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Heart and Soul: Nick Cave on grief, faith and music

Nick Cave on Grief, Faith and Music

30/06/2023 GMT

Nick Cave on grief, faith and music

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Nick Cave on grief, faith and music

The Archbishop of Canterbury in conversation with the musician Nick Cave

The Archbishop of Canterbury in conversation with the musician Nick Cave.

The songwriter, poet and author, Nick Cave has a conversation about grief, faith and the spirituality of music with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. 

Nick writes hauntingly beautiful songs – the themes of which tackle deep questions about humanity – often drawing from biblical sources.  

He was born in rural Victoria in Australia in the late '50s – a Cathedral chorister turned chaotic teenager who dropped out of art school to pursue a music career. After his first band The Birthday Party broke up in 1983, he formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - and went on to have hits including The Mercy Seat, Where the Wild Roses Grow, and Into my Arms.  

He and his second wife Susie moved to Brighton in the early 2000s, where they raised their twin sons, Arthur and Earl. In 2015, Arthur died in a tragic accident, at the age of 15, after falling from a cliff. Last year, Nick’s eldest son Jethro also died in Melbourne at the age of 31. 

Much of Nick’s art in recent years has dealt with grief, suffering and forgiveness. He reflects on this in his remarkable book, ‘Faith, Hope and Carnage’, written during the pandemic with the journalist Sean O’Hagan. And he openly explores love and loss with those who write to him on his online forum called, ‘The Red Hand Files’.

(Photo: Nick Cave in conversation with the Archbishop, not seen)

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