There are a number of reasons why Patrick Humphries' Nick Drake: The Biography is the first biography of the quietly legendary folk musician, but the biggest is also the most obvious: Nick Drake died at the early, unfortunate age of 26 in a state of such obscurity that even today, he's still considered a cult figure. But one impetus for the book's release is that with each year since his accidental death in 1974, Drake's influence has become more and more apparent. From vocal admirers like R.E.M. to honest emulators like Belle & Sebastian, Drake has gradually been transformed from a forgotten tragedy to a canonical icon. He's like the stately folk equivalent of the Velvet Underground, as his recorded output of just three albums—which sold a total of 20,000 copies in his lifetime—has become a blueprint for like-minded melancholy bedroom songwriters around the globe. Humphries' book does what it can with Drake's somewhat enigmatic life, and because Drake was both clinically depressed and painfully shy, most first-hand accounts of him are understandably vague. Complicating any prospect of a thorough telling of his life story is the fact that only one interview with Drake exists; in other words, any hope of his fans hearing new events and opinions told from the source himself has been rendered impossible. Also, Drake's parents have long since died, so Humphries had to use a taped 1985 interview he borrowed to provide adequate background on Drake's childhood, and much of the book is filled with descriptions of neo-bohemian life in the early '70s. But Humphries did interview such key figures in Drake's life as fellow musician and friend John Martyn, producer Joe Boyd, and many of the players who appeared on Drake's albums. As R.E.M.'s Peter Buck points out, much of the singer's appeal stems from the fact that so little is known about him, but unlike most mysteries, no amount of research can possibly shed light on Drake's personal demons. Was Drake a big drug user? A repressed homosexual? Suicidal? No one seems to know. Yet the continued discussion of a man so withdrawn that few of his associates can even recall hearing him speak shows that Drake's beautiful, once-ignored music is living out the dream life that the singer himself never had.