Nick Heyward
| Nick Heyward | |
|---|---|
 Heyward at the Let's Rock Bristol, June 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Nicholas Heyward |
| Born |
20 May 1961 Beckenham, Kent, England |
| Genres | Pop, rock, new wave, alternative, indie rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, guitarist |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, bass |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Labels |
Arista 1981-1986 Reprise 1988-1989 Epic 1993-1996 Creation 1997-1998 |
| Associated acts |
Haircut 100 Boogie Box High |
| Website | nickheyward.com |
Nick Heyward (born 20 May 1961 in Beckenham, Kent)[1] is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist known for being the frontman of the early 1980s band Haircut 100 and for his successful solo career.
Biography
Early life
Born in Beckenham, Heyward spent his early years in and around south London. He attended Kelsey Park School for Boys where he studied art and photography. He left school at 16 to work as a commercial artist.[2]
Haircut One Hundred
Heyward and school friends Graham Jones and Les Nemes,[3] the core of Haircut One Hundred, started bands together as far back as 1977. They were first known as Rugby, then the Boat Party, Captain Pennyworth and Moving England, before settling on Haircut One Hundred.[4] The band signed with Arista Records in 1981 and had four UK Top 10 singles between 1981—82.[5] Their debut album, Pelican West (1982), written by Heyward, reached No. 2. It was Certified Platinum[6] by the British Phonographic Industry and Heyward was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for Most Performed Song for "Love Plus One" in 1982.
Work on the band's second album commenced in October 1982 but, in January 1983, a statement was issued confirming that Heyward had left the band and percussionist Marc Fox had taken over on vocals. At the time of the announcement, Heyward told Smash Hits magazine that he had been contemplating going solo for a while and had already recorded some tracks with session musicians.[7] However, many years later, Heyward stated that he had been struggling with stress and depression at the time after a year of constant work and pressure which led to him being, in effect, sacked by the other members of the band.[8][9]
Solo career
Heyward's solo career took off in March 1983 with the single "Whistle Down The Wind", which reached No. 13 in the UK Singles Chart.[10] Two further Top 20 hits followed: "Take That Situation" (#11) and "Blue Hat for a Blue Day" (#14).[10] His debut solo album, North of a Miracle, was released in October 1983 and peaked at No. 10 in the UK. Three follow-up singles to the album, "Love All Day", "Warning Sign" and "Laura", were all UK Top 40 hits.[10]
Postcards From Home, Heyward's second solo album, was released in 1986 and featured the hit singles "Over the Weekend" and "Goodbye Yesterday".[10] By 1988, he had moved to Warner Bros. Records and released his third album, I Love You Avenue, which included the hit single "You're My World".
Heyward's 1993 album, From Monday to Sunday, on Epic Records, featured a more classic rock style.[11] and brought him his first hits of the 1990s. The first single, "Kite", reached No. 44 in the UK Singles Charts[10] and No. 4 in Billboard magazine's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.[12] Over the next two years, he toured regularly, particularly in the US, where he played alongside bands like Belly, The Lemonheads, Mazzy Star and Therapy?.
In 1995, Heyward released his second Epic Records album, Tangled, providing him with a UK Top 40 Single "Rollerblade".[10]
Creation Records released The Apple Bed (1998), which is Heyward's most recent major label release. It featured three singles, "Today", "The Man You Used to Be" and "Stars In Her Eyes".[13]
Since 1998, Heyward has released two independent albums: Open Sesame Seed (2001), a collaboration with British actor/singer Greg Ellis, and featuring Ellis reading Heyward's poetry to the accompaniment of Heyward's musical backing; and The Mermaid and the Lighthouse Keeper (2006), an album of songs recorded with singer/actress India Dupre.[14]
In November 2013, Nick Heyward announced on his website that he is in the process of recording a new album with his son, Oliver Heyward.[15]
Personal life
Heyward married Glaswegian Marion Killen in 1987. They had two children, Oliver and Katie, before divorcing in 2000.[16] In 1998 he had a spiritual awakening [17] that he described as a feeling of complete contentment and a deep connection with nature.
