this book: it gives detail about his life and songs that any fan would want to know. Even so, there is that sadness in the book about what might have been and what really was. The show more same sort of thing that was his life. show less

Patrick Humphries' aim in this biography seems to be to complicate some of the myths and legends that have sprung up around Nick Drake in the years following his death; to turn him from a mythical, doomed creature into a human being. In this he is quite successful. Although, once he's torn down the myths he doesn't put very much in their place. This is quite understandable with the lack of information available and it isn't for want of trying; Humphries interviews every Tom, Dick and Harry who ever bumped into Drake for a brief few minutes. Standout interviewees include Linda Thompson who was clearly very motherly and affectionate towards Drake during his career and Joe Boyd who perhaps knew Drake better than anyone else other than his show more family.

When he departs from these interviews, the book becomes weighed down by Humphries' long descriptions of the culture around Drake, clichéd descriptions of the impact of The Beatles or The Sex Pistols, which often end up stating the obvious and revealing little. They are delivered in a poetic style with which Humphries seems to be trying to imitate the mood of Drake's music, which I found quite tiresome. But when he stays on topic, describes the events of Nick's life and talks to the people who knew him best, the book is quite wonderful and left me feeling closer to Nick Drake the man. show less

Obviously quite a sad story since the chronically depressed Drake died, either accidentally or deliberately by overdose, at age twenty-six. This biography is unlikely to interest readers who are not already Drake fans. He released only three albums in his short lifetime, and it's his last, Pink Moon, I've always been enamored of. I've never heard a collection of songs that so beautifully and perfectly capture the infinite sadness and utter desolation of profound melancholy.