Biographie:
Nicola was born in Paddington, London and now lives in the Westcountry. She inherited her ear for music from her father, a natural musician "he could pick out a tune on any instrument". Sitting beside him at the piano she learned how to improvise around a tune from an early age. His first job was working as a floor manager on "Ready Steady Go" so there were test pressings and white labels lying around the house and commercial radio constantly playing whenever he was around. Her parents divorced when she was very young and on the long car journeys between households she would make up stories and rhymes with her dad and sisters, instilling a love of words that continues to this day. On her 9th birthday she got her first guitar, taught herself a few chords and started making up songs.
Her formative years in the industry were spent working as a backing vocalist for a variety of bands - doubling up on harmonica, accordion, electric & acoustic guitar, keyboard & percussion, she paid her dues gigging around London's live music circuit and got her first taste of working in studios. This experience led to writing and recording her own songs and becoming a regular solo performer on London's folk/acoustic circuit including the Half Moon in Putney, Acoustic Room at the Mean Fiddler, Waterman's Arts Centre & the legendary Bunjies folk clulb in the West End. She quickly secured a record contract with FBeat/Demon records and a publishing contract with Rough Trade Music and began performing at larger venues including the Guildford and Cambridge Folk Festivals and Phoenix Festival. Although on a very minimal budget and being relatively unknown, Nicola's talent attracted guest musicians Danny Thompson on bass (Kate Bush, David Sylvian) & Neil Conti on drums (David Bowie, Prefab Sprout) to play on her debut album "A Bowl of Chalk".
“There’s something indefinably magical in her delivery and in the very human troubled personal conflicts in her exceptional lyrics … a remarkable debutâ€
