Nick Heyward

Nick Heyward was born in Beckenham, Kent, on May 20th 1961. On leaving Kelsey Park School in 1977, he went to work as a commercial artist, but he had dreams of becoming a pop star. "I got into music because my girlfriend chucked me and because of Paul McCartney's beard when he sung in 'Let It Be'," Nick told Paul Gorman in Music Week in 1995. And soon, Heyward and his friends were ditching names such as Boat Party and Captain Pennyworth left, right and center and became Haircut 100. They played the pop game perfectly, tucking their Aran jumpers into their trousers, riding the post-new romantic funk wave, marrying Chic with the Monkees and opening their shows with a blistering cover of Low Rider by War. Haircut 100 burnt briefly and brightly - the ultimate group of pals who, within a year, had hit the big time. It finished as quickly as it began; the band parted ways and Nick's first solo album, North Of A Miracle, was released in September 1983. North Of A Miracle set out his stall; a production masterpiece by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick (XTC had initially wanted to produce Heyward), it contained heavyweight session players; Uncut were to say retrospectively that "If Elvis Costello had released this album, it might just feature in the lower reaches of those lists of all-time greats." Nick's career continued through the next decade and a half - supporting Wham! at Wembley at their farewell shows; shaving his mustache off on live TV; releasing charming records, of which his first two of the nineties From Monday To Sunday and Tangled chimed with Britpop. He played the record company game across the years - and he has great experience of major labels and sizable Indies; Arista, Warner and Sony have all sought him out; when Alan McGee was flush with Oasis cash in the late 90s and wanted to sign his personal favorites, Nick Heyward was at the top of that list, and 1998's The Apple Bed was released on Creation. But those days are over - you don't have to be a voracious follower of musical trends to know conventional release channels have altered forever. Nick self released his latest album, Woodland Echoes, on his own label, Gladsome Hawk. While the battle for the music industry was playing out as the 00s became the 10s, Nick stood aside from all this, released two albums under the radar, and got on with the business of life; seeing his children grow up, and finding love. "Up until the Creation time it used to really matter that you were not around - now it doesn't seem to matter if you haven't been around for one year or 20 years; you can pick up where you left off. It's the way that music has turned out - there was a time when people cared about disappearance, but now there isn't; it's not an issue anymore."