Heyward currently lives in Stoke Row [18] and in February 2016 announced his engagement to his American girlfriend.[19]
Discography
Albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [10] |
US [12] |
SWE [20] |
NZ [21] | |||
| Pelican West (Haircut 100 album) |
2 | 31 | 29 | 12 | BPI: Platinum[6] | |
| North of a Miracle |
|
10 | — | — | — | BPI: Gold[22] |
| Postcards From Home |
|
— | — | — | — | |
| I Love You Avenue |
|
— | — | — | — | |
| From Monday to Sunday |
|
— | — | — | — | |
| Tangled |
|
93 | — | — | — | |
| The Apple Bed |
|
— | — | — | — | |
| Open Sesame Seed |
|
— | — | — | — | |
| The Mermaid and the Lighthouse Keeper |
|
— | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [10] |
US Hot 100 [12] |
US Bubbling Under [12] |
US Alt [12] |
US Adult con. [12] |
US Dance [12] |
US Rock [12] |
NZ [21] |
DE [23] | ||||
| 1981 | "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" | 4 | — | — | — | — | 41 | 50[24] | 32 | — | BPI: Silver[6] | Pelican West (Haircut 100 album) |
| 1982 | "Love Plus One" | 3 | 37 | — | 18 | — | 8 | 18 | 22 | — | BPI: Gold[6] | |
| "Fantastic Day" | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 29 | — | |||
| "Nobody's Fool" | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1983 | "Whistle Down the Wind" | 13 | — | — | — | 20 | — | — | — | — | North of a Miracle | |
| "Take That Situation" | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Blue Hat for a Blue Day" | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "On a Sunday" | 52 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1984 | "Love All Day" | 31 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "My Pure Lady" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Warning Sign" | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1985 | "Laura" | 45 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1986 | "Over the Weekend" | 43 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Postcards From Home | |
| "Goodbye Yesterday" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1988 | "You're My World" | 67 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | I Love You Avenue | |
| 1989 | "Tell Me Why" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1993 | "Kite" | 44 | — | 107 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | From Monday to Sunday | |
| "He Doesn't Love You Like I Do" | 58 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 55 | |||
| 1995 | "The World" | 47 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Tangled | |
| 1996 | "Rollerblade" | 37 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1997 | "Today" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Apple Bed | |
| "The Man You Used to Be" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1998 | "Stars in Her Eyes" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||
See also
- List of performances on Top of the Pops
- List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand
- List of Never Mind the Buzzcocks episodes
- List of people from Beckenham
References
- ↑ Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing Ltd. p. 183. ISBN 0-85112-072-5.
- ↑ Rice, Maureen (19 Jun 1985). "Love, Money and Perfect Pop" (jpg). Smash Hits (Flickr: EMAP). pp. 58–59. Retrieved 8 Jul 2015.
- ↑ Stand, Mike (4 Feb 1982). "Bitz" (jpg). Smash Hits (Flickr: EMAP). p. 11. Retrieved 8 Jul 2015.
- ↑ Ellen, Mark (29 Apr 1982). "The Boy Wonder" (jpg). Smash Hits. Vol. 4 no. 9 (Flickr: EMAP). pp. 28, 31. Retrieved 10 Apr 2014.
- ↑ "Haircut 100". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 30 Jun 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "British Phonographic Industry". 23 Jun 1982. Retrieved 18 Jul 2015.
- ↑ "Bitz: Cuts Up". Smash Hits. Vol. 5 no. 3 (EMAP Metro). 3 Feb 1983. p. 13.
- ↑ Williams, Andrew (26 Jan 2011). "Facebook is the reason Haircut One Hundred are reuniting". Metro. Retrieved 8 Nov 2011.
- ↑ Tennant, Neil (31 Mar 1983). "Back to Square One". Smash Hits (jpg) (Flickr: EMAP). p. 14.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Nick Heyward". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 29 Jun 2015.
- ↑ "Allmusic: Nick Heyward". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 21 Mar 2009.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Nick Heyward". Billboard. Retrieved 30 Jun 2015.
- ↑ "The Apple Bed". NickHeyward.com. Retrieved 30 Jun 2015.
- ↑ "The Mermaid and the Lighthouse Keeper". NickHeyward.com. Retrieved 30 Jun 2015.
- ↑ "New album update". NickHeyward.com. Retrieved 30 Jun 2015.
- ↑ "BEYOND THE FRINGE; Oasis boss gives Haircut 100 star new lease of life". Daily Record (Scotland) (Trinity Mirror). 1988. Archived from the original on 2014. Retrieved 8 Jul 2015.
- ↑ Heyward, Nick (7 Feb 2016). Clare Balding's Sunday Best with Nick Heyward. Interview with Clare Balding. Good Morning Sunday. BBC Radio 2. London. Retrieved 18 Feb 2016.
- ↑ "Nick Heyward". Henley Life: 7. Aug 2014. Retrieved 8 Jul 2015.
- ↑ Heyward, Nick (21 Feb 2016). Gaby Roslin. Interview with Gaby Roslin. BBC Radio London. London. Retrieved 22 Feb 2016.
- ↑ Steffen Hung. "Sweden charts portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 8 Jul 2015.
- 1 2 Steffen Hung. "New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 8 Jul 2015.
- ↑ "British Phonographic Industry". 24 Nov 1983. Retrieved 18 Jul 2015.
- ↑ "Nick Heyward". Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Retrieved 6 Oct 2015.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2003). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955 - 2002. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA: Record Research Inc. p. 297. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
External links
- Official Nick Heyward website
- Audio interview with Nick Heyward on the Sodajerker On Songwriting podcast
- Portrait on vh1.com
- Nick Heyward on the Internet Movie Database
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