Biography
Born in Hertfordshire, pianist and vocalist Nicky Holland began her piano studies while still young, later drawing inspiration from Carole King during her time at the Royal Academy of Music. After completing her degree she continued academic work at City University in London, where in 1981 she joined classmates Virginia Astley and Kate St. John to form the Ravishing Beauties. The trio performed in an array of rock and punk venues, crossed paths with Julian Cope and the Teardrop Explodes, and subsequently served as support on the band’s national tours.
Holland next took a steady lounge job singing and playing piano four nights a week, steadily widening her repertoire through cocktail standards, blues, classical pieces, and her own material. An exit from that circuit arrived with Fun Boy Three; she supplied piano for the group’s recording of George Gershwin’s “Summertime,” which rose on the British charts. Shortly afterward she became the band’s musical director and joined its European and American dates following the sessions for Waiting, an album produced by David Byrne.
In 1983 Holland started writing her earliest scores for television and film while also singing and playing keyboards in the Escape, which opened for Tears for Fears on their British tour that year. Once the Escape disbanded she accepted an invitation for a planned three-month worldwide trek with Tears for Fears; the commitment stretched onward and she remained with the group through 1987. During that period she shared co-writing credit on five tracks from the Seeds of Love album, among them “Rhythm of Life,” later a hit for Oleta Adams, and contributed part of the score for the film She’s Having a Baby.
After settling in New York in the late eighties she met Ryuichi Sakamoto and toured Japan and the United States with his band in 1990. Epic signed her in the fall of that year; the next twelve months were devoted to writing, recording, and mixing her self-titled debut, released in 1991. Her keyboard and vocal work can also be heard on recordings by Cyndi Lauper, Celine Dion, Kathy Sledge, and Lisa Taylor, among others.
Holland resumed her solo career in 1997 with Sense and Sensuality, co-writing several songs alongside Lloyd Cole and XTC’s Andy Partridge. That same year her version of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David classic “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” appeared prominently in the film My Best Friend’s Wedding.
After devoting most of the 2000s to her private life she returned to songwriting in 2010, collaborating with Murray James, Marlon Roudette, James Blunt, and Nick Howard; the latter scored a major hit with the Holland-penned 2013 single “Unbreakable.” She stayed active in following years, working with German artist Peter Plate and creating a Top 20 hit in Italy for singer Aba. A further collaboration with Ellen Shipley, “Goodbye Just Go,” became the lead single on Belinda Carlisle’s 2014 greatest-hits collection. In 2017 Holland assembled the retrospective Nobody’s Girl, featuring remixed tracks drawn from her two solo albums.
Holland next took a steady lounge job singing and playing piano four nights a week, steadily widening her repertoire through cocktail standards, blues, classical pieces, and her own material. An exit from that circuit arrived with Fun Boy Three; she supplied piano for the group’s recording of George Gershwin’s “Summertime,” which rose on the British charts. Shortly afterward she became the band’s musical director and joined its European and American dates following the sessions for Waiting, an album produced by David Byrne.
In 1983 Holland started writing her earliest scores for television and film while also singing and playing keyboards in the Escape, which opened for Tears for Fears on their British tour that year. Once the Escape disbanded she accepted an invitation for a planned three-month worldwide trek with Tears for Fears; the commitment stretched onward and she remained with the group through 1987. During that period she shared co-writing credit on five tracks from the Seeds of Love album, among them “Rhythm of Life,” later a hit for Oleta Adams, and contributed part of the score for the film She’s Having a Baby.
After settling in New York in the late eighties she met Ryuichi Sakamoto and toured Japan and the United States with his band in 1990. Epic signed her in the fall of that year; the next twelve months were devoted to writing, recording, and mixing her self-titled debut, released in 1991. Her keyboard and vocal work can also be heard on recordings by Cyndi Lauper, Celine Dion, Kathy Sledge, and Lisa Taylor, among others.
Holland resumed her solo career in 1997 with Sense and Sensuality, co-writing several songs alongside Lloyd Cole and XTC’s Andy Partridge. That same year her version of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David classic “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” appeared prominently in the film My Best Friend’s Wedding.
After devoting most of the 2000s to her private life she returned to songwriting in 2010, collaborating with Murray James, Marlon Roudette, James Blunt, and Nick Howard; the latter scored a major hit with the Holland-penned 2013 single “Unbreakable.” She stayed active in following years, working with German artist Peter Plate and creating a Top 20 hit in Italy for singer Aba. A further collaboration with Ellen Shipley, “Goodbye Just Go,” became the lead single on Belinda Carlisle’s 2014 greatest-hits collection. In 2017 Holland assembled the retrospective Nobody’s Girl, featuring remixed tracks drawn from her two solo albums.
Albums
