Nicholas Beggs (born 15 December 1961Larkin, Colin (1997) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'', Virgin Books, , p. 270-271) is an English musician, noted for playing the bass guitar and the Chapman Stick; he is a member of the Mute Gods and

Kajagoogoo Kajagoogoo ( ) were an English Pop music, pop band. They are best known for their 1983 hit single "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, and the top 10 in numerous other countries. History Beginnings (1978–1982) Formed ...

, formerly also a part of

Iona Iona (; , sometimes simply ''Ì'') is an island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there are other buildings on the island. Iona Abbey was a centre of Gaeli ...

and Ellis, Beggs & Howard and plays in the band of

Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...

. He is known for modifying a Chapman Stick into a fully

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

-capable instrument triggering MIDI from both bass and melody strings; he calls it the Virtual Stick.

Career

Beggs' first band Johnny and the Martians (formed when he was 10) consisted of two friends on trumpet and acoustic guitar and Beggs on drums. He went to Linslade Secondary School. After attending art school, in 1978 Beggs formed the band Art Nouveau with Steve Askew, Stuart Croxford Neale and

Jez Strode Kajagoogoo ( ) were an English pop band. They are best known for their 1983 hit single "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, and the top 10 in numerous other countries. History Beginnings (1978–1982) Formed in Leigh ...

. Chris Hamill (

Limahl Christopher Hamill (born 19 December 1958), known professionally as Limahl ( , an anagram of Hamill), is an English pop singer. He was the lead singer of the pop group Kajagoogoo beginning in 1982, before embarking on a solo career, garnering t ...

) joined the band in 1981 and at Beggs' suggestion it was renamed

. The release of the first single "

Too Shy "Too Shy" is a song written and recorded by the British band Kajagoogoo, released in January 1983. The first single from their debut album ''White Feathers'', the song was an immediate hit and reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two ...

" in January 1983 saw the band on a promotional tour as the record reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart. The band went on to have four more UK top 40 hits through 1983 and 1984. After firing lead singer Limahl in 1983 and, following a split with Strode in 1985, the three remaining band members reformed as Kaja, releasing the album ''

Crazy Peoples Right to Speak ''Crazy Peoples Right to Speak'' is the third album by English new wave band Kajagoogoo, released in 1985 by Parlophone. The album was not a commercial success and failed to make the UK Top 100. The only single from the album, "Shouldn't Do That" ...

'' and the single "

Shouldn't Do That A contraction is a shortened version of the spoken and written forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters and sounds. In linguistic analysis, contractions should not be confused with crasis, abbreviations ...

". Between 1985 and 1987, Beggs concentrated on writing with various other songwriters and formed Ellis, Beggs & Howard in March 1987.Burnett, Bryan (1998)
Nick's Knack for Finding Success
, ''

Evening Times The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

band

. He recorded two albums with them: ''The Book of Kells'' and ''Beyond These Shores''. He continued working with various artists and bands, including

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

, Alphaville,

Belinda Carlisle Belinda Jo Carlisle ( ; born August 17, 1958) is an American singer and songwriter. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female rock bands of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a sol ...

Emma Bunton Emma Lee Bunton (born 21 January 1976) is an English singer, songwriter, media personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the Pop music, pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Baby Spice, reflecting the ...

(on her album '' Life in Mono'') and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

's former bass player,

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...

.Christman, Ed (1999)
Zeppelin's Jones Makes Solo Return
, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', 14 August 1999, p. 12, 15, retrieved 2 July 2011 In 1996, Beggs met Howard Jones on a flight from the United States, and Jones invited Beggs to tour as part of his band. Beggs worked as a manager for

Phonogram Records Phonogram Incorporated was started in 1970 as a successor to Philips Phonographic Industries, a unit of the Grammophon-Philips Group (GPG), a joint venture of Philips N.V. of the Netherlands and Siemens AG of Germany. It was a holding company f ...

for eight months. He later became a contributor to various guitar publications, and he is a staff writer for ''Bass Guitar'' magazine. He is also a patron of London-based guitar and bass school Guitar-X. He has recorded and released ''Stick Insect'' (2002), ''The Maverick Helmsman'' (2004), and ''The Darkness Inside Mens Hearts''. Beggs and Askew have been heavily involved with a duo named Industrial Salt, which have been successful in Japan. They have written material for Claudia Mills, a finalist on the talent show '' Let Me Entertain You''. Nick Beggs bassist

A reformed Kajagoogoo with Beggs, Askew and Croxford Neale toured in 2004. Limahl and Strode both rejoined in 2008, and the band toured extensively. The band released an EP of new material in 2011. In an interview with Cherry Red TV in 2018, Beggs talked about the reunion, stating "we reformed and we toured and we recorded an EP and remastered the back catalogue...and at that point I felt that we had done it all. It was a nice way to tie it up, put a bow on it and leave it alone and move on." Since 2011, Beggs is a member of

's touring band, having also played on Wilson's albums ''

Grace For Drowning ''Grace for Drowning'' is the second solo studio album by Steven Wilson, producer, songwriter, and frontman of Porcupine Tree. It was released by Kscope on 26 September 2011 as a double album, and being his first album after Porcupine Tree’s ...

