Jimmy Nail
| Jimmy Nail | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | James Michael Aloysius Bradford |
| Born |
16 March 1954 Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
| Genres | Pop, rock, soul, country |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | Virgin, East West, Papillion |
| Associated acts | Gary Holton, Mark Knopfler, Sting |
Jimmy Nail (born 16 March 1954) is an English singer-songwriter, actor, film producer, and television writer. He is known for his role as Leonard "Oz" Osborne in the hit television show Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, his title role in Spender, and his 1992 number one single, "Ain't No Doubt".
Nail was born James Michael Aloysius Bradford in Newcastle upon Tyne. His father was an Irish Catholic shipyard worker, amateur boxer, and professional footballer (soccer, in America). He describes himself as an angry, uncivilized kid who was expelled from secondary school for setting fire to curtains. When he was 13, his older sister, Shelagh, died at the age of 20. Feeling lost and confused, he spent time drinking, fighting, and rebelling against authority. He got into a fight after a football match and was sent to prison. After getting out of prison, he played guitar in a rock band called the King Crabs.
Nail's wife, Miriam, encouraged him to audition for a television show, though he had no experience as an actor. He won the role of Leonard Jeffrey "Oz" Osborne on Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, a situation comedy about construction workers on the job in the U.S., Germany, Spain, and Cuba. The show turned him into a celebrity. In 2013, members of the cast returned to Newcastle to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the show's beginning.
In 2000 he began work on reviving the Auf Wiedersehen, Pet series, this time for the BBC. It was filmed in 2001 and aired in 2002, with audience figures of over 12 million. Another series saw the brickies holed up in Cuba, and the final two-hour instalment, set in Laos, aired over Christmas 2004 attracting over 7 million viewers.
After the first two series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Nail found himself typecast before creating the detective series Spender, which he co-wrote with Ian La Frenais. The show ran for three series from 1991 to 1993 and also produced a tele-film and a novel. This was followed in 1994 by Crocodile Shoes, which he also created and starred as musician Jed Shepherd.
In 2008, Nail created and starred as Phil Parker in Parents of the Band, a 6 x 30 mins series on BBC1, broadcast between November 2008 and January 2009. The series revolves around a group of teenagers who form a band just for their own enjoyment, and their parents, who fully expect them to be nothing less than the next Led Zeppelin. Ratings were disappointing, around the three million mark, and there are presently no plans for a second series.
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