Nick Cave

It was indeed rare for any artist to crossover from one medium to the next, let alone several, and be accomplished in all. But Nick Cave, lead singer and songwriter for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, a band that rose out of the punk era to produce some of Australia's more bleak and soul-sucking music, transcended his role as gyrating front man to become a published author and compelling screenwriter. Already penning literate and profound lyrics, Cave found the transition to writing books and movies relatively smooth, thanks to a childhood spent reading literature and the Bible. The latter was the most profound influence on his life and his work - one can hear ech s of the Good Book in his lyrics, even at a cursory listen. Not that Cave actively preached the Word to the spike-haired masses - a decades-long heroin addiction kept him far off the righteous path - but he did allow religion to seep into his music for the sake of artistry, expressing the inherent contradictions between his faith and the life he had lead.