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Nick is a UK based Singer- Songwriter best known for a highly distinctive Anglo-latin sound. He has lead the Bristol latin-soul band PURAVIDA(UK) since 2003 and much of this material has been inspired by and composed in Ecuador. PURAVIDA (UK) are also busy on the live circuit mixing original material with son-salsa, samba, funk and soul-jazz classics.

As well as leading PURAVIDA UK, Nick plays in ACUSTICA a duo also formed in 2003 with versatile, talented guitarist and singer-songwriter Pete Airey. ACUSTICA play more bossa nova and Spanish-flavoured material and are often joined by the excellent Spanish percussionist Ivan Moreno to make a trio.

Nick also plays in various other duo combinations often with top quality saxophonists such as James Morton and Charlie Hearnshaw in the UK or Christian Hidrobo and Nestor Zurita in Ecuador. His song-writing style and singing repertoire show originality, imagination and versatility reflecting his own wide-ranging musical tastes and influences; everything from pop, rock, jazz, blues, soul, funk, acoustic folk, classical and various world and latin sub-genres.

Nick was born in an RAF camp hospital in Germany and brought up in Exeter, Devon in the south-west of England. Although in his early years his mother surrounded him with mostly classical music, Nick took up the guitar at the age of 14 probably because he was jealous of his older brother who played guitar and piano. He is largely self-taught learning mostly from books and older, wiser and better musicians. In his teens, he played as a guitarist in various college and University bands from the late 80s but only really discovered his soulful and expressive singing voice playing in Devon- based blues and jazz-swing outfit STRAIGHT NO CHASER in the early to mid 1990s.

Over the years Nick has played and sung many styles as a solo artist and in various duo and band combinations from blues & jazz-swing with STRAIGHT NO CHASER to various latin genres, as well as soul, funk, pop and rock. He has performed live in England, Scotland, France, Spain, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.

With the help of French drummer, producer and fellow funk lover Christophe Blanc, the latin-jazz-funk flavoured WORLD RHYTHM COLLECTIVE album "Last Goodbye" was recorded in Quito, Ecuador in 2000 during turbulent times there. It features 16 top-class musicians from 9 different countries. Nick and Christophe´s joint labour of love WORLD RHYTHM COLLECTIVE played their last concert at Casa del Cultura, a prestigious venue in Quito, Ecuador in 2000. But there are lingering thoughts of a resurrection..!

Between 2001 and 2003 Nick spent a couple of years learning about the music industry while working for Tumi Music, an independent latin music label based in Bath, U.K.

Then in 2003, now living in Bristol, a city famed for its vibrant music scene in the U.K., Nick formed Puravida (now PURAVIDA UK) with Colombian maestro percussionist Marco Vinicio Oyaga. This was a UK based natural follow-up to Ecuador´s World Rhythm Collective project. PURAVIDA UK and ACUSTICA duo both moved towards a more latin-influenced acoustic sound although still with strong hints of funk, soul and jazz laced with ?quality pop? and rock songwriting. "La Ruta del Sol" is a 2006 recording combining 4 tracks of the full band PURAVIDA (UK) and 6 tracks of ACUSTICA as a duo or trio.

The latest PURAVIDA UK album,"Holland House Sessions", was recorded during 2008 following a residency and kind support from Mercure Holland House Hotel in Bristol. It has been very well received by music industry and press and lead to a distribution deal with U.S. label, Local Scene Records. Official worldwide release was in January 2009.

Nick has been busy playing live with both acts, solo and in various duos in the last few years and has played at numerous venues, festivals and private events mostly in the south and south-west of England. He has continued to visit Ecuador where he also often writes and plays live including a residency in 2009 with saxophonist Cristian Hidrobo at Hotel Barcelo Miramar, a smart hotel in Salinas the most popular beach resort in Ecuador.

In the future he plans to continue writing, recording and performing live in various guises and places. Watch out for a retrospective collection of songs in 2010!

For further information or to purchase a CD please fill in the contact form.

If you live outside the UK and wish to purchase a CD please visit the online shop of label and distributor Local Scene Records