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105-462: Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist , Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridge . His debut album, Five Leaves Left , was released in 1969, and was followed by two more albums, Bryter Layter (1971) and Pink Moon (1972). While Drake did not reach

210-456: A pick (plectrum) or fingertip, or strummed to play chords . Plucking a string causes it to vibrate at a fundamental pitch determined by the string's length, mass, and tension. ( Overtones are also present, closely related to harmonics of the fundamental pitch.) The string causes the soundboard and the air enclosed by the sound box to vibrate. As these have their own resonances, they amplify some overtones more strongly than others, affecting

315-483: A reel-to-reel tape recorder that she kept in the family drawing-room. In 1957, Drake was sent to Eagle House School , a preparatory boarding school near Sandhurst, Berkshire . Five years later, he went to Marlborough College , a public school in Wiltshire which had also been attended by his father and grandfather. He developed an interest in sport, becoming an accomplished 100- and 200-yard sprinter, representing

420-519: A tutorial college in Five Ways, Birmingham , where he won a scholarship to study at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge . As his place at Cambridge was offered for September 1967, he had 10 months to fill, so he decided to spend six months at the University of Aix-Marseille , France, beginning in February 1967. There, he began to practise guitar in earnest. To earn money, he would busk with friends in

525-479: A "beautiful guitarist—clean and with perfect timing, [and] accompanied by soft, beautiful arrangements", but Melody Maker described the album as "an awkward mix of folk and cocktail jazz". Soon after its release, Boyd sold Witchseason to Island Records and moved to Los Angeles to work with Warner Brothers to develop film soundtracks. The loss of his mentor, coupled with the album's poor sales, led Drake into further depression . His attitude to London had changed: he

630-428: A "series of extremely vivid, complete observations, almost like a series of epigrammatic proverbs", though he doubts that Drake saw himself as "any sort of poet". Instead, Kirby believes that Drake's lyrics were crafted to "complement and compound a mood that the melody dictates in the first place". There were no documentaries or compilation albums in the wake of Drake's death. His public profile remained low throughout

735-630: A 40-minute documentary, A Stranger Among Us—In Search of Nick Drake . The following year, Dutch director Jeroen Berkvens released the documentary A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake , featuring interviews with Boyd, Gabrielle Drake, Wood and Kirby. Later that year, The Guardian named Bryter Layter the best alternative album of all time. In 1999, "Pink Moon" was used in a Volkswagen commercial, boosting Drake's US album sales from about 6,000 copies in 1999 to 74,000 in 2000. The Los Angeles Times saw this as an example of how, following

840-638: A U.S. magazine was the article "Hanging On A Star" by AllMusic critic Peter Kurtz , which appeared in the 3 September 1993 issue of Goldmine Magazine . The first biography of Drake in English was published in November 1997 by Patrick Humphries. On 20 June 1998, BBC Radio 2 broadcast a documentary, Fruit Tree: The Nick Drake Story , featuring interviews with Boyd, Wood, Gabrielle and Molly Drake, Paul Wheeler, Robert Kirby, and Ashley Hutchings, and narrated by Danny Thompson. In early 1999, BBC Two broadcast

945-484: A band, the Perfumed Gardeners, with four schoolmates in 1964 or 1965. With Drake on piano and occasional alto sax and vocals, the group performed Pye International R&B covers and jazz standards, as well as Yardbirds and Manfred Mann songs. Chris de Burgh asked to join the band, but was rejected as his taste was "too poppy". His attention to his studies deteriorated and, although he had accelerated

1050-533: A companion to her brother's music. An authorised biography by Richard Morton Jack was published in June 2023, with a foreword by Gabrielle Drake. Other contemporary artists influenced by Drake include José González , Bon Iver , Iron & Wine , Alexi Murdoch and Philip Selway of Radiohead . In 2023, Chrysalis Records released The Endless Coloured Ways – The Songs of Nick Drake , a tribute album featuring artists including Selway, Liz Phair and Feist . In 1994,

1155-494: A few close friends. He had tried to stay in touch with Sophia Ryde, whom he had met in London in 1968. Ryde has been described by Drake's biographers as "the nearest thing" to a girlfriend in his life, but she used the description "best (girl) friend". In a 2005 interview, Ryde said that a week before he died, she had sought to end the relationship: "I couldn't cope with it. I asked him for some time. And I never saw him again." As with

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1260-402: A full waist. Because of the smaller body, grand concert guitars have a more controlled overtone and are often used for their sound projection when recording. Auditorium – Similar in dimensions to the dreadnought body shape, but with a much more pronounced waist. This general body shape is also sometimes referred to as an "Orchestra" style guitar depending on the manufacturer. The shifting of

1365-558: A further 50 from blood samples". On 2 December 1974, after a service in the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Tanworth-in-Arden , Drake's remains were cremated at Solihull Crematorium and his ashes interred under an oak tree in the church's graveyard. The funeral was attended by around fifty mourners, including friends from Marlborough, Aix, Cambridge, London, Witchseason, and Tanworth. Referring to Drake's tendency to compartmentalise relationships, Brian Wells observed that many met each other for

