Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor. He is best known for his musical work with the band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1983, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles. Prior to this, he fronted the post-punk group The Birthday Party in the early 1980s, which was influenced by blues and free jazz. In 2006, he formed the garage rock band Grinderman, releasing its debut album the following year. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, and lyrical obsessions with religion, death, love and violence. In the early 2010s, he was dubbed by the NME as "the grand lord of gothic lushness". Upon Cave's induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, ARIA Awards committee chairman Ed St John said: "Nick Cave has enjoyed—and continues to enjoy—one of the most extraordinary careers in the annals of popular music. He is an Australian artist like Sidney Nolan is an Australian artist—beyond comparison, beyond genre, beyond dispute."