James Ralph "Jake" Drake-Brockman (18 November 1955 – 1 September 2009) was a

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

-based English musician and sound recordist. Drake-Brockman was known to fans as "the fifth Bunnyman", as he had been associated with the Liverpool group Echo & the Bunnymen since the 1980s and became a full-time member, as keyboardist, in 1989, using the professional name Jake Brockman.

Life

James Ralph Drake-Brockman was born in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

in 1955. He studied at the

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre. BOVTS is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. I ...

. A keen musician, he formed BOM, a dance band, with fellow Bristol-based musician

Damon Reece Damon Reece (born 16 February 1967) is an English drummer, who has been a member of Spiritualized, Echo & the Bunnymen and Lupine Howl. Career Growing up in Croydon and drumming in the indie band Abdul & the Casbah Cruisers, Reece moved to Liv ...

. Drake-Brockman toured with Echo & the Bunnymen for several years in the eighties, and played on their 1984 single "

Seven Seas The "Seven Seas" is a figurative term for all the seas of the known world. The phrase is used in reference to sailors and pirates in the arts and popular culture and can be associated with the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Seven Seas east of Afr ...

" and their 1987 '' Echo & the Bunnymen'' album. In 1989 he joined the band as a full-time member as keyboard player. He played on the 1990 album ''

Reverberation Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...

''. From 2004 onwards, Drake-Brockman worked as a sound recordist, mainly for the BBC's Natural History Unit on several projects, including ''

Last Chance to See ''Last Chance to See'' is a 1989 BBC radio documentary series and its accompanying book, written and presented by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. In the series, Adams and Carwardine travel to various locations in the hope of encountering s ...

'', ''

Coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

'' and '' British Isles: A Natural History''. During filming of '' Everest: Beyond the Limit'', Drake-Brockman lost 18% of his body weight, a record among the crew members. Drake-Brockman married photographer Sally A. Mundy in 2004. He maintained his interest in music, playing in the band The Hook 'Em Boys along with

Sean Cook Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglici ...

(

Spiritualized Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pierc ...

Lupine Howl Lupine Howl were a rock band formed in Bristol, England in 1999, by Sean Cook (vocalist, bassist), Mike Mooney (guitarist) and Damon Reece (drummer). The three had been dismissed from their respective roles in Spiritualized by that band's front ...

), Alex Lee (

Goldfrapp Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, their ...

Placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

(Echo & the Bunnymen,

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

) and

John Baggot John Baggot (1658–1718) was an Irish Jacobite politician. Baggot was born in County Limerick, the son of James Bagot of Baggotstown and Celia Power, daughter of John Power. He was a counsellor at law. In c.1687 he married Ellinor Goold, the wi ...

( Portishead, Massive Attack,

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

). Drake-Brockman was a classic motorcycle enthusiast, and died on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

on 1 September 2009 while visiting the island for the

Manx Grand Prix The Manx Grand Prix motorcycle races are held on the Isle of Man TT Course (or 'Snaefell Mountain Course, Mountain Circuit') every year for a two-week period, usually spanning the end of August and early September. New for 2022 is a period re ...

when the BSA motorcycle he was riding was in collision with a converted ambulance. The inquest into his death was opened and adjourned on 10 September; the full inquest has been delayed until police enquiries into the accident are completed. In a sad coincidence, he is the second member of Echo and the Bunnymen to die as a result of a motorcycle accident (the band's original live drummer,

Pete de Freitas Peter Louis Vincent de Freitas (2 August 1961 – 14 June 1989) was an English musician and producer. He was the drummer in Echo & the Bunnymen, and performed on their first five albums. De Freitas was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Toba ...

had died under similar circumstances 20 years prior). In November 2009

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrum ...

singer

Elizabeth Fraser Elizabeth Davidson Fraser (born 29 August 1963), is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician. Hailing from Grangemouth, Scotland, she is best known as the vocalist for the pioneering dream pop band Cocteau Twins who achieved international ...

released her first solo single "Moses" as a tribute to Drake-Brockman, who had been a close friend.

References

External links

*
BBC articleLast Chance to See">BBC ''Last Chance to See (TV series), Last Chance to See
'' obituarybr>''Liverpool Daily Post'' article''Isle of Man Today'' obituaryInternational Association of Wildlife Filmmakers obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drakebrockman, Jake 1955 births 2009 deaths English keyboardists Echo & the Bunnymen members Sound recording Road incident deaths in the United Kingdom