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Nick Russel Fowler (born May 11, 1967) is an American author and
musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...
who began making music while studying at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
. In 1989, he moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and teamed up with
Gregg Wattenberg Gregg Wattenberg is an American record producer, based in New York City. Best known for his work with the alternative rock band Goo Goo Dolls, he has been nominated for a Grammy Award. Work Gregg Wattenberg has co-written and/or co-produced eigh ...
, Michael Haar, and Greg Smith to form Tonto Tonto. Fowler has published two novels. His first was released in 2002 entitled '' A Thing (or Two) About Curtis and Camilla'' and was published by Pantheon Books in the U.S. and by Hodder & Stoughton in the U.K. This novel was followed by ''My Virtuous Sister''. He has also published an essay collection entitled ''Master of DiviniTy: Collected Essays.''


Early life

Fowler grew up in
Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...
. He attended
Maclay School Maclay School is an independent, non-sectarian college-preparatory school in Tallahassee, Florida. History In the late 1960s, a group of white parents raised funds to create a segregation academy in response to the federally mandated racial int ...
before attending
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, where he studied English literature, creative writing and music theory. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature, he moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.


Music career

Fowler formed the four-piece band Tonto Tonto with
Gregg Wattenberg Gregg Wattenberg is an American record producer, based in New York City. Best known for his work with the alternative rock band Goo Goo Dolls, he has been nominated for a Grammy Award. Work Gregg Wattenberg has co-written and/or co-produced eigh ...
, drummer Michael Haar, and bassist Greg Smith. The band secured a
recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...
with Victory, who at the time was a division of Polygram. The band released their debut album ''Mirror for the Blame'' produced by Ric Wake, which led Fowler and his three bandmates to appear in an episode of ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...
.'' In 2009, Fowler formed the pomp-rock band Maximilian is King with Arthur Lynn and keyboardist
Rob Clores Rob Clores is an American, New York–based keyboard player and composer who has toured and recorded with Jesse Malin, The Black Crowes, Tom Jones, Men at Work frontman Colin Hay, Marius Muller Westernhagen, Enrique Iglesias, Blues Traveler ...
. The band released an
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
album, ''Music For The Fire'', which was mixed by Steve Thompson and placed on rotation on
Anything Anything with Rich Russo ''Anything Anything with Rich Russo'' is a weekly two-hour freeform radio program that airs on Sunday nights at 9 pm in the New York City market. The program's weekly playlists range from deep tracks of known artists, punk, non-album b-sid ...
, featured on
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's largest rock radio station, WRXP 101.9. Maximilian Is King's debut full-length ''Songs To Kill Yourself With'' was released shortly after. The album was notably mixed by
Roy Thomas Baker Roy Thomas Baker (10 November 1946 – 12 April 2025) was an English record producer, songwriter and arranger who produced rock and pop songs. Life and career Baker was born in Hampstead, London on 10 November 1946. He began his career at De ...
, produced by Arthur Lynn with drum programming by
Carlos Alomar Carlos Alomar (born 7 May 1951) is a Puerto Rican guitarist. He is best known for his work with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, having played on more Bowie albums than any other musician. History The son of a Pentecostal mi ...
. On September 15, 2011, Maximilian is King performed at The Low Down With Hoyle Jackson at Bloomingdale's 59th Street in Manhattan. In November 2011, Fowler began performing live with guitarist and songwriter
Steve Stevens Steve Stevens (born Steven Bruce Schneider; May 5, 1959) is an American guitarist. He is best known as Billy Idol's guitarist and songwriting collaborator, and for his lead guitar work on the theme to ''Top Gun'' – " Top Gun Anthem" – for ...
. In April 2013, Fowler performed the song "Sleep Walking" included in the motion picture '' The Right Kind of Wrong''. On May 27, 2020, Fowler released two songs he recorded with the band
Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of pu ...
entitled "Long Way Down to Gehenna" and "This Is Not America." Fowler is a founding member of the non-profit Musicians on Call.


Author

In 2002, Fowler's first novel, titled, ''A Thing (or Two) About Curtis and Camilla'' was published in North America by Pantheon Books, and by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. He contributed illustrations to the novel. Fowler's second novel, entitled ''My Virtuous Sister'', was published in 2019. Fowler's book of essays, entitled ''Master of DiviniTy: Collected Essays'', was published in December 2022. His story, "Innocence," was published in ''The Encyclopedia of Exes'', edited by Meredith Broussard. Fowler has also written fiction for Vice-Versa online journal and Pulse Berlin. Fowler's journalism has been published in GQ and POZ. He has taught fiction writing at mediabistro,
The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...
and
NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...
in the Holocaust Museum. During this time, his short story, "A Spider's Diary" was published in the NYU literary magazine, ''Epiphany''. His academic criticism has been published in ''
The Antioch Review ''The Antioch Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1941 at Antioch College in Ohio. The magazine was published on a quarterly basis. One of the oldest continuously published literary magazines in the United States prior to it ...
'' and his poetry in ''The Tribecca Poetry Review''.


Actor

In 1999, Fowler appeared on ''
The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...
'' in the 10th episode of the first season, "
A Hit Is a Hit "A Hit Is a Hit" is the 10th episode of the HBO original series ''The Sopranos''. Written by Joe Bosso and Frank Renzulli, and directed by Matthew Penn, it originally aired on March 14, 1999. Starring * James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano * Lorra ...
". Fowler played the part of Richie Santini, an ex-boyfriend of Adriana La Cerva. In the episode, he performed in the fictional band Visiting Day, created by Fowler and Gregg Wattenberg.


Bibliography

* '' A Thing (or Two) About Curtis and Camilla'' * *''Master of DiviniTy: Collected Essays'' published on Amazon. *"Innocence" (short story)– Published in ''The Encyclopedia of Exes''. *"A Spider's Diary" (short story) – Published in ''Epiphany''. *Chase Reprise (short story) published in Pulse Berlin *Ember Days (short story) published in Vice Versa *Bruce Jay Friedman:Making Sense of Entropy-published in The Antioch Review *Getting Laid in Tinseltown-GQ *Timothy Older, By Design-Tribeca Poetry Review


Discography

* Tonto Tonto - ''Mirror for the Blame'' (1992) released by Victory Records *Maximilian is King-Songs to Kill Yourself With (2011) *Real Today – featured in the motion picture and video game Dr. Giggles *Heroine Girl – featured in the motion picture Undocumented *You Don't Remember – featured in the 90210 episode Winter Wonderland *Goodbye – featured in the motion picture Mercy *Sleep Walking-featured in the motion picture The Right Kind of Wrong *Hold On Me –DJ Riddler Enigma *Long Way Down to Gehenna –Nick Fowler The Messiah and Velvet Revolver (2020) *This Is Not America –Nick Fowler The Messiah and Velvet Revolver (2020) * * * *


Recognition

Fowler appeared in CODE NYC's first issue.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Nick Russell 21st-century American novelists American male journalists Living people Singers from New York City Cornell University alumni American male singer-songwriters American male novelists 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) 21st-century American non-fiction writers Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Maclay School alumni 1967 births