Nik Kershaw and Seb Wesson

Hailed as “the best songwriter of a generation” by none other than Elton John himself, Nik Kershaw is quite possibly the first great example of a teen idol becoming a respected artist in his own right, leading the way for others from Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio to Justin Timberlake. Born to a musical family where his mother was a singer and his father a flautist, he spent his early childhood teaching himself to play the guitar before forming a number of bands around Ispwich, where he spent his teenage years. After finding no success with bands, he went solo in 1982, and in 1983 he placed an advert in Melody Maker magazine for a manager which was answered by a man named Micky Modern, who secured the young Kershaw a record deal with MCA shortly after they met.

His first single “I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me” was a major hit in Scandinavia, Sweden and The Netherlands, but it wasn't until January 1984 that he released his breakthrough hit in the UK “Wouldn't It Be Good”. The song was a top five hit in the UK and also charted strongly all over the rest of Europe, his debut album “Human Racing” was a huge hit as well, providing Kershaw with three more Top 20 hits including, as if to make up for earlier, a hugely succesful re-release of “I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me”, which reached number two in the UK charts. His second album, November 1984's “The Riddle” was a similar success that secured Kershaw a slot at 1985's Live Aid festival at Wembley Stadium.

Kershaw's commercial clout waned towards the end of the 1980's, but since he was such an experienced songwriter, the 90's proved to be very kind to Kershaw all the same. He got off to a pretty cracking start by writing the only number one single of his career, Chesney Hawkes' “The One And Only”, and would continue in the vein for most of the decade. He didn't release an album of his own material until 1999's self-deprecatingly titled “15 Minutes”, which completely shed his teeny bopper image and let the world see him as an accomplished songwriter in his own right. Ever since then, he's remained one of the most respected artists of the 1980's, continuing to release some of the best material of his career and perform live shows that reflect his nearly 40 years worth of performing experience. For that, Nik Kershaw comes highly recommended.