Nik Kershaw biography
Nik Kershaw (born Nicholas David Kershaw, 1 March 1958) is an English singer-songwriter. The one time jazz-funk guitarist was a 1980s teen idol. His 62 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 beat all other soloists. Kershaw appeared at Live Aid, and penned hits for Let Loose, The Hollies and a number 1 for Chesney Hawkes, "The One and Only".
1970s
Born in Bristol, Kershaw grew up in Ipswich, Suffolk during which time he played guitar and sang in a number of underground Ipswich bands. However, when the last of these, Fusion, split up in 1982, he embarked on a full-time career as a songwriter and performer.
1980s
At the beginning of 1984, a young Kershaw released his breakthrough song "Wouldn't It Be Good", which reached Number 4 in the UK Singles Chart, and was a big success in Europe, particularly in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and in Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand. The music video, featuring Kershaw as a chroma key-suited alien, received heavy rotation by MTV, helping the song reach No.46 in the United States. He enjoyed three more Top 20 hits from his debut album Human Racing, including the title track and a successful re-issue of "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me". This track ultimately proved his biggest hit as a performer when it reached Number 2 in the UK.Kershaw's second album was The Riddle. The title track, released in November 1984, proved to be another UK and international hit single, reaching Number 3 in the UK and Ireland, and Number 6 in New Zealand, and the album also spawned two more UK Top 10 hits, "Wide Boy" and "Don Quixote", as it went platinum. During this time, Kershaw toured extensively with his backing band The Krew, consisting of Keith Airey, Tim Moore, Mark Price and Dennis Smith.
In July 1985, Kershaw was among the performers at Live Aid, held at Wembley Stadium. His stardom began to wane soon afterwards and he enjoyed only one more UK Top 40 hit. He continued to record and release records, and collaborated with others. Also in 1985, Elton John asked Kershaw to play guitar on John's hit "Nikita".
A cover of "Wouldn't it be Good" by the Danny Hutton Hitters appeared on the soundtrack of the 1986 teen romantic comedy-drama Pretty in Pink. Later the same year, his third album, Radio Musicola, was released to critical acclaim but to little commercial success. The Works was released in 1989 to little success. Two singles were released from the album, "One Step Ahead" and "Elisabeth's Eyes".
1990s
His prowess as a songwriter served him well in 1991, when his song "The One and Only" appeared on the soundtrack to the British film Buddy's Song, and in the American movie Doc Hollywood. "The One and Only" proved to be a UK Number 1 for the star of Buddy's Song, Chesney Hawkes. In 1993, The Hollies had a minor hit with another of Kershaw's songs, "The Woman I Love". During the mid-1990s he also wrote and produced material for the boy band Let Loose, with two of the tracks ("Seventeen" and "Everybody Say Everybody Do") achieving reasonable success.Biography from
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