'', '' The Raven That Refused to Sing'', '' Hand. Cannot. Erase.'', the EP '' 41/2'', '' To the Bone'', '' The Future Bites'' and '' The Harmony Codex''. In February 2013, Beggs's project Lifesigns, with

John Young John Young most commonly refers to: *John Young (astronaut) (1930–2018), American astronaut * John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar (1807–1876), British diplomat and politician John Young may also refer to: Academics * John Young (professor of Greek) ...

and

Frosty Beedle Martin "Frosty" Beedle (born 18 September 1961) is a British musician who plays, produces and composes music. He plays drums, percussion, programs keyboard parts using high quality plugins and sings all types of genres. He plays various styles ...

, released a self-titled album. Beggs also became a member of the Belgian prog band Fish on Friday, starting the collaboration with their third album named Godspeed at the end of 2014, marking the starting point of a series of successful albums, along a decade: Quiet Life (2017), Black Rain (2020), and the most recent creation, 8mm (2023). He contributed to John Mitchell's solo project Lonely Robot, which released the album ''Please Come Home'' in February 2015. Beggs's latest collaboration is named The Mute Gods, with Marco Minneman and Roger King. Their first album was released in January 2016, titled ''

Do Nothing till You Hear from Me "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" (also written as "Do Nothin' Til You Hear from Me") is a song with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell. It originated as a 1940 instrumental ("Concerto for Cootie") that was designed to highlight t ...

''. This was followed up with '' Tardigrades Will Inherit The Earth'' in February 2017 and Atheists and Believers in 2019. CTTE_2024_DSCF1159_-_Marillion

In 2024, Beggs temporarily replaced bass player

Peter Trewavas Peter Trewavas (born 15 January 1959) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the progressive rock band Marillion. He joined in 1982, replacing Diz Minnitt, while acting as a backing vocalist and occasional guitarist. Biography ...

Marillion Marillion are a British neo-prog band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becoming the mo ...

, who is unavailable after a medical procedure.

Personal life

Beggs was a

pescetarian Pescetarianism ( ; sometimes spelled pescatarianism) is a dietary practice in which seafood is the only source of meat in an otherwise vegetarian diet. The inclusion of other animal products, such as eggs and dairy, is optional. According to res ...

for a while. He has been a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

as of January 2016, due to his rejection of the

livestock industry Livestock are the domesticated animals that are raised in an agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ...

Discography

Ellis, Beggs and Howard

Singles

* "Big Bubbles No Troubles" (

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, 1988) – # 59 UK * "Bad Times" (RCA, 1988) * "Where Did Tomorrow Go?" (RCA, 1988) * "Big Bubbles No Troubles" remix (RCA, 1989) – # 41 UK * "Big Bubbles No Troubles" remix (RCA, 1989)

Albums

*''Homelands'' (RCA, 1988) *''The Lost Years Volume One'' – available from Nick Beggs website *''The Lost Years Volume Two'' – available from Nick Beggs website as of 2010

Lifesigns

*''Lifesigns'' (Esoteric Antenna, 2013)

Solo

Albums

* ''Stick Insect'' (Stick Enterprises, 2002) * ''The Maverick Helmsman'' (Stick Enterprises, 2004) * ''The Darkness Inside Mens Hearts'' (Burning Shed, 2014) – a compilation of the solo Chapman Stick pieces from his albums ''Stick Insect'' (2002) and ''The Maverick Helmsman'' (2004) * ''Words Fail Me'' (Cherry Red, 2019)

With other artists

With John Paul Jones *''

The Thunderthief ''The Thunderthief'' is John Paul Jones's second solo studio album, released in 2001. Track listing All music and lyrics composed and written by John Paul Jones, except where otherwise noted. # "Leafy Meadows" – 5:10 # "The Thunder ...

'' (2001) With Steve Hackett *'' Out of the Tunnel's Mouth'' (2009) *'' Beyond the Shrouded Horizon'' (2011) *'' Live Rails'' (2011) *''

Genesis Revisited II ''Genesis Revisited II'' is the 22nd studio album by musician Steve Hackett, released on 22 October 2012 by Inside Out Music label. It is a sequel to his 1996 album '' Genesis Revisited'' and largely consists of reworked versions of songs or ...

'' (2012) *'' Wolflight'' (2015) With Steven Wilson *''

'' (2011) *'' Catalog / Preserve / Amass'' (live) (2012) *'' Get All You Deserve'' (live) (2012) *'' The Raven that Refused to Sing'' (2013) *''

Drive Home ''Drive Home'' is an EP released by British musician Steven Wilson, featuring music videos, previously unreleased tracks, and live renditions of several songs recorded at Hugenottenhalle, Neu-Isenburg (although erroneously credited to being in Fr ...

'' (2013) *'' Hand. Cannot. Erase.'' (2015) * '' 4½'' (2016) * '' To the Bone'' (2017) * '' Home Invasion: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall'' (2018) * '' The Future Bites'' (2021) * '' The Harmony Codex'' (2023) With Fish on Friday * ''Godspeed'' (2014) * ''Quiet Life'' (2017) * ''Black Rain'' (2020) * ''8mm'' (2023) With Lonely Robot (i.e. John Mitchell) *''Please Come Home'' (2015) With The Mute Gods *''

'' (2016) *'' Tardigrades Will Inherit the Earth'' (2017) *''Atheists and Believers'' (2019) With Trifecta *''Fragments'' (2021) *''The New Normal'' (2024)

References

External links

Official website
* *
KajaGooGoo official website

The Mute Gods
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beggs, Nick 1961 births Living people People from Winslow, Buckinghamshire English bass guitarists English male guitarists British male bass guitarists English new wave musicians Chapman Stick players Lifesigns members