1470-514: A guitar-like shape. The earliest string instruments related to the guitar and its structure were broadly known as vihuelas within Spanish musical culture. Vihuelas were string instruments that were commonly seen in the 16th century during the Renaissance . Later, Spanish writers distinguished these instruments into two categories of vihuelas. The vihuela de arco was an instrument that mimicked

1575-414: A key reason that different guitars have different tonal qualities. The sound is a complex mixture of harmonics that give the guitar its distinctive sound. Classical gut-string guitars lacked adequate projection, and were unable to displace banjos until innovations introduced helped to increase their volume. Two important innovations were introduced by United States firm C.F. Martin : steel strings and

1680-401: A left-handed guitar) across the strings , while the opposite ("fretting") hand is in chord formation. This can be done with or without a guitar pick , depending on if the guitarist wants a crisp or more dull and blended sound, respectively. There are many common strumming patterns, which are played based on the specific time signature of a given song. Simple on-beat strumming is typically

1785-672: A mainstream audience; however, his staff were disappointed by Drake's unwillingness to promote it. A&R manager Muff Winwood recalled "tearing his hair out" in frustration and said that without Blackwell's enthusiastic support "the rest of us would have given him the boot". At Boyd's insistence, Drake agreed to an interview with Jerry Gilbert of Sounds Magazine . The "shy and introverted" Drake spoke of his dislike of live appearances and little else. "There wasn't any connection whatsoever," Gilbert said. "I don't think he made eye contact with me once." Disheartened and convinced he would be unable to write again, Drake retired from music. He toyed with

1890-1208: A major sixth lower than written. In terms of concert pitches, the alto saxophone's range is from concert D ♭ 3 (the D ♭ below middle C —see Scientific pitch notation ) to concert A ♭ 5 (or A 5 on altos with a high F ♯ key). A few rare alto saxophones, like some Selmer Mark VI models, have been keyed to reach a low A, a semitone lower, similar to baritone saxophones . Notable jazz alto saxophonists include Charlie Parker , Cannonball Adderley , Johnny Hodges , Sonny Stitt , Paul Desmond , Benny Carter , Ornette Coleman , Lee Konitz , Bobby Watson , Eric Dolphy , Marshall Allen , Art Pepper , Julius Hemphill , Oliver Lake , Anthony Braxton , Henry Threadgill , Carlos Ward , David Sanborn , Dave Koz , Tom Scott , Paquito D'Rivera , John Zorn , Tim Berne , Steve Wilson , Steve Coleman , Greg Osby , Vincent Herring , Mark Gross , Kenny Garrett and Jeff Coffin . Notable classical alto saxophonists include Tim McAllister , Jean-Yves Fourmeau , Lawrence Gwozdz , Donald Sinta , Harvey Pittel , Larry Teal , Kenneth Tse , Arno Bornkamp , Harry White , Otis Murphy , Claude Delangle . Kadri Gopalnath

1995-519: A mixer or amplifier. A Piezo pickup made by Baldwin was incorporated in the body of Ovation guitars, rather than attached by drilling through the body; the combination of the Piezo pickup and parabolic ("roundback") body helped Ovation succeed in the market during the 1970s. Magnetic pickups on acoustic guitars are generally mounted in the sound hole, and are similar to those in electric guitars. An acoustic guitar with pickups for electrical amplification

2100-474: A participant, a point of view Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis described "as if he were viewing his life from a great, unbridgeable distance". Drake's perceived inability to connect has caused speculation about his sexuality. Boyd detected a virginal quality in Drake's lyrics and music, and notes that he never knew of him behaving in a sexual way with anyone, male or female. Kirby described Drake's lyrics as

2205-551: A prominent role in the development of jazz. Influential jazz musicians who made significant contributions include Don Redman , Jimmy Dorsey , Johnny Hodges , Benny Carter , Charlie Parker , Sonny Stitt , Lee Konitz , Jackie McLean , Phil Woods , Art Pepper , Paul Desmond , and Cannonball Adderley . Although the role of the alto saxophone in orchestral music has been limited, influential performers include Marcel Mule , Sigurd Raschèr , Jean-Marie Londeix , Eugene Rousseau , and Frederick L. Hemke . As with most saxophones,

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2310-404: A replacement. Though Boyd was sceptical about taking on an inexperienced amateur music student, he was impressed by Drake's uncharacteristic assertiveness and agreed to a trial. Kirby had previously presented Drake with some arrangements for his songs. While Kirby provided most arrangements for the album, its centrepiece, " River Man ", which echoed the tone of Frederick Delius , was orchestrated by

2415-457: A respected figure in the UK folk scene. He and Drake formed an immediate bond, and Boyd acted as a mentor to Drake throughout his career. Impressed by a four-track demo recorded in Drake's college room in early 1968, Boyd offered Drake a management, publishing, and production contract. Boyd recalled listening to a reel-to-reel home recording Drake had made: "Halfway through the first song, I felt this

2520-498: A selection of artists; Olivia Chaney , B.C._Camplight , Marika Hackman , Scott Matthews , The Unthanks joining the BBC Symphony Orchestra , conducted by Jules Buckley . The concert – which also featured Drake’s sister, Gabrielle on stage reading lines composed by their mother – commemorated the 50th anniversary year of Drake's death. Acoustic guitar Guitar strings may be plucked individually with

