Nigel Stonier
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Nigel Stonier (born 10 December 1956) is an English rock,
roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...
and pop record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.


Biography

He was born in
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, but first relocated to London when, at the age of 17 he secured a publishing deal with Southern music, and recorded his first demos produced by Dave Cousins of
Strawbs The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known for their hi ...
, and with arrangements by Robert Kirby, famed for his work with
Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...
. Stonier's first official releases were with Northern Sky, with whom he was the rhythm guitarist, and co-writer of their 1980s track, "I Wanna Be With You". However, it was as a producer/collaborator that he eventually came to major recognition. He has produced and written material for a long line of British acts, including
Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...
(whose latter-day anthem The Wood and the Wire he composed with
Chris Leslie Christopher Michael Leslie (born 28 June 1972) is a British business executive and former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley from 1997 to 2005 and Nottingham East from 2010 to 2019. A former member of the La ...
),
Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...
,
Paul Young Paul Antony Young (born 17 January 1956) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & the Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, he became a teen idol with his solo success in the 1980s. H ...
of
Mike + The Mechanics Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...
and Sandi Thom. He has also collaborated with such UK roots-rock luminaries as Mike Scott of the Waterboys,
Kathryn Tickell Kathryn Tickell, Order of the British Empire, OBE, Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 8 June 1967) is an English musician, noted for playing the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. Music career Early life Kathryn Tickell was born in Walsall, to parent ...
, Chris While and
Rod Clements Roderick Parry Clements (born 17 November 1947) is a British guitarist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He formed the folk-rock band Lindisfarne (band), Lindisfarne with Alan Hull in 1970, and wrote "Meet Me on the Corner", a UK To ...
. It was with Clements that Stonier co-wrote "Can't Do Right For Doing Wrong", a top 40 hit in 2003 for pop singer Erin Rocha. He has produced both of Clements solo albums ''Stamping Ground'' and ''Odd Man Out''. In the mid-1990s, Stonier met and began working with Oxfordshire-born singer-songwriter
Thea Gilmore Thea Eve Gilmore (born 25 November 1979), also known as Afterlight, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released more than twenty albums since her 1998 debut, '' Burning Dorothy''. She has had three top 40 entries on the UK Albums Chart an ...
. He produced sixteen of her albums and toured extensively in the UK and US as her guitarist. In 2006, a song composed by Stonier and Clare Teal ("Messin' With Fire") was featured on the soundtrack of the hit British comedy movie ''
Confetti Confetti are small pieces or streamers of paper, mylar or metallic material, usually thrown at celebrations, especially parades and weddings. The origins are from the Latin ''confectum'', with ''confetti'' the plural of Italian ''confetto'', ...
'', performed by Teal. In 2019 the song was chosen by Toyota to feature on their TV advertising campaign across the US and South America. Stonier further collaborated with Teal on material for her 2007 album ''Paradisi Carousel''. Also in 2006, Stonier joined
Martha Wainwright Martha Wainwright (born May 8, 1976) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. She has released seven critically-acclaimed studio albums. Wainwright is the daughter of musicians Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and the younger si ...
onstage at the
Bloomsbury Theatre The Bloomsbury Theatre is a theatre located on Gordon Street in Bloomsbury, within the London Borough of Camden. It is owned by University College London. The Theatre has a seating capacity of 541 and offers a professional programme of innovati ...
in London. One of several UK artists guesting on the show, Stonier hooked up with Wainwright for a performance of her song "Who Was I Kidding". In 2009, Stonier co-wrote and produced Thea Gilmore's "That'll Be Christmas"; the most heavily played new seasonal song on
BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...
that year. It was also the first of several tracks Stonier co-wrote with Gilmore over the next five years which all made the 'A' list at Radio 2, others including "You're The Radio", "Live Out Loud", "Start As We Mean To Go On" and "Love Came Looking For Me". The last of these was chosen as Radio 2's single of the week in May 2013 and the spearhead for Thea Gilmore's first UK top 40 album ''Regardless''. Stonier also joined Gilmore on a project commissioned by Island Records to create completed songs from unfinished manuscripts left by the late singer-songwriter,
Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer-songwriter who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as " guably the pre-eminent British folk-rock sin ...
. The resulting album '' Don't Stop Singing'' yielded the song "London", co-written by Stonier, which was adopted by BBC TV for usage during their coverage of the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. On 2015's ''Ghosts And Graffiti'' collection, Stonier worked with artists including
Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...
,
