Nick Drake

Nicholas Rodney Drake (June 19, 1948 ? November 25, 1974) was a British singer/songwriter.

Posthumous popularity

Since Drake?s death, his music has grown steadily in popularity. Several contemporary musicians, such as Lucinda Williams, Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy, Matthew Good, Sebadoh's Lou Barlow, REM guitarist Peter Buck and Blur?s Graham Coxon, consider Drake an important influence. In early 1999, BBC2 aired a 40-minute Nick Drake documentary, "A Stranger Among Us - In Search of Nick Drake", as part of its Picture This strand. The following year saw the release of a documentary by Dutch director Jeroen Berkvens, titled A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake and featuring interviews with Joe Boyd, Gabrielle Drake, audio engineer John Wood and arranger Robert Kirby. Brad Pitt is a fan of Drake and, in 2004, he narrated a BBC radio documentary about the singer. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/documentaries/nickdrake/index.shtml

Related Topics:
Lucinda Williams - Elliott Smith - Badly Drawn Boy - Matthew Good - Sebadoh - Lou Barlow - REM - Peter Buck - Blur - Graham Coxon - 1999 - BBC2 - John Wood - Robert Kirby - Brad Pitt - 2004 - BBC

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Island has responded to Drake?s popularity with several new releases including Time of No Reply (1986), an album of unreleased material including four new songs recorded in 1974, Way to Blue (1994), a "best of" album, remastered HDCD releases of his three studio albums in 2000, and Made to Love Magic (2004), featuring one new track and some newly recorded orchestration for a previously released track. A replacement for Way to Blue called A Treasury was also released in 2004 on Hybrid-SACD.

Related Topics:
1986 - 1994 - HDCD - 2000 - 2004 - SACD

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In 2000, Volkswagen licensed the title track of Pink Moon for a particularly serene car commercial in the US. The advertisement caused a significant bounce in Drake?s popularity, bolstered by uses of Drake's music on a number of film soundtracks, including 1998's Hideous Kinky and Practical Magic (featuring "Road" from Pink Moon and "Black Eyed Dog" from Time of No Reply, respectively). In 2001, two Bryter Layter tracks appeared in mainstream films: "Northern Sky" in Serendipity, and "Fly" in The Royal Tenenbaums. In 2004, "One of These Things First" appeared in Garden State and "Northern Sky" was featured again, this time in Fever Pitch.

Related Topics:
2000 - Volkswagen - Pink Moon - US - 1998 - Hideous Kinky - Practical Magic - Serendipity - The Royal Tenenbaums - Garden State - Fever Pitch

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Drake's posthumous popularity has made many fans consider the lyrics to ?Fruit Tree? a song from Five Leaves Left prophetic: ?Fame is but a fruit tree -/ So very unsound./ It can never flourish/ Till its stalk is in the ground./ So men of fame/ Can never find a way/ Till time has flown/ Far from their dying day.? In 2004 two of his singles reached low positions in the UK charts - "Magic" and "River Man".

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