I was born in London UK in my then family home, in the early hours of a cold January morning. I’m told I screamed the house down! I say I was simply practising.
My interest in music showed up at an early age when I took piano lessons at the tender age of five.
I continued to play keyboards and in the early years wrote most of my songs using an old yamaha with lots of pre-set rhythms and sounds on it. Over time I tried my hand at lead (very noisy) guitar, drums (if you can count whacking the hell out of a snare drum and crash cymbal!) and bass. I do in fact still share a bass guitar with my partner and can play it (generous terms) and have recently started playing the guitar again, only properly this time.
I’ve always sang to all the songs that I’ve written but never really took the singing that seriously.
My heart has always been in music, in fact I would say it’s in my soul, and no matter what different paths I have followed along the way, it never left me.
In the beginning, I took fate into my own hands and put an ad in the melody maker musicians paper for a guitarist as I thought that would be a good place to start. By this time I had already been writing and playing music for ages. I was using drum machines and synthesizers to write and then record using a 4 track recording unit, but the one thing that was difficult to replicate well, was the guitar, so that’s where I started.
After many awful auditions and meeting with a scarily high amount of strange people, I was lucky enough to meet a guy who became a good friend. This friend played a big part in my current activities. We spent the next year or so writing, playing, drinking and generally having a laugh. We even paid a friend to use his in-house recording studio to get 3 songs recorded. That was a great experience and helped us to achieve the professional sound we were searching for. I had by now taken a more serious role as singer and took some professional singing lessons to help guide me.
We had big plans, but as ever, times change and after signing up other band members things didn’t work out and the band drifted apart before it was ever really complete.
I reluctantly went about my day job and thought that it was over for me, but was constantly looking over my shoulder at the piece of me I’d left behind. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. For me personally, losing touch with the guitarist was the saddest part of it all breaking up. We had both moved away and that was that. I had no idea where he was and to be honest, didn’t try to find him. Where would I start?
I lived in London until my mid twenties, which at that time was a place that I had vowed never to leave. Things do change however and I moved to Berkshire in 2004. My affinity with trees and fresh air amongst other things drew me there.
Arriving home from work one day, I saw that there was a letter on my coffee table with other various post. I knew the handwriting immediately. He had found me. A letter he had sent to my parents house had been sent on to me. After all this time.
The next years were mainly happy but were tinged with sadness for several reaons. Some of which I won’t go into detail about, but some are relevant. One sadness was the constant want to be the one on stage or in front of the crowd. That never left me and going to gigs was great but sometimes difficult. Somehow still, I didn’t feel I could find the path back to what I desperately needed to do. I couldn’t face the thought of getting a band together and doing auditions again. It just didn’t occur to me that I COULD do this.
The second was the loss of my beloved father, who passed away in the summer of 2009. It was the biggest shock of my life. Stuff like that happened to other people, not me. For a while it just didn’t sink in, it wasn’t real. I drifted around for months not really knowing how I felt or what I wanted. I just felt empty. Someone who had always been there, no matter what, all of a sudden wasn’t and it was a very difficult time indeed and sometimes still is. Even as I write this, I feel that I can just pick up the phone and chat to him. Sometimes I almost forget he has gone. In some ways, his passing has enabled me to do what I’m doing now, thanks to the gifts he has left me, both spiritual and financial. Thanks Dad.
The next 18 months were generally hard, financially, mentally, physically and any other ways possible. I was in contact with the guitarist but we hadn’t actually met up in years. One day I was moaning about work and stuff when he suddenly and out of the blue asked if I’d like to go and sing with him at the gigs he had been doing for a while. A tingle of excitement ran through me as I text him back. ‘Yeah right, you’re kidding yeah?’ Or words to the effect. He wasn’t kidding and we arranged to get together and see if it would still work. It did. The missing years disappeared and it was like stepping back in time but moving forward all at the same time. It came at a time in my life that I needed it the most. And most importantly, I was READY. I think looking back now, that had been the missing ingredient. I hadn’t been ready.
