Ledger paid tribute to Drake in eerie video

By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The fate of an eerie video of actor Heath Ledger "drowning" himself, set to a song by singer-songwriter Nick Drake, is being mulled by the estate of Drake, who committed suicide in 1974.

Ledger was found dead Tuesday (January 22) in a New York apartment, with prescription sleeping pills nearby. An autopsy will be performed Wednesday to determine the cause of death.

The black-and-white Drake clip, which Ledger shot and edited himself, was included in a multimedia installation, "A Place To Be," devoted to Drake at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival in September 2007. It was also on display during a Drake celebration of the same name in Los Angeles in October.

In it, Ledger turns the camera on himself while Drake's "Black Eyed Dog" plays. At its conclusion, he drowns himself in a bathtub. "Black Eyed Dog" is allegedly the last song Drake wrote before overdosing on the antidepressant amitriptyline.

Sources confirmed that the video is the property of the Drake estate, which is deciding whether it will release it in any form.

Reuters/Billboard