English singer-songwriter, NIK KERSHAW was a 1980s teen idol; he spent 62 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984-5 and beat every other solo artist at the time. He appeared at Live Aid in 1985, and penned a number of hits for other artists, including a UK number one single in 1991 for Chesney Hawkes “The One and Only”.

Nik played guitar and sang in a number of underground bands from 76 before deciding on a career as a songwriter. However, he ended up performing his own songs rather than giving them to others, and signed a record deal in 1983, which spawned a debut single, “I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”, which just missed out on the UK Top 40. At the beginning of 1984, he made his breakthrough when “Wouldn’t It Be Good”, which reached Number 4 in the UK charts. He enjoyed three more Top 20 hits from debut album Human Racing, including the title track and a successful re-issue of his debut single, which ultimately proved his biggest hit as a performer when it got to Number 2 in the UK.

Nik won multiple awards and attracted admirers for his writing such as Elton John & Eric Clapton. He also gained a huge teenage fanbase; a phenomenon Nik says was extremely difficult to manage.

When he released the single “The Riddle”, fans and journalists were sent into overdrive, as everyone tried to figure out what the meaning was behind the strange set of circumstances and clues which Nik had put in the verses and chorus. (It later turned out that it was all hastily created nonsense). 

In 1985 Nik was among a huge lineup of performers at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium. He tells us that performing there was one of the scariest days of his life. 

Soon after, Nik retired from recording music in favour of his original career path as a songwriter. His prowess as a songwriter served him well in 1991 when his song The One And Only, appeared on the soundtrack to the Brittish movie Buddy’s Song and in the American film “Doc Hollywood”, and provided a UK Number 1 single for the star of the film, Chesney Hawkes (son of the Tremeloes’ Chip Hawkes). In 1993 The Hollies had a minor hit with another of his songs, The Woman I Love.

1999 saw the release of the Britpop-styled 15 Minutes; later on a collection of acoustic-led songs and ‘EI8HT’, a commercial MOR pop album. Nik released Oxymoron, in 2020 and is currently in the process of releasing a series of EPs, Songs from a Shelf. 

Nik Kershaw joins me this week as our special guest. As always it’s a warm, friendly chat during which surprising things often come up.

For more information visit Nik Kershaw’s official site at http://www.nikkershaw.net

Always happy to hear your comments and feedback too!

I hope you enjoy this episode with Nik Kershaw!

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Sandy Kaye Sandy Kaye

Hello, I’m Sandy Kaye. A freelance broadcaster, journalist and producer who has spent more than 35 years on both sides of radio and television microphones. I’ve worked with every TV network in Australia, have produced and presented for countless radio stations around the country and have hosted my own commercial radio talk-back show. I’ve even held the distinction of being Sydney’s first female newsreader on radio – way back when!

Today my passion is A Breath of Fresh Air which allows me to immerse myself in one of my favourite things – music. I just love all kinds of music and am fascinated by the people who make it. In particular, it’s the music of the '60s '70s and '80s that takes me back to my youth and means so much to me.

As a journalist, I’m all about digging deep into the classic hits of our time.
I bring you intimate, warm, fireside chats with the artists who tell us about their lives both then and now.
We learn about what makes them tick, who they are in their professional and private lives and how they went about making the soundtrack to our lives.

'A Breath of Fresh Air’ is exceptional - exceptional not because of me, but rather because of the stories that some of the best-known musical artists choose to share with me.

I created this podcast to honour them. It’s all about THEIR lives, THEIR stories, THEIR music, told now, in THEIR voices, before they’re lost forever.

I see my podcast as a personal labour of love, but also as an archival legacy for music fans and practitioners alike, both current and future, who otherwise might never know of the amazing people who helped build the industry.

I really hope you enjoy each and every episode of A Breath of Fresh Air.