50 years ago today: Nick Drake died, aged 26

Richard Thompson:

"The thing about Nick was he made kind of perfect records. So even if you weren't alive at the time, and you never saw him live – and God knows how few people actually saw him live, because he hardly did any shows – he made these records, and certain tracks are just perfect. And that's never gonna go away. That can sit there for decades and decades, in the vaults, and at some point, people start to notice it. So it's almost inevitable. It might take one hundred years, [but] it only took twenty or thirty years for people to realise that Nick was actually really, really good.

"The cream eventually rises to the surface. In his case, it took a really long time, and it took a Volkswagen commercial in the states to bring him to people's attention. People are always asking me about Nick Drake, it's crazy.”

(2021)

Listen to 'Time Has Told Me' from Nick Drake's 1969 debut album, Five Leaves Left – featuring Richard Thompson on electric guitar: 

Paolo Nutini:

"Nick Drake is one of my heroes. A massive, massive talent. I think he should be a staple in everybody’s CD collection. He’s not for all occasions, his music, but Christ, there’s a beauty in it that’s not matched."

(2014)

Fontaines D.C.'s Grian Chatten:

“Someone played Curley and myself ‘River Man’ when we were out one night, and the next day we were very hungover and couldn’t deal with it. It was just too dark and mysterious and fairytale-esque. But at the same time, it was one of those things that we couldn’t look away from, you know?

“What’s really nice and beneficial about listening to Nick Drake is it’s quite egoless. The songwriting was very pure and timeless. You can hear his influence in what Elliott Smith did, and the gentler, MTV Unplugged side of Nirvana."

(2022)

Listen to Fontaines D.C.'s rendition of Nick Drake's ''Cello Song', from the 2023 tribute album, The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake:

Island Records' Chris Blackwell:

On the last time he met Nick Drake

“I remember it clear as a bell. They said Drake was downstairs, he was just sitting on a chair, looking down, with a small little tape reel. I sat next to him. ‘Hi Nick, how are you?’ There wasn’t much coming from him. I told him I was looking forward to hearing the new album, then he left and that was the last I saw of him.”

(2022)