2625-444: A series of elemental symbols and codes, largely drawn from nature. The moon, stars, sea, rain, trees, sky, mist, and seasons are all commonly used, influenced in part by his rural upbringing. Images related to summer figure centrally in his early work; from Bryter Layter on, his language is more autumnal, evoking a season commonly used to convey senses of loss and sorrow. Throughout, Drake writes with detachment, more as an observer than

2730-473: A star. He looked wonderful, he seemed to be 7 ft [tall]." Hutchings introduced Drake to the 25-year-old American producer Joe Boyd , owner of the production and management company Witchseason Productions , which at the time was licensed to Island Records . Boyd, who had discovered Fairport Convention and introduced John Martyn and the Incredible String Band to a mainstream audience, was

2835-420: A string with in a given picking pattern. When strings are plucked downward, this technique produces a clear and articulate sound that adds movement and melody to a song. A variation of fingerstyle is "percussive fingerstyle," where guitarists combine traditional fingerstyle with rhythmic taps or hits on the body of the guitar to imitate a percussion sound. An example of a song featuring the fingerstyle technique

2940-407: A strong effect on the loudness of the guitar. Woods that are good at transmitting sound, like spruce, are commonly used for the soundboard. No amplification occurs in this process, because musicians add no external energy to increase the loudness of the sound (as would be the case with an electronic amplifier). All the energy is provided by the plucking of the string. Without a soundboard, however,

3045-464: A successful screen actress. Both of Drake's parents wrote music. Recordings of Molly's songs, which have come to light since her death, are similar in tone and outlook to the later work of her son; they shared a similar fragile vocal delivery, and Gabrielle and biographer Trevor Dann noted a parallel foreboding and fatalism in their music. Encouraged by his mother, Drake learned to play piano at an early age and began to compose songs which he recorded on

3150-496: A sullen young man. Cambridge placed emphasis on its rugby and cricket teams, but Drake had lost interest in sport, preferring to stay in his college room smoking cannabis and playing music. According to fellow student Brian Wells, "They were the rugger buggers and we were the cool people smoking dope." In January 1968, Drake met Robert Kirby , a music student who went on to write many of the string and woodwind arrangements for Drake's first two albums. By this time, Drake had discovered

3255-600: A telephone into Drake's life, Boyd organised and paid for a ground floor bedsit in Belsize Park , Camden . On 5 August 1969, Drake pre-recorded four songs for the BBC 's Night Ride show presented by John Peel ("Cello Song", "Three Hours", "River Man" and "Time of No Reply" ), which were broadcast after midnight on 6 August. Nick subsequently recorded Bryter Layter for another BBC radio broadcast, in April 1970. A month after

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3360-508: A typical visit: "He would arrive and not talk, sit down, listen to music, have a smoke, have a drink, sleep there the night, and two or three days later he wasn't there, he'd be gone. And three months later he'd be back." Nick's supervision partner at Cambridge, John Venning, saw him on an underground train in London and felt he was seriously depressed: "There was something about him which suggested that he would have looked straight through me and not registered me at all. So I turned around." Drake

3465-416: A wide audience during his brief lifetime, his music found critical acclaim and he gradually received wider recognition following his death. Drake suffered from depression and was reluctant to perform in front of live audiences. Upon completion of Pink Moon , he withdrew from both performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire . On 25 November 1974, Drake was found dead at

3570-469: A year in Eagle House, at Marlborough he neglected his studies in favour of music. In 1963 he attained seven GCE O-Levels , fewer than his teachers had been expecting, failing "Physics with Chemistry". In 1965, Drake paid £13 (equivalent to £318 in 2023) for his first acoustic guitar, a Levin , and was soon experimenting with open tuning and finger-picking techniques. In 1966, Drake enrolled at

3675-415: Is " Landslide " by Fleetwood Mac , where you hear plucked moving notes rather than full strums. Slide guitar is a common technique that can be played on acoustic, steel acoustic, and/or electric guitars. It is primarily used in the blues, rock, and country genres. When playing with this technique, guitarists wear a small metal, glass, or plastic tube on one of their fretting hand fingers and slide it across

3780-590: Is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E ♭ , smaller than the B ♭ tenor but larger than the B ♭ soprano . It is the most common saxophone and is used in popular music , concert bands , chamber music , solo repertoire , military bands , marching bands , pep bands , carnatic music , and jazz (such as big bands , jazz combos , swing music ). The alto saxophone had

3885-429: Is air pushing air. A guitar has several sound coupling modes: string to soundboard, soundboard to cavity air, and both soundboard and cavity air to outside air. The back of the guitar also vibrates to some degree, driven by air in the cavity and mechanical coupling to the rest of the guitar. The guitar—as an acoustic system—colors the sound by the way it generates and emphasizes harmonics, and how it couples this energy to

3990-423: Is called an acoustic-electric guitar . In the 2000s, manufacturers introduced new types of pickups to try to amplify the full sound of these instruments. This includes body sensors, and systems that include an internal microphone along with body sensors or under-the-saddle pickups. Historical and modern acoustic guitars are extremely varied in their design and construction. Some of the most important varieties are

