Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor. He is best known as the frontman of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1983, a group known for its diverse output and ever-evolving line-up. Prior to this, he fronted the Birthday Party, one of the most extreme and confrontational post-punk bands of the early 1980s. In 2006, he formed the garage rock band Grinderman, releasing its debut album the following year.
Referred to as rock music's "Prince of Darkness", Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence. NME described him as "the grand lord of gothic lushness"
The band with Cave as their leader and frontman has released fifteen studio albums. Pitchfork Media calls the group one of rock's "most enduring, redoubtable" bands, with an accomplished discography. Though their sound tends to change considerably from one album to another, the one constant of the band is an unpolished blending of disparate genres, and song structures which provide a vehicle for Cave's virtuosic, frequently histrionic theatrics. Critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Steve Huey wrote: "With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk."
Cave has played with Shane MacGowan on cover versions of Bob Dylan's "Death is Not the End" and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World". He also performed "What a Wonderful World" live with The Flaming Lips and has recorded a cover version of the Pogues song "Rainy Night in Soho", written by MacGowan.
Energetic contact sheet of The Ramones performing at the Hammersmith Odeon, London in 1980
Bob Dylan hanging out on the streets of Portland, Orgeon prior to performing there as part of his Gospel Tour in January 1980.
John Lennon performing at Madison Square Gardens, New York in August 1972
Morrissey performing upside down on a monitor during his Kill Uncle Tour at the Jones Beach Theatre, Wantagh, New York in July 1991
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band who were in the vanguard of the British music Invasion that became popular in the US in 1964–65.
Referred to as rock music's 'Prince of Darkness', Nick Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity & a wide variety of influences.
Catherine Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer, known for her eclectic and experimental music.
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk.
Jill Furmanovsky is one of the greatest ever rock & roll photographers with a huge archive of iconic shots of the world's best music artists
We are all still reeling from the tragic loss of David Bowie. Here is a wonderful tribute from one of our photographers, Mark Mawston.
The USA has given us many of the world's greatest music artists - we celebrate the best of the best
For eight years photographer Brian Duffy worked with David Bowie and shot his most iconic and enduring images. View his fantastic collection
