Nick Cave

Nicholas Edward Cave, born on 22 September 1957, is an Australian singer, musician, and writer. Known for his baritone voice and emotional performance style, his musical output touches on themes of death, religion, love, and violence. He is best known as the frontman of the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, following his earlier role leading the post-punk group The Birthday Party. Over his multi-decade career, Cave has also authored novels, written screenplays, composed film scores, and launched side musical projects.

Cave was born in Warracknabeal, Victoria, to Dawn and Colin Frank Cave, and grew up with two older brothers and a younger sister. He spent his early childhood in Warracknabeal and Wangaratta, joining the choir at Holy Trinity Cathedral at age nine. After attending Wangaratta High School, he became a student at Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne at age 13. He went on to study painting at the Caulfield Institute of Technology in 1976, but left the following year to focus entirely on music. When Cave was 19, his father died in a car collision.

In 1973, Cave formed a band with schoolmates that eventually became the Boys Next Door, a prominent group in Melbourne's post-punk scene. The band changed its name to The Birthday Party in 1980 and relocated to London, earning a reputation for confrontational live shows and Old Testament-inspired lyricism. The group moved to West Berlin in 1982 before disbanding the following year.

Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 1983. The band's early releases drew inspiration from spirituals and Delta blues, leading to signature works such as the 1988 song The Mercy Seat and his debut 1989 novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel. In the 1990s, Cave moved toward quieter, piano-led compositions, gaining mainstream attention with tracks like Into My Arms and his duet with Kylie Minogue, Where the Wild Roses Grow. The Bad Seeds have released 18 studio albums, including Ghosteen in 2019 and Wild God in 2024.

Expanding into film and side ventures during the 2000s, Cave wrote the Australian Western film The Proposition in 2005 and scored it alongside frequent collaborator Warren Ellis. The pair also composed scores for films including The Road and Hell or High Water. In 2006, Cave formed the alternative rock band Grinderman, which released two studio albums. He published his second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, in 2009 and appeared in the semi-fictional film 20,000 Days on Earth in 2014.

Cave's recent musical work integrates ambient and electronic elements, reflecting themes of grief following the 2015 death of his son Arthur, which was documented in the 2016 film One More Time with Feeling. Since 2018, he has connected directly with fans through his newsletter, The Red Hand Files. Cave was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007 and was named an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2017.