4095-468: Is probably more like Nick is than the other two records." Drake delivered the tapes of Pink Moon to Chris Blackwell at Island Records, contrary to a popular legend which claims that he dropped them off at the receptionist's desk without saying a word. An advertisement for the album in Melody Maker in February opened with " Pink Moon —Nick Drake's latest album: the first we heard of it was when it

4200-652: The Rolling Stone journalist Paul Evans said Drake's music "throbs with [an] aching beauty" similar to the 1968 Van Morrison album Astral Weeks . According to the AllMusic critic Richie Unterberger , Drake was a "singular talent" who "produced several albums of chilling, somber beauty", now "recognized as peak achievements of both the British folk-rock scene and the entire rock singer/songwriter genre". Unterberger felt that Drake's following spanned generations "in

4305-441: The classical guitar (Spanish Guitar/Nylon-stringed), steel-string acoustic guitar and Colombian tiple . Common body shapes for modern acoustic guitars, from smallest to largest: Range – The smallest common body shape, sometimes called a mini jumbo , is three-quarters the size of a jumbo-shaped guitar. A range shape typically has a rounded back to improve projection for the smaller body. The smaller body and scale length make

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4410-417: The fretboard rather than pressing firmly on singular frets . The picking hand either strums or plucks as normal. This produces a smooth and blended transition between notes and chords, called glissando . An example of a song featuring the slide technique is " For Emma, Forever Ago " by Bon Iver , in which a seamless sliding melody over the song can be heard. Alto saxophone The alto saxophone

4515-417: The studio as an instrument , while Drake preferred a more organic sound. Dann observed that Drake appears "tight and anxious" on bootleg recordings from the sessions, and notes a number of Boyd's unsuccessful attempts at instrumentation. Both were unhappy with arranger Richard Anthony Hewson 's contribution, which they felt was too mainstream for Drake's songs. Drake suggested his college friend Robert Kirby as

4620-529: The terceras and the tuning named to 'G' of the two strings. The acoustic guitar at this time began to take the shape familiar in the modern acoustic guitar. The coursed pairs of strings eventually became less common in favor of single strings. Around 1850, the form and structure of the modern guitar was established by Spanish guitar maker Antonio Torres Jurado who increased the size of the guitar body, altered its proportions, and made use of fan bracing, which first appeared in guitars made by Francisco Sanguino in

4725-602: The timbre of the resulting sound. The guitar likely originated in Spain in the early 16th century, deriving from the guitarra latina . Gitterns (small, plucked guitars), were the first small, guitar-like instruments created during the Spanish Middle Ages with a round back, like that of the lute . Modern guitar-shaped instruments were not seen until the Renaissance era, when the body and size began to take

4830-455: The 1960s, Ovation 's parabolic bowls dramatically reduced feedback, allowing greater amplification of acoustic guitars. In the 1970s, Ovation developed thinner sound-boards with carbon-based composites laminating a thin layer of birch, in its Adamas model, which has been viewed as one of the most radical designs in the history of acoustic guitars. The Adamas model dissipated the sound-hole of the traditional soundboard among 22 small sound-holes in

4935-502: The 1970s, although his name appeared occasionally in the music press. By this time, his parents were receiving an increasing number of fans at the family home. Following a 1975 NME article by Nick Kent, Island Records said they had no plans to reissue Drake's albums, but in 1979 Rob Partridge joined Island Records as press officer and commissioned the release of the Fruit Tree box set. The release compiled Drake's three studio albums,

5040-606: The Black Crowes . The first Drake biography appeared in 1997; it was followed in 1998 by the documentary film A Stranger Among Us . Nicholas Rodney Drake was born in Burma on 19 June 1948. Drake's father, Rodney Shuttleworth Drake (1908–1988), had moved to Rangoon , in the early 1930s as an engineer with the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation . In 1934, Rodney Drake met Molly Lloyd (1915–1993),

5145-806: The British and American folk music scenes, and was influenced by performers such as Bob Dylan , Donovan , Van Morrison , Josh White and Phil Ochs (he later cited Randy Newman and the Beach Boys as influences). He began performing in local clubs and coffee houses around London, and in December 1967, while playing at a five-day event at the Roundhouse in Camden Town , made an impression on Ashley Hutchings , bass player with Fairport Convention . Hutchings recalls being impressed by Drake's guitar skill, but even more so by his image: "He looked like

5250-560: The Dream Academy included a dedication to Drake on the sleeve of its hit single " Life in a Northern Town ". In 1986, a biography of Drake was published in Danish; an updated version with new interviews was published in English in 2012. By the end of the 1980s his name was appearing regularly in newspapers and music magazines in the UK, where he frequently was cast in the role of the "doomed romantic hero ". The earliest Drake profile in

5355-448: The London folk rock scene, including Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson and Pentangle bassist Danny Thompson (no relation). Initial recordings did not go well: the sessions were irregular and rushed, taking place during studio downtime borrowed from Fairport Convention's production of their Unhalfbricking album. Tension arose as to the direction of the album: Boyd was an advocate of George Martin 's approach of using

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5460-544: The Seventies (1981): "Drake's jazzy folk-pop is admired by a lot of people who have no use for Kenny Rankin , and I prefer to leave open the possibility that he's yet another English mystic (romantic?) I'm too set in my ways to hear." Drake's music featured in a BBC Prom concert titled "Nick Drake: an Orchestral Celebration", at the Royal Albert Hall , on 24 July 2024 when some of his songs were performed by

