Simon Nicol
| Simon Nicol | |
|---|---|
Simon Nicol performing at Fairport's Cropredy Convention 2014
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Simon John Breckenridge Nicol |
| Born |
13 October 1950 Muswell Hill, London, England |
| Genres | Rock, Folk rock, Electric folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, record producer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, Dulcimer, Synthesiser, Drums |
| Years active | 1960s–present |
| Labels | Track, Island, Vertigo, Woodworm, Matty Grooves |
| Associated acts | Fairport Convention, Albion Band |
| Website | fairportconvention |
| Notable instruments | |
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Santa Cruz Tony Rice Dreadnought 1962 Rickenbacker Capri |
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Simon John Breckenridge Nicol (born 13 October 1950) is an English guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He was a founding member of British folk rock group Fairport Convention and is the only founding member still in the band. He has also been involved with the Albion Band and a wide range of musical projects, both as a collaborator, producer and as a solo artist. He has received several awards for his work and career.
Born in Muswell Hill, North London, Nicol was the son of a GP, who died in 1964. He began to play guitar at age 11 and left school at 15. In 1966 he was asked to join local band the Ethnic Shuffle Orchestra by bass guitarist Ashley Hutchings, and soon left his job at a local cinema to play full-time. They rehearsed above his father's old surgery in Fairport house, which gave its name to the band he and Hutchings formed with Richard Thompson and Shaun Frater as Fairport Convention in 1967.
As Thompson emerged as the lead guitarist, Nicol moved towards rhythm duties and occasional backing vocals. After some line-up changes the band enjoyed a degree of commercial success in their early years, with three albums and appearing on Britain's most popular music programme Top of the Pops in 1969 with the single "Si Tu Dois Partir", which reached number 21 in the UK Charts. Nicol contributed his first composition to the band for the second album What We Did on Our Holidays, the short instrumental 'End of a Holiday'. Besides contributing rhythm guitar and backing vocals to this album Nicol also played the autoharp on some songs. Nicol was injured in the accident that killed drummer Martin Lamble on 12 May 1969, but when he and the band were recovered they recorded what is usually considered their masterpiece and the most important single album in British folk rock, Liege and Lief (1969), which is credited as the key recording in the creation of the electric folk genre and which helped institute a major surge of interest in British folk music.
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