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Nick Garrie (born Nicholas Miansarow, 22 June 1949), Biography by Jason Ankeny, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 16 September 2019
also known as Nick Hamilton or Nick Garrie-Hamilton, is a British singer-songwriter.


Life and career

Garrie was born in
Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...
in the
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
, to a Russian father and Scottish mother whose surname he adopted. After spending most of his teens in a boarding school in France, he attended the
University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...
in England, and began writing songs as well as poems. Around 1968, while backpacking around Europe, he began performing in bars and restaurants, and recorded an unreleased LP in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
. He resumed his studies at Warwick, and was then contacted by the Paris-based record label DiscAZ, headed by Lucien Morisse, who offered him a recording contract. Garrie recorded an unreleased single, "Queen of Spades", with producer
Mickey Baker MacHouston "Mickey" Baker (October 15, 1925 – November 27, 2012) was an American musician, best known for his work as a studio musician and as part of the recording duo Mickey & Sylvia. Early life Baker was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His ...
, and then an album, ''The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas''. The album was produced by
Eddie Vartan Edmond Vartan (born Edmond Vartanian; 10 August 1937 – 19 June 2001) was a French musician, bandleader, arranger, and record producer of Armenian descent. Life and career Vartan was born to Armenian parents in Sofia, Bulgaria, and moved to F ...
, who had previously worked with his sister
Sylvie Vartan Sylvie Vartan (; born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarians in France, Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured ela ...
and her husband
Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and Pop music, pop singer and actor, credited with having brought rock and roll to France. During a career ...
. Vartan hired a 56-piece
symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...
for the sessions, against the wishes of Garrie who "later bemoaned the detrimental effects of such lush orchestration on his delicate, uncommonly literate songs". The record was briefly released in France, but label boss Lucien Morisse committed suicide soon afterwards, and Garrie's album was not widely distributed. Original copies of the album became expensive, and it was not until 2005, when
Rev-ola Records Rev-Ola Records is a British independent record label formed in 1990 that specializes in reissues, as well as select new releases. The label is headed by Joe Foster, a former child actor and musician/producer. He, along with Alan McGee and ...
reissued it, that it was available on compact disc. In 2010, Elefant Records re-issued the album as a deluxe edition with newly recorded songs written in the late 1960s, demos of the originals and a short book written by the artist. Garrie then withdrew from performing and recording, returning in 1976 under the alias of Nick Hamilton – a family name – to record the single "Un Instant de Vie" with
Francis Lai Francis Albert Lai (; 26 April 19327 November 2018) was a French composer, noted for his film scores. He won the 1970 Oscar for Best Music, Original Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the film '' Love Story''. The ...
, a friend and admirer of his earlier album. He then managed a ski resort in the
Swiss Alps The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ...
for several years, but in 1983 returned with the single "Back in 1930", produced in France by
Paul Samwell-Smith Paul Granville Samwell-Smith (born Paul G. Smith, 8 May 1943, in Brentford, West London, England) is an English musician and record producer. He was a founding member and the bassist of the 1960s English rock band the Yardbirds, which launched ...
, followed by an album, ''Suitcase Man'', on the Spanish
Picap PICAP is a Catalan record label headquartered in Castellar del Vallès, Spain. It was founded in 1984. History PICAP supports Catalan authors and performers. While respecting the performer's linguistic expression, it gives preferential supp ...
label. The album was arranged and co-produced by guitarist Alun Davies, best known for his work with
Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...
, and other musicians included drummer
Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" (" Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, science ficti ...
. It was successful in Spain, and Garrie supported
Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...
on his concerts there. Garrie started to become better known in the English-speaking world after a track, "Wheel of Fortune", appeared on a
psychedelic pop Psychedelic pop (or acid pop) is a genre of pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the mid-to-late 1960s, elements included " trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, ...
compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
, ''Circus Days''. In 1988, again under the name Nick Hamilton, he recorded another album, ''The Playing Fields'', with producer
Peter-John Vettese Peter-John Vettese (born 15 August 1956), also known as Peter Vettese, is a Scottish keyboardist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. Vettese was the keyboardist for progressive rock band Jethro Tull for most of the 1980s. Early life Pet ...
, previously of Jethro Tull. In the 1990s, he toured Japan and Korea, and wrote songs, with Francis Lai. He returned to France to work as a teacher, and in 2002 released the album ''Twelve Old Songs''. In late 2005 the British reissue label Rev-Ola released ''The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas'' to much critical acclaim, adding the "Queen of Spades" single as well as several unreleased Belgian demos. Over the next few years, Garrie became more active as a performer, making his first ever U.S. appearance and playing throughout Europe. In 2009, Elefant Records put out a collection of Garrie's new songs entitled ''49 Arlington Gardens'', recorded with Scottish musicians in Glasgow, including Duglas T. Stewart ( BMX Bandits), Norman Blake (
Teenage Fanclub Teenage Fanclub are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Glasgow in 1989. The group were founded by Norman Blake (Scottish musician), Norman Blake (vocals, guitar), Raymond McGinley (vocals, lead guitar) and Gerard Love (vocals, bass), al ...
), Francis Macdonald (Teenage Fanclub) and Ally Kerr (singer-songwriter). In June 2012, for the first time in over 40 years, Garrie performed ''The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas'' in its entirety – with a string section and members of
Trembling Bells Trembling Bells were a Scottish folk rock group formed in 2008 by drummer Alex Neilson, a musician with a history of free and improvised playing with several artists. Based in Glasgow, the group released three albums through Honest Jon's Recor ...
– at the
Primavera Sound Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as Primavera) is an annual music festival held at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, during late May and early June. It was founded in 2001 by Pablo Soler as "a showcase for Spanish Noise rock, noise ban ...
festival in Barcelona to a rapturous reception and critical acclaim. In recent years Garrie has played Shepherd's Bush Empire (with
Camera Obscura A camera obscura (; ) is the natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a aperture, small hole into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) ...
),
Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of trad ...
(Glasgow), Tanned Tin (Barcelona), Tonic (New York), L'International (Paris), Lemonpop, Easypop and Felipop (Spain), Jacco Gardner (Netherlands) and Altafidelidad (Madrid and Barcelona). In 2017,
Tapete Records Tapete Records is an independent record label based in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 2002 by Gunther Buskies and Dirk Darmstaedter and primarily focused on Deutschpop Bands such as Erdmöbel, Niels Frevert, Tele and Anajo. Since 2005 T ...
released Garrie's most recent work, ''The Moon and the Village''. It was produced by two members of
The Ladybug Transistor The Ladybug Transistor is a Brooklyn-based indie pop group associated with The Elephant Six Collective. History Started in 1995 by Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor), Gary Olson, Edward Powers and Javier Villegas, The Ladybug Transistor released ...
.


Discography


Nick Garrie

* ''The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas'' (1969) * ''49 Arlington Gardens'' (2009) * ''The Moon and the Village'' (2017)


Nick Hamilton

* ''Suitcase Man'' (1984) * ''The Playing Fields'' (1988) * ''Twelve Old Songs'' (2002)


References


External links


Official websiteReview of ''The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas''
at ''
Crawdaddy! ''Crawdaddy'' was an American rock music magazine launched in 1966. It was created by Paul Williams, a Swarthmore College student at the time, in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music. The magazine w ...
''
Off-Stage Video Recording Session
with ''They Shoot Music Don't They''
Tanned Tin Festival in Castellon, Spain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrie, Nick 1949 births Living people English male singers English male songwriters People from Ripon Tapete Records artists Alumni of the University of Warwick Elefant Records artists