Nick Cave
(b. 1957), singer, songwriter and author, was born in Warracknabeal, Victoria, and educated at Caulfield Grammar School, where he formed his first band, The Boys Next Door. In 1980 the band changed its name to The Birthday Party and moved to London, where it significantly influenced other punk bands. With several talented recruits, members of the Birthday Party formed The Bad Seeds, whose first album was released in 1984. Cave has participated in a number of fruitful musical collaborations and side projects including the band Grinderman. He has also been involved in several films as an actor, screenwriter and composer, including the arthouse sensation Wings of Desire (1987) and Ghosts ... of the Civil Dead (1988). He scripted the grim Australian drama The Proposition (2006); appeared in I'm Your Man (2005–2006); and co-wrote and starred in a wry documentary drama about himself, 20,000 Days on Earth (2014). A long-term resident of the UK, Cave has written novels and poetry while performing and issuing albums regularly. His 2013 release with The Bad Seeds, Push the Sky Away, was the band's first Australian number-one album. Cave released his latest album Carnage in 2021, as a duo with long-term member of The Bad Seeds, Warren Ellis.