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Nik Turner

Nik Turner
Nik Turner (2010) 2.jpg
Nik Turner in 2010.
Background information
Birth name Nicholas Turner
Also known as Thunder Rider
Born (1940-08-26) 26 August 1940 (age 76)
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Genres Space rock, jazz fusion
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, saxophone, flute
Years active 1969–present
Labels Cleopatra Records, Charisma, Ozit
Associated acts Hawkwind, Hawklords, Sphynx, Inner City Unit, Nik Turner's Fantastic All-Stars, Galacticos, Space Ritual, Nik Turners Hawkwind
Website nikturner.com

Nicholas "Nik" Turner (born 26 August 1940, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England) is an English musician, best known as a former member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings and is a composer. While with Hawkwind, Turner was known for his experimental free jazz stylisations and outrageous stage presence, often donning full makeup and Ancient Egypt-inspired costumes.

Turner was born in Oxford in August 1940 to a theatrical family, although his father was working in a munitions factory. At the age of 13 his family moved to the Kent seaside resort of Margate where he worked at the local funfair during the summer holiday season, befriending another seasonal worker Robert Calvert. His first influences were Rock and Roll and the films of James Dean.

He went on to complete an engineering course and then undertook one voyage in the Merchant Navy. He then set about travelling around Europe picking up menial jobs, and it was during a stint as a roustabout in a travelling music circus in 1967 that he made the acquaintance of Dave Brock in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

He had two years of clarinet and saxophone lessons in the early 1960s but never considered himself good enough to pursue them seriously. However, whilst travelling around Europe he encountered some free jazz players in Berlin who impressed upon him the importance of expression over technical proficiency, and it was then that he decided that what he "wanted to do was play free jazz in a rock band".

Turner, owning a van, had originally offered his services as a roadie to the newly formed Hawkwind. However, when the band discovered his passion for the saxophone he was offered a position in the band to add to the overall weirdness of their sound.

Of his playing, Turner admitted that "it's the overall feel rather than the individual parts of the music that we're interested in. I don't have any illusions about my technical ability. I tend to use it as an electronic medium rather than an instrument". He became an active and vocal member of the band, pulling in friends such as Dik Mik, Calvert and Barney Bubbles, and involving the band in community and charity projects, sometimes to the chagrin of the others.


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Wikipedia

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