5565-432: The acoustic guitar has a hollow body, and an additional coupling and resonance effect increases the efficiency of energy transmission in lower frequencies. The air in a guitar's cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and soundboard. At low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator , increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound again depending on whether

5670-438: The afternoon visiting a friend. His mother said that around dawn he left his room for the kitchen. His family had heard him do this many times before, and presumed he was eating cereal. He returned to his room a short while later, where it is believed that he took an overdose of amitriptyline , an antidepressant . Drake had been accustomed to keeping his own hours; he frequently had difficulty sleeping and often stayed up through

5775-474: The age of 26 due to an overdose of antidepressants. Drake's music remained available through the mid-1970s, but the 1979 release of the retrospective album Fruit Tree allowed his back catalogue to be reassessed. Drake has come to be credited as an influence on numerous artists, including Robert Smith of the Cure , Peter Buck of R.E.M. , Kate Bush , Paul Weller , Aimee Mann , Beck , Robyn Hitchcock and

5880-462: The air in the box moves in phase or out of phase with the strings. When in phase, the sound increases by about 3 decibels. In opposing phase, it decreases about 3 decibels. As a Helmholtz resonator, the air at the opening is vibrating in or out of phase with the air in the box and in or out of phase with the strings. These resonance interactions attenuate or amplify the sound at different frequencies, boosting or damping various harmonic tones. Ultimately,

5985-410: The album featured musicians from Fairport Convention, as well as contributions from John Cale on two songs: " Northern Sky " and "Fly". Trevor Dann noted that while sections of "Northern Sky" sound more characteristic of Cale, the song was the closest Drake came to a release with chart potential. Bryter Layter was a commercial failure, and reviews were again mixed; Record Mirror praised Drake as

6090-444: The alto's written range is B ♭ 3 to F 6 (or F ♯ 6 ), with the higher altissimo register starting at F ♯ 6 (or G 6 ). The saxophone's altissimo register is more difficult to control than that of other woodwinds and is usually only expected from advanced players. There is no well-defined upper limit for the altissimo register. The alto saxophone is a transposing instrument , with pitches sounding

6195-519: The audience expected, I mean, they must have known they weren't going to get sea-shanties and sing-alongs at a Nick Drake gig!" The experience reinforced Drake's decision to retreat from live appearances; the few concerts he did play were usually brief, awkward, and poorly attended. Drake seemed reluctant to perform and rarely addressed his audience. As many of his songs were played in different tunings, he frequently paused to retune between numbers. Although Five Leaves Left attracted little publicity, Boyd

6300-464: The cavity air vibrations couple to the outside air through the sound hole, though some variants of the acoustic guitar omit this hole, or have f {\displaystyle f} holes, like a violin family instrument (a trait found in some electric guitars such as the ES-335 and ES-175 models from Gibson). This coupling is most efficient because here the impedance matching is perfect: it

6405-430: The consolidation of US radio stations, previously unknown music was finding audiences through advertising. Fans used the filesharing software Napster to circulate digital copies of Drake's music. According to The Atlantic , "The chronic shyness and mental illness that made it hard for Drake to compete with 1970s showmen like Elton John and David Bowie didn't matter when his songs were being pulled one by one out of

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6510-671: The daughter of a senior member of the Indian Civil Service . He proposed marriage in 1936, but the couple had to wait a year until she turned 21 before her family allowed them to marry. In 1951, the Drake family returned to England to live in Warwickshire , at their home, Far Leys, in Tanworth-in-Arden , south of Birmingham . Rodney Drake worked from 1952 as the chairman and managing director of Wolseley Engineering . His older sister, Gabrielle Drake , became

6615-467: The disadvantages of going away from Cambridge ... a degree was a safety net, if you manage to get a degree, at least you have something to fall back on; his reply to that was that a safety net was the one thing he did not want." Drake spent his first few months in London drifting from place to place, occasionally staying at his sister's Kensington flat but usually sleeping on friends' sofas and floors. Eventually, in an attempt to bring some stability and

6720-601: The ether and played late at night in a dorm room." Over the following years, Drake's songs appeared in soundtracks of "quirky, youthful" films such as The Royal Tenenbaums , Serendipity and Garden State . Made to Love Magic , an album of outtakes and remixes released by Island Records in 2004, far exceeded Drake's lifetime sales. The American musician Duncan Sheik released an album of songs inspired by Drake, Phantom Moon , in 2001. In 2017, Kele Okereke cited Pink Moon as an influence on his third solo album, Fatherland . In November 2014, Gabrielle Drake published

6825-458: The extent to which his appearance had changed. During particularly bleak periods, he refused to wash his hair or cut his nails. Early in 1972, Drake had a nervous breakdown , and was hospitalised for five weeks. He was initially believed to have major depression , although his former therapist suggested he had schizophrenia . By late 1974, Drake's weekly retainer from Island had ceased, and his depression meant that he remained in contact with only

