Nick Drake in 1969. Photo: Estate Of Keith Morris/RedfernsThe wistful, haunted English singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948-74) had one of the strangest careers in the history of pop music, almost all of it posthumous. Grab a Copy Nick Drake: The Life By Richard Morton Jack Hachette Books 576 pages We may earn a commission when you buy products through the links on our site. Buy Book Amazon Barnes & Noble Books a Million BookshopFor the first quarter-century after Drake’s death—at age 26, from a drug overdose—his three difficult-to-find LPs were cherished by tiny groups of listeners who loved his gentle, ghostly voice, his distinctive mixture of folk and jazz stylings, and his elliptical lyrics. These qualities combined to evoke a sense of profound—and increasingly unreachable—melancholy, yet the best songs were also so seductively pretty that they were curiously soothing.

---

Persons: Nick Drake, Keith Morris, Richard Morton Jack Hachette, Barnes Organizations: Noble