Craig Nicholls
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
31 August 1977
- Musician
- songwriter
- artist
Craig Nicholls | |
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 Nicholls performing in December 2003 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Craig Robert Nicholls 31 August 1977 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1994–present |
Craig Robert Nicholls (born 31 August 1977) is an Australian musician, best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the Australian alternative rock band The Vines, of which he is the sole continuous member.
Nicholls was born in Sydney.[1] Terry Nicholls, his father, was the guitarist and vocalist in a 1960s group named The Vynes.[2] He later worked as an accountant for Sony Music Australia.[2] Nicholls has an older brother, Matt, an older sister, Tara, who is a solicitor, and a younger sister, Jessica.[3][4][5] Nicholls' father taught him to play guitar during childhood.[2][6] He spent his free time listening to The Beatles, painting artworks, and skateboarding. He stated, "I grew up a loner... I never socialised. I stayed at home and listened to music all day. Music became a mystical world."[2]
Nicholls attended Marist College Penshurst until he dropped out of high school in year 10.[2] He then enrolled in an art school for six months to study painting.[2][7] He supported his ambition to become a musician by working at a McDonald's in Hurstville.[2][8] There, he met future bandmates, bass guitarist Patrick Matthews and drummer David Olliffe.[6] To form a quartet named Rishikesh, Nicholls also invited his schoolmate Ryan Griffiths to join as a guitarist. Nicholls chose the band's name, Rishikesh, which originally referred to a city in India where The Beatles had attended an ashram.[6][9] Reviewing early gigs, newspapers would misprint the name as "Rishi Chasms", so Nicholls decided to change it to The Vines, as a reference to his father's group.
Music career
Nicholls commenced his song writing career at the time when The Vines began live performances.[when?] Initial shows included performances at backyard parties and a presence on a local radio station. Gaining popularity in Sydney, the band attracted the attention of Capitol Records. Nicholls continued to compose songs, writing Factory,[10] the band's first single, which became NME's Single of the Week in November 2001.[11] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2002, The Vines won Best Breakthrough Artist – Single for Get Free, which was also written by Nicholls.[12][13] At the APRA Music Awards of 2003 he won the Breakthrough Songwriter Award.[14]
Griffiths, Heald and Rosser eventually left the band,[when?] and Nicholls returned with new band members for the release of The Vines' independently-released sixth album Wicked Nature, described as a "comeback" by Darren Levin of the Faster Louder online music publication. Nicholls also produced the album that was recorded with Tim John (bass) and Lachy West (drums) of the band The Griswolds. Regarding the departure of his former bandmates, Nicholls explained in August 2014, "It's not the most comfortable thing [to talk about... it's just a shame that it didn't work out."[15]
Several of Nicholls' paintings are used for The Vines' releases, including for the albums Highly Evolved, Winning Days (self portrait only), and singles Highly Evolved, and Outtathaway!. Nicholls' work on Highly Evolved was nominated for Best Cover Art at the 2002 ARIA Awards.[12][16]
