Nik Kershaw’s work and influences
You probably might recall songs from the eighties such as Wouldn’t It Be Good and I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me and associate them with Nik Kershaw.
What you might not know is that the musician also wrote one of the biggest hits of the early nineties – The One and Only – which was a worldwide hit for Chesney Hawkes.
“The song wasn’t written in particular for Chesney”, explained Nik, “I had taken a cassette of some of my songs into my publisher, the next day I received a call from them saying that Chip Hawkes from The Tremeloes had heard the song and loved it and asked could they use it for a film, Buddy’s Son that his son Chesney was going to be in with Roger Daltrey from The Who”.
The rest as they say is history. Having someone else to take the limelight for the song suited Nik immensely. “I was not really comfortable with the huge success I was having in the eighties as I saw myself as a singer/songwriter and much preferred being in the background so when the success of The One and Only took off with Chesney it was good to be able to watch it all from a distance and not be directly involved with it all”.
Over the preceding years, Nik has worked with a number of artists including Tony Banks from Genesis and Elton John. “Working with Elton was a privilege, he still checks out all the new music that is being released. I still get goosebumps every time I hear me playing guitar on his big hit Nikita when it comes on the radio”.
Elton is only one of the many influences on Nik: “When I was younger I was really into T Rex and David Bowie, those artists had a big influence on me; the music, the image it was all something you could buy into”.
I wondered if Nik thought much of today’s artists? “To be honest I do not tend to listen to much of the music that is being released today. People like Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran and the likes will still be remembered in 30 years’ time but a lot of music from today will not be remembered as fondly as songs from the eighties”.
Since many of the artists from the eighties performed at festivals together over the summer, I asked if it must seem like one big happy family: “It does and I have become friends with a lot of the artists from that period in music – we all went through the same experience in the eighties so we all know what it was like – we have a lot in common”.
Nik’s going on tour in parts of the North West
Besides touring with other acts, Nik is also going on tour with his own band later this year, including a visit to Clitheroe. “The band and I are doing some dates in Germany and afterwards some in Scotland, there was a gap between each country so we thought about playing a gig somewhere in England as we travelled on the way up to Scotland, and Clitheroe seemed ideal”.
The town is not usually in the radar of touring bands, something that has caught the attention of Nik: “It will be good to visit somewhere that is not used to having live music in their town – I have had a look at the venue on the internet and all looks great, we are all looking forward to playing there, the audiences in the north are always so appreciative”.
Playing your own gig as opposed to being part of a tour with other acts does bring a different perspective though, “On the Retro tours we have to play all the big hits but on our own dates we can also fit in some album tracks too, there is always someone out there who will request that we perform an obscure album track”.
Seems like a fitting opportunity to welcome back the one and only Nik Kershaw.
Dates that Nik is on tour in North West include:
- The Grand in Clitheroe on Thursday 11 May
- The Live Rooms in Chester on 1 October
- The New Century Hall in Manchester on 2 October