The Waterboys The Waterboys are a rock band formed in 1983 by Scottish musician and songwriter Mike Scott (Scottish musician), Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Britain and Ireland, with Scott re ...
and
Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...
on new versions of Thea Gilmore songs. The album hit the top 40 in the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
in May of that year. Stonier has in recent years also produced debut albums for a number of artists, and secured the first national airplay for a diverse range of acts including Yorkshire based band Katy Lied (2008), Cambridge born singer/songwriter Tracey Browne (2013) and award-winning young UK folk singer Kelly Oliver (2014). In 2014, Stonier released his fifth solo album ''Built For Storms'', which included the track "I Hope I Always", which received extensive BBC Radio 2 airplay and led to performing a live session on
Clare Balding Clare Victoria Balding (born 29 January 1971) is an English broadcast journalist and author. She currently presents programmes for BBC Sport and Channel 4, and previously for BT Sport. She also formerly presented ''Good Morning Sunday'' on BBC ...
's ''Good Morning Sunday'' show in September 2014. The track was described by several BBC Radio 2 presenters as "one of the songs of the year". The album was also notable for featuring a guest appearance on violin by Stonier's older son Egan, then aged just 7. Egan has played on both subsequent solo albums released. The follow-up album ''Love And Work'' was released in February 2017 and again achieved BBC Radio 2 airplay and a 4 star review in
Mojo magazine ''Mojo'' (stylised in all caps) is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that ...
. In 2015, he produced the comeback album from Welsh band
Songdog Songdog is a Welsh folk noir duo. As of May 2021, current members are Lyndon Morgans (vocals, acoustic guitar, songwriting/arrangement) and Karl Woodward (electric guitar, mandolin, banjo, keyboards, harmonica). Previous members include Dave ...
, ''Joy Street''; the first single from this "It's Not A Love Thing" received airplay on both
BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...
and BBC Radio 2. In early 2016, Stonier collaborated with
Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...
,
Gretchen Peters Gretchen Peters is an American singer and songwriter. Early life Peters was born in Bronxville, New York on November 14, 1957. She wrote her first song with her sister at the age of 5. In 1970, her parents broke up, and Peters moved with her ...
,
Rosanne Cash Rosanne Cash (born May 24, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country musician Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Cash. Although Cash is often classified as a country artist, her music draws f ...
and
Mary Gauthier Mary Veronica Gauthier ( ; born March 11, 1962) is a Grammy-nominated American folk singer-songwriter and author, whose songs have been covered by performers including Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Kathy Mattea, Boy George, Jimmy Buffett, Bettye La ...
on a track to commemorate the 70th birthday of the TV and radio presenter Bob Harris. In January 2019 Stonier released "Navigate" which also received a 4 Star review in
Mojo Magazine ''Mojo'' (stylised in all caps) is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that ...
and widespread critical acclaim. During the same year "The New Tin Drum", a song co-written by Stonier was featured in the art-house film '' Bait'' which won several awards at The
Stockholm International Film Festival The Stockholm International Film Festival () is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year since then during the second half of November, and focuses on emerging and early career fil ...
and the
British Academy Film Awards The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...
. In 2019, Stonier began working on producing The Far North's debut album ''Songs For Gentle Souls''. This garnered the band their first
BBC 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...
airplay. In 2020 Stonier worked with
Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is the one of the two members who stayed during the band's existence ...
, Richard Thompson,
Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...
, John Oates and other celebrated musicians on a remake of the classic Stand By Me, to raise funds for Help Musicians, the online fund established to support musicians affected by the global pandemic. Stonier is an artistic director and curator of the annual music, poetry and literature event, Words and Music Festival, in
Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture ...
, Cheshire. This is now entering its sixteenth year and sister-festival, Nantwich Roots, has also been established.


Marriage

Stonier and
Thea Gilmore Thea Eve Gilmore (born 25 November 1979), also known as Afterlight, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released more than twenty albums since her 1998 debut, '' Burning Dorothy''. She has had three top 40 entries on the UK Albums Chart an ...
were married until their separation in early 2019 and subsequent divorce in 2021.


Discography

Stonier has released six solo albums and one compilation. *''Golden Coins for the Holy Kid'' (1995) *''English Ghosts'' (2000) *''Brimstone and Blue'' (2003) *''Don't Sing Love Songs... ...You'll Wake My Mother'' (2006 compilation) *''Notes from Overground'' (2010) *''Built for Storms'' (2014) *''Love and Work'' (2017) *''Navigate'' (2019) *''Wolf Notes'' (2025)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stonier, Nigel English record producers English male songwriters Musicians from Cheshire Living people Musicians from London 1956 births People educated at Sandbach School