After doing a few gigs together and getting my confidence up, it turns out that he couldn’t continue with our music. He never said why. All I know is that the time we spent together over the last six months or so had changed me, and I was ready to do this, with or without him.
Armed with new determination and a few quid in my pocket I headed down to the local music shop to kit myself out. I continued to gig locally as the solo artist that I have now become and now with the ability to record my new work, the songwriting continued and by the summer of 2012 my debut album ‘All This Time’ was released. Just seeing a disc with my name on it was amazing and a dream I thought would never happen. You can read my first ever review for ‘All This Time’ HERE.
Over the next year I continued to do live shows, write and build a following. In February 2013 I was proud to release my first Official Video. ‘Sometimes’. ‘Sometimes’ was chosen by the fans and followers and I’m told has become one of the favourite songs on the album. This was followed closely by the video for ‘Where Nobody Knows’ in May 2013. Also in May, I gave my first interview, which I really enjoyed doing. You can read it HERE. Come August, I launched my newsletter ‘ACCESS ALL AREAS’ which started off as a monthly publication. Alas, sheer volume of work has forced me to drop this to a quarterly publication. You can sign up to it HERE. After a few months off from a busy and mentally challenging filming schedule, ‘Closer To Me’ became video number 3 in October 2013.
Around the same time I was asked if I would write a song for a young lady called Jaclyn Fisher who had passed away from a drugs overdose. I was honoured to be asked and took the time to speak to the family before starting the task. The song was released as my first single on February 24th 2014 and is titled ‘Something’s Gotta Change’. 
My latest video was to accompany the single and was released on the same day. The single is currently available as a CD, or download and you can check out the video HERE. In May 2014 I received my first radio play, starting with ‘Something’s Gotta Change’ on EGH Radio, who have given me massive support during the year, and I was thrilled when the single was included on their first ever compilation album – ‘The Best Of EGH Radio – Volume 1’. Later in the year I was asked if I’d like to introduce the pop show on the radio each Thursday which I was honoured to do, and shortly after that the EGH Radio team let me loose on their play list once a month when I was asked if I’d do my own Top 20 chart show where I choose my top 20 favourite artists from the weekly pop shows on the station.
I’ve gone on to get several tracks onto radio playlists at both Croydon Radio & XRP Radio, reaching many more listeners than ever before.
Christmas 2014 brought me a Christmas number 1 in the beat100 online music chart again with ‘Something’s Gotta Change’ showcasing the track further with more than 4,500 plays whilst in the chart.
With the New Year 2015 came my own radio show at EGH Radio when I was asked if I’d like to take on the unsigned pop show on a weekly basis, where I would be responsible for all the submissions for the show and pre-record the chat parts that accompanied the music on the show. By July, that escalated further to hosting my own live show which I am presently still enjoying.
I am currently in the process of setting up my own recording studio where I hope to record, mix and master all my own music, which will be awesome.
So I guess that kind of brings us right up to date.
All I know is that I’m happier than ever, doing what I love and hoping that I can make people happy doing it. If it wasn’t for the series of events that came my way, I’d still be looking over my shoulder.
Thank you’s.
OK, so my journey has a long way to go, but already there are thank you’s to be given out, for otherwise I wouldn’t have taken the leap.
To my family, in particular my parents, Hilda and Brian and my Sister Lucie, who always believed in me, no matter how adventurous my plans. They have stood by me through everything.
To my partner Karen, for supporting what I now want to do, even though I make lots of noise at home and being there to tell me what’s good and what isn’t. Invaluable!
To Michelle, who’s faith, support and guidance have been invaluable.
FInally to my ever supportive friends…Claire, Anne, Gill & Kal amongst others, your ongoing support mean everything.
Believe in yourself and Live the Dream . . .Whatever it Takes.
Niki x
Comments
I will always be there to support you Nik because you’re worth it and I think you and your music is brilliant.