6930-412: The first and least complex technique that guitarists learn. Guitarists can also alternate patterns or emphasize strums on specific beats to add rhythm, character, and unique style to a song. An example of a song featuring the strum technique is " Free Fallin' " by Tom Petty , where you hear full open chord strums. Fingerstyle, also known as fingerpicking, involves a patterned plucking of the strings with

7035-451: The first time that morning. His mother recalled "a lot of his young friends came up here. We'd never met many of them." Drake was obsessive about practising his guitar technique, and would stay up through the night writing and experimenting with alternative tunings . His mother remembered hearing him "bumping around at all hours. I think he wrote his nicest melodies in the early morning hours." Self-taught, he achieved his guitar style through

7140-603: The four tracks he recorded with Wood in 1974 and an extensive biography written by the American journalist Arthur Lubow . Although sales were poor, Island Records did not delete the albums from its catalogue. By the mid-1980s, Drake was being cited as an influence by musicians such as Kate Bush , Paul Weller , the Black Crowes , Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Robert Smith of the Cure . Drake gained further exposure in 1985 when

7245-577: The idea of a different career and considered the army. His three albums had together sold fewer than 4,000 copies. In February 1973, Drake contacted John Wood, saying he was ready to begin work on a fourth album. Boyd was in England at the time and agreed to attend the recordings. The initial session was followed by recordings in July 1974. In his 2006 autobiography, Boyd recalled being taken aback at Drake's anger and bitterness: "[He said that] I had told him he

7350-641: The increasing of the guitar top area; the popularity of Martin's larger " dreadnought " body size among acoustic performers is related to the greater sound volume produced. These innovations allowed guitars to compete with and often displace the banjos that had previously dominated jazz bands. The steel-strings increased tension on the neck; for stability, Martin reinforced the neck with a steel truss rod , which became standard in later steel-string guitars. An acoustic guitar can be amplified by using various types of pickups or microphones. However, amplification of acoustic guitars had many problems with audio feedback . In

7455-578: The initial BBC recordings, on 24 September, he opened for Fairport Convention at the Royal Festival Hall in London, followed by appearances at folk clubs in Birmingham and Hull. According to the folk singer Michael Chapman , the audiences did not appreciate Drake and wanted "songs with choruses". Chapman said: "They completely missed the point. He didn't say a word the entire evening. It was actually quite painful to watch. I don't know what

7560-437: The late 18th century. The bracing pattern, which refers to the internal pattern of wood reinforcements used to secure the guitar's top and back to prevent the instrument from collapsing under tension, is an important factor in how the guitar sounds. Torres' design greatly improved the volume, tone, and projection of the instrument, and it has remained essentially unchanged since. The acoustic guitar's soundboard, or top, also has

7665-419: The main type and model of guitar used in Spain. Most of the older 5-course guitars were still in use but were also being modified to a six-coursed acoustical guitar. Fernando Ferandiere's book Arte de tocar la Guitarra Española por Música (Madrid, 1799) describes the standard Spanish guitar from his time as an instrument with seventeen frets and six courses with the first two 'gut' strings tuned in unison called

7770-461: The manner of the young Romantic poets of the 19th century who died before their time ... Baby boomers who missed him the first time around found much to revisit once they discovered him, and his pensive loneliness speaks directly to contemporary alternative rockers who share his sense of morose alienation." The American critic Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of

7875-464: The most notable being the Gibson J-45. Jumbo – The largest standard guitar body shape found on acoustic guitars. Jumbo is bigger than an Auditorium but similarly proportioned, and is generally designed to provide a deep tone similar to a dreadnought's. It was designed by Gibson to compete with the dreadnought, but with maximum resonant space for greater volume and sustain. The foremost example of

7980-501: The night playing and listening to music, then slept late into the following morning. His mother later said: "I never used to disturb him at all. But it was about 12 o'clock, and I went in, because really it seemed it was time he got up. And he was lying across the bed. The first thing I saw was his long, long legs." According to Rodney Drake's personal diary, Nick's body was first discovered by their housemaid who looked in on Drake around 11:45 and called out to Molly who went in to discover he

8085-428: The picking hand. This technique focuses on playing specific notes in a melodic pattern, rather than full chord strums. Guitarists use their thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers, which are notated as "p" (as in pulgar), "i" (as in indice), "m" (as in medio), and "a" (as in annular), respectively, based on the Spanish language. This "PIMA" acronym in sheet music or tabs tells guitarists which picking hand finger to pluck

8190-444: The range guitar an option for players who struggle with larger body guitars. Parlor – Parlor guitars have small compact bodies and have been described as "punchy" sounding with a delicate tone. It normally has 12 open frets. The smaller body makes the parlor a more comfortable option for players who find large body guitars uncomfortable. Grand Concert – This mid-sized body shape is not as deep as other full-size guitars, but has

8295-590: The reaction to Bryter Layter , he turned inwards and withdrew from family and friends. Although Island had not expected a third album, Drake approached Wood in October 1971 to begin work on what would be his final release. Sessions took place over two nights, with only Drake and Wood in the studio. The bleak songs of Pink Moon are short, and the eleven-track album lasts only 28 minutes, a length described by Wood as "just about right. You really wouldn't want it to be any longer." Drake had expressed dissatisfaction with

