英国民谣歌手尼克-德雷克(Nick Drake)，和The Beatles、Donovan同一时代，但是并不为很多人所知。1948年，他出生于缅甸仰光，1974年，因服用了过多的抗抑郁剂，死在家中，生前仅出过3张唱片。
有乐评人说，尼克-德雷克是个在月亮上歌唱的人，声音总飘浮在空中，也有人说，他的歌像水雾，阴郁、潮湿，挥之不去。Drake的民谣是低调的，缘自一颗不知如何打开的心 。
出第一张专辑以前，他常常彻夜写歌，然后用老式录音机记录下来，稍有不满意就抹去重来。母亲Molly Drake回忆说：“他总是失眠，那些最好的歌往往是在凌晨写下的……Nick是个追求完美的人。”
Drake早期的创作受到John Renbourn、Bert Jansch、Davey Graham、Joni Mitchell等人的影响，注重旋律和吉他的编排。他有一套自己的演奏方法，许多歌都采用了开放式调弦，这也成了乐迷们热衷于探讨的内容，因为他没有留下任何乐谱，一切都记在脑子里。Drake喜欢英国诗人William Blake的作品，写词时也受到启发，注重韵律，用词简单，却有着晦涩的含义，直指他复杂的内心世界。那些意象多与自然相关：太阳、天空、海洋、飞鸟、沙地，树……季节的变迁，色彩的交替，无不在这颗心上留下痕迹。
也许就是因了这些，Drake被制作人Joe Boyd看中。当时Boyd已是英国乐坛的重要人物，为Fairport Convention、The Incredible String Band以及Pink Floyd等乐队制作过专辑。Boyd听了Drake的磁带，立即决定与这位20岁的年轻人签约。一年后(1969年)，Nick Drake的首张专辑《Five Leaves Left》发表。
“Five Leaves Left”是句常被写在香烟的包装纸上的话，意在要人们警惕当一包烟只剩下五支的时候就又要买新的了。Drake拿它做专辑名，全凭了直觉；而现在人们往往把它理解为一种预言，认为它暗示了Drake短暂的一生。乐评人大家赞赏这张唱片，然而它的销路并不好，Drake没有想到专辑会受此冷遇，逐渐变得消沉，他开始无法参加现场演出，面对听众成了一件困难的事。
不过他并没有放弃努力，1970年，他与Fairport Convention的成员合作，录制了第二张专辑《Bryter Layter》。由于得到Richard Thompson、John Cale等人的帮助，歌曲的配器精致而丰满，一些作品中还融合了Jazz元素，即使以现在的眼光，这张专辑也是极为出色的。然而销量又一次让Nick Drake失望了，他渐渐丧失了对音乐和生活的信心。
1972年，就在人们认为Drake的音乐生涯彻底结束的时候，他再次走进了录音棚。而且只有一把吉他，Drake像个孤注一掷的赌徒，濒临崩溃的人。两天后，《Pink Moon》录制完成，11首不加雕琢的歌组成了他的第三张专辑。Drake不再寻求认同，他唱道：“Know that I love you/Know I don't care/Know that I see you/Know I'm not there.”--这首歌叫做“Know”，只有这四句话和一个和弦。
1974年，Drake录制了最后的4首歌，它们被收进作者死后发表的专辑，《Time of No Reply》，一同出版的还有他早期录在磁带上的一些歌。像19世纪早逝的浪漫主义诗人一样，Drake的作品受到后人的重视，然而对于敏感的灵魂来说，这一切都太晚了，仿佛生命开的玩笑。
Nick Drake是孤单的，你甚至无法想象他抱着吉他坐在你的对面歌唱，因为孤单无法分享。如果说民谣是一种直接自然的表达方式，那么Drake的“表达”则是向内的，更接近于空旷房间里的自言自语，只因为他不放弃寻求认同，才一次又一次地失望--即便这失望也是他隐隐预感到的罢，所以他才唱道：名誉是棵生了病的果树，一生等不来一树繁华。
A singular talent who passed almost unnoticed during his brief lifetime, Nick Drake produced several albums of chilling, somber beauty. With hindsight, these have come to be recognized as peak achievements of both the British folk-rock scene and the entire rock singer/songwriter genre. Sometimes compared to Van Morrison, Drake in fact resembled Donovan much more in his breathy vocals, strong melodies, and the acoustic-based orchestral sweep of his arrangements. His was a much darker vision than Donovan's, however, with disturbing themes of melancholy, failed romance, mortality, and depression lurking just beneath, or even well above, the surface. Ironically, Drake has achieved a far greater stature in the decades following his death, with an avid cult following that grows by the year.
Part of Drake's failure to attract a mass audience was attributable to his almost pathological reluctance to perform live. It was at a live show in Cambridge, however, that a member of Fairport Convention saw Drake perform, and recommended the singer to producer Joe Boyd. Boyd, already a linchpin of the British folk-rock scene as the producer for Fairport and the Incredible String Band, asked Drake for a tape, and was impressed enough to give the 20-year-old a contract in 1968.
Drake's debut, Five Leaves Left (1969), was the first in a series of three equally impressive, and quite disparate, albums. With understated folk-rock backing (Pentangle bassist Danny Thompson plays bass on most of the cuts), Drake created a vaguely mysterious, haunting atmosphere, occasionally embellished by tasteful Baroque strings. His economic, even pithy, lyrics hinted at melancholy, yet any thoughts of despair were alleviated by the gorgeous, uplifting melodies and Drake's calm, measured vocals. Bryter Later (1970) was perhaps his most upbeat effort, featuring support from members of Fairport Convention, and traces of jazz in the arrangements. On some cuts, the singer/songwriter, remarkably, dispensed with lyrics altogether, offering only gorgeous, orchestrated instrumental miniatures that stood well on their own.
Neither album sold well, and Drake, already a brooding loner, plunged into serious depression that often found him unable to make music, work, or even walk and talk. He managed to produce one final full-length work, Pink Moon (1972), a desolate solo acoustic album that ranks as one of the most naked and bleak statements in all of rock. He did record a few more songs before his death, but no more albums were completed, although the final sessions (along with some other fine unreleased material) surfaced on the posthumous compilation Time of No Reply.
Drake's final couple of years were marked by increasing psychiatric difficulties, which found him hospitalized at one point for several weeks. He had rarely played live during his days as a recording artist, and at one point declared his intention never to record again, although he wished to continue to write songs for others. (It's been reported that French chanteuse Françoise Hardy recorded some of Drake's songs, but she hasn't released any.) On November 26, 1974, he died in his parents' home from an overdose of antidepressant medication; suicide has been speculated, although some of his family and friends dispute this.
In the manner of the young Romantic poets of the 19th century who died before their time, Drake is revered by many listeners today, with a following that spans generations. 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.