Fortunately, one of those which accepted the offer was the Koutoubia Palace, Tangier’s most exclusive nightspot, which is done up in the style of a Moorish palace. I couldn’t help feeling a little out of place, but all the same I played for about quarter of an hour. The reception was extraordinarily good and we all got stood rounds of drinks, which was rather pleasant.” This book is faultless in its detail, drawing on previously unseen family correspondence and the co-operation of Drake’s sister, the actress, Gabrielle, as well as the recollections of a compendious list of friends, musicians and fans, carefully taking the reader through the gestation and completion of virtually every song Drake recorded, and a few he didn’t. The Drake completist could ask for nothing more. And surely, nothing more of his brilliant and ultimately tragic life now needs to be said. Luxuriate in the body of his timeless work, and let him rest in peace.

Experience the definitivebiographyof one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the twentieth century with this eye-opening book featuring a foreword by Gabrielle Drake and over 75 photos, many rare or previously unseen. Is this what keeps subsequent generations enthralled? Quite possibly, but only because this enigmatic nature is so deeply intertwined with the music itself. While Drake’s career as a musician was characterised by diffidence, his youth wasn’t entirely devoid of high jinks. A road trip with some friends to north Africa, for example, saw a memorable encounter with some of his musical heroes Ultimately, Drake would retreat to his parents’ home, where he would be briefly hospitalised for depression and feelings of being unable to “cope”, and begin taking antidepressants, but not before he had had one last try at making a record that represented what he thought he was capable of. Bryter Layter had flopped, despite Boyd’s attempts to surround Drake with great musicians, resulting in enduring songs such as One of These Things First and Northern Sky, the latter wreathed in celeste, piano and organ played by The Velvet Underground’s John Cale. Girls adored him. He was tall, good-looking, diffident, quietly well spoken, with none of the faux-Americanisms or affected glottal-stops of most musicians of the day. His shyness and gentleness – “it was impossible to imagine him being angry or unpleasant”, says one friend – were captivating. Yet despite his achingly romantic songs, it seems Drake never had an intimate relationship with anyone. “I would almost describe him as asexual,” one friend remembers. “I think he had a romanticised, even poetic view of women rather than a carnal one.” His greatest infatuation was with Francoise Hardy; there was a suggestion she might record one of his songs. They met in Paris, and it came to nothing but later, but as his mental condition worsened, he travelled to France trying, and failing to, see her.If contemporaries such as John Martyn and Sandy Denny possessed personalities robust enough to contend with the rough-and-tumble of the pub and club circuit – the trains and taxis, the meeting new people, the B&Bs, the gritting-it-out over the din of students sinking pints of bitter – Drake was destroyed by their indifference, trying to perform gossamer songs in rooms where no one was listening. In short, he was the embodiment of the grievous angel caricature, unworldly and unsuited to the harsh realities of the music business. Boyd had left Britain to take a job in America. Bereft of his guidance, Drake arranged with the engineer John Wood to record what would be his third and final album, the starkly beautiful Pink Moon, over just two sessions between 11pm and 2am. They were the only slots Wood could find, but Wood thought he would anyway get the best out of Drake when nobody else was there. “He wasn’t in good shape. He didn’t look healthy.” Like its predecessors, the album vanished leaving barely a trace.

This is not an authorised biography,’ begins the book’s foreword, penned by his only sibling, Gabrielle Drake, the long-time custodian of her brother’s legacy. ‘But it is true that this is the only biography of my brother than has been written with my blessing.’ Let’s Eat Grandma (Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth) transform From the Morning. Photograph: Lorne Thomson/Redferns Pink Moon was the product of a period of intense, secretive songwriting, during which the singer’s behaviour became more erratic and his mental health deteriorated, much to the anguish of family and friends. It was a mark of the regard in which he was held by associates that the album was recorded with little warning, late at night, exactly as Drake prescribed by engineer/producer John Wood with no external input (the previous two LPs featured arrangements).He was so congenitally mellow that hanging out with the Rolling Stones seemed normal to him Julian Lloyd Raby