8400-452: The relationship he had shared with fellow folk musician Linda Thompson , it appears that Drake's relationship with Ryde was not consummated. John Martyn claimed to have had a heated argument with Drake around a month before the latter's death which was never reconciled. Phill Brown later said that this "destroyed" Martyn. During the early hours of 25 November 1974, Drake died in his bedroom at Far Leys. He had gone to bed early after spending

8505-531: The school's Open Team in 1966. He played rugby for the C1 House team and was appointed a House Captain in his last two terms. School friends recall Drake as having been confident, often aloof, and "quietly authoritative". His father remembered: "In one of his reports [the headmaster] said that none of us seemed to know him very well. All the way through with Nick, people didn't know him very much." Drake played piano and learned clarinet and saxophone . He formed

8610-483: The sessions in Sound Techniques studio, London. Inspired by John Simon 's production of Leonard Cohen 's 1967 album Songs of Leonard Cohen , Boyd was keen to record Drake's voice in a similar close and intimate style, "with no shiny pop reverb ". He sought to include a string arrangement similar to Simon's, "without overwhelming ... or sounding cheesy". To provide backing, Boyd enlisted contacts from

8715-450: The sound of Bryter Layter , and believed that the string, brass, and saxophone arrangements resulted in a sound that was "too full, too elaborate". Drake appears on Pink Moon accompanied only by his own carefully recorded guitar save for a piano overdub on the title track. Wood later said: "He was very determined to make this very stark, bare record. He definitely wanted it to be him more than anything. And I think, in some ways, Pink Moon

8820-399: The string would just "cut" through the air without moving it much. The soundboard increases the surface of the vibrating area in a process called mechanical impedance matching . The soundboard can move the air much more easily than the string alone, because it is large and flat. This increases the entire system's energy transfer efficiency, and musicians emit a much louder sound. In addition,

8925-493: The style is the Gibson J-200 , but like the dreadnought, most guitar manufacturers have at least one jumbo model. The acoustic guitar is played in a variety of different genres and musical styles, with each featuring different playing techniques. Some of the most commonly used techniques are: Strumming involves a rhythmic upward and downward motion of the picking hand (right if playing a right-handed guitar; left if playing

9030-401: The surrounding air (which ultimately is what we perceive as loudness). Improved coupling, however, comes costing decay time, since the string's energy is more efficiently transmitted. Solid body electric guitars (with no soundboard at all) produce very low volume, but tend to have long sustain. All these complex air coupling interactions, and the resonant properties of the panels themselves, are

9135-856: The town centre. Drake began to smoke cannabis , and he travelled with friends to Morocco; according to travelling companion Richard Charkin, "that was where you got the best pot". There is some evidence that he began using LSD while in Aix, although this is debated. Drake returned to England in 1967 and moved into his sister's flat in Hampstead , London. That October, he enrolled at Cambridge to begin his studies in English literature . His tutors found him bright but unenthusiastic and unwilling to apply himself. One of his biographers, Trevor Dann , notes that he had difficulty connecting with staff and fellow students, and that matriculation photographs from this time portray

9240-417: The upper chamber of the guitar, yielding greater volume and further reducing feedback during amplification. Another method for reducing feedback is to fit a rubber or plastic disc into the sound hole. The most common types of pickups used for acoustic guitar amplification are piezo and magnetic pickups. Piezo pickups are generally mounted under the bridge saddle of the acoustic guitar and can be plugged into

9345-466: The use of alternative tunings to create cluster chords , which are difficult to achieve on a guitar using standard tuning . Similarly, many of his vocal melodies rest on the extensions of chords, not just on notes of the triad. He sang in the baritone range, often quietly and with little projection. Drake was drawn to the works of William Blake , William Butler Yeats , and Henry Vaughan , whose influences are reflected in his lyrics. He also employed

9450-462: The veteran composer Harry Robertson . Post-production difficulties delayed the release by several months, and the album was poorly marketed and supported. In July, Melody Maker described Five Leaves Left as "poetic" and "interesting", though NME wrote in October that there was "not nearly enough variety to make it entertaining". It received little radio play outside shows by more progressive BBC DJs such as John Peel and Bob Harris . Drake

9555-422: The violin, and the vihuela de Penola was played with a plectrum or by hand. When it was played by hand it was known as the vihuela de mano. Vihuela de mano shared extreme similarities with the Renaissance guitar as it used hand movement at the sound hole or sound chamber of the instrument to create music. By 1790 only six-course vihuela guitars (six unison-tuned pairs of strings) were being created and had become

9660-547: The waist provides different tones to stand out. The auditorium body shape is a newer body when compared to the other shapes such as dreadnought. Dreadnought – This is the classic guitar body shape. The style was designed by Martin Guitars to produce a deeper sound than "classic"-style guitars, with very resonant bass. The body is large and the waist of the guitar is not as pronounced as the auditorium and grand concert bodies. There are many Dreadnought variants produced, one of

9765-492: Was a close personal friend of fellow folk musicians John and Beverley Martyn , and visited them regularly when they lived in London and subsequently Hastings . Martyn later wrote the title song of his 1973 album Solid Air about Drake and described him, in this period, as the most withdrawn person he had ever met. Drake would borrow his mother's car and drive for hours without purpose, until he ran out of petrol and had to ring his parents to ask to be collected. Friends recalled

9870-485: Was a genius, and others had concurred. Why wasn't he famous and rich? This rage must have festered beneath that inexpressive exterior for years." Boyd and Wood noticed a deterioration in Drake's performance, requiring him to overdub his voice separately over the guitar. However, the return to the Sound Techniques studio raised Drake's spirits; his mother recalled, "We were so absolutely thrilled to think that Nick

9975-486: Was a very bad time. He once said to me that everything started to go wrong from [this] time on, and I think that was when things started to go wrong." In the months following Pink Moon 's release, Drake became increasingly asocial and distant. He returned to live at his parents' home in Tanworth-in-Arden , and while he resented the regression, he accepted that it was necessary. "I don't like it at home," he told his mother, "but I can't bear it anywhere else." His return

10080-405: Was dead. There was no suicide note , although a letter addressed to Ryde was found close to his bed. At the inquest on 18 December, the coroner stated that the cause of death was "Acute amitriptyline poisoning—self-administered when suffering from a depressive illness" and concluded a verdict of suicide. The inquest revealed "a minimum of 35 [amitriptyline] pills' worth from stomach samples and up to

10185-423: Was finished." Pink Moon sold fewer copies than its predecessors, although it received some favourable reviews. In Zigzag , Connor McKnight wrote: "Nick Drake is an artist who never fakes. The album makes no concession to the theory that music should be escapist. It's simply one musician's view of life at the time, and you can't ask for more than that." Blackwell felt Pink Moon had the potential to bring Drake to

10290-493: Was happy because there hadn't been any happiness in Nick's life for years." In 1971 Drake's family persuaded him to visit a psychiatrist at St Thomas' Hospital in London. He was prescribed antidepressants , but felt uncomfortable and embarrassed about taking them, and tried to hide the fact from his friends. He worried about their side effects and was concerned that they would react with his regular cannabis use. By this time, Drake

10395-462: Was keen to build on what momentum there was. Drake's second album, Bryter Layter (1971), again produced by Boyd and engineered by John Wood , introduced a more upbeat, jazzier sound. Disappointed by his debut's poor sales, Drake sought to move away from his pastoral sound and agreed to Boyd's suggestions to include bass and drum tracks. "It was more of a pop sound, I suppose," Boyd later said. "I imagined it as more commercial." Like its predecessor,

10500-520: Was often difficult for his family, as Gabrielle said: "Good days in my parents' home were good days for Nick, and bad days were bad days for Nick. And that was what their life revolved around, really." Drake lived a frugal existence; his only income was a £20-a-week retainer from Island Records (equivalent to £306 in 2023). At one point he could not afford a new pair of shoes. He would disappear for days, sometimes arriving unannounced at friends' houses, uncommunicative and withdrawn. Robert Kirby described

10605-476: Was pretty special. And I called him up, and he came back in, and we talked, and I just said, 'I'd like to make a record.' He stammered, 'Oh, well, yeah. Okay.' Nick was a man of few words." According to Drake's friend Paul Wheeler, Drake had already decided not to complete his third year at Cambridge and was excited about the contract. Drake recorded his debut album Five Leaves Left later in 1968, with Boyd as producer. He had to skip lectures to travel by train to

10710-428: Was smoking what Kirby described as "unbelievable amounts" of cannabis and exhibiting "the first signs of psychosis ". He rarely left his flat, and then only to play an occasional concert or to buy drugs. According to photographer Keith Morris, by 1971 Drake was a "hunched, dishevelled figure, staring vacantly...ignoring the overtures of a friendly labrador or gazing blankly over Hampstead Heath." His sister recalled: "This

10815-628: Was the pioneer of Carnatic music for the instrument. Rudresh Mahanthappa combines elements of jazz and Carnatic music for the alto saxophone. Companies that currently produce saxophones include Buffet Crampon , KHS / Jupiter , Conn-Selmer , Selmer Paris , Yamaha , Leblanc / Vito , Keilwerth , Cannonball , and Yanagisawa . The alto saxophone has a large classical solo repertoire that includes solos with orchestra , piano , and wind symphony . Two important solo compositions are Jacques Ibert 's " Concertino da Camera " and Alexander Glazunov 's " Concerto in E Flat major ". The alto saxophone

10920-605: Was unhappy living alone, and visibly nervous and uncomfortable performing at a series of concerts in early 1970. In June, Drake gave one of his final live appearances at Ewell Technical College , Surrey. Ralph McTell , who also performed that night, remembered: "Nick was monosyllabic. At that particular gig he was very shy. He did the first set and something awful must have happened. He was doing his song 'Fruit Tree' and walked off halfway through it." Island Records urged Drake to promote Bryter Layter through interviews, radio sessions, and live appearances. Drake refused. Disappointed by

11025-553: Was unhappy with the inlay sleeve, which printed songs in the wrong running order and reproduced verses omitted from the recorded versions. In an interview, his sister Gabrielle said: "He was very secretive. I knew he was making an album but I didn't know what stage of completion it was at until he walked into my room and said, 'There you are.' He threw it onto the bed and walked out!" Drake ended his studies at Cambridge nine months before graduation and in late 1969 moved to London. His father remembered "writing him long letters, pointing out

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