Gary Nicholson (singer)
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (January 2015) |
Gary Nicholson | |
|---|---|
| File:Gary Nashville Photo.jpg | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Garland, Texas, United States[1] |
| Origin | Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter Record producer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1970s-present |
Gary Nicholson is a number one hit songwriter, two time Grammy winning producer, recording artist, world traveling performer, and session guitarist.[2]
Nicholson's songs have been recorded by numerous country artists, including Garth Brooks, Bonnie Raitt, Ringo Starr, Reba McEntire, the Dixie Chicks, George Jones, Montgomery Gentry, the Mavericks, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Billy Ray Cyrus, Waylon Jennings, Patty Loveless, Tanya Tucker, Conway Twitty, Keith Whitley, and many more. His songs have also been recorded by pop, R&B, and blues artists such as Dave Edmunds, John Mayall, Neil Diamond and B.B. King.[3]
In addition to his Grammy winning records with Delbert McClinton, who has recorded over fifty of his songs, he has produced records for The Judds, Wynonna, Pam Tillis, Billy Joe Shaver, T Graham Brown, Chris Knight, Taylor Hicks, Seth Walker and others.[2]
His work has been included in many major motion pictures and television, the song “Falling and Flying “ is featured in the Oscar winning film “Crazy Heart” performed by Jeff Bridges.[2]
In 2006 he was nominated to the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and in 2011 he was inducted into the Texas Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.[2]
Biography
Nicholson grew up in Garland, Texas in the mid 1950's. He took up the guitar and started playing folk and country music, making his public debut in his school’s eighth grade talent show and winning it. Then along came the Ventures and Nicholson took up electric guitar. As a teen he played in British Invasion-inspired bands as the Valiants, the Catalinas and the Untouchables.[4]
While studying at North Texas State University in nearby Denton, Nicholson fell in with such other musical students as soon-to-be Eagle Don Henley and pianist/producer/arranger Jim Ed Norman, later president of the Warner Bros. Nashville label. Nicholson worked at night in club bands, and was also recruited to tour with the Nazz after Todd Rundgren left the group. Following a night in 1970 hanging out with Gram Parsons, Nicholson left college and, urged on by Parsons, moved with his band to Los Angeles.[5]
Their first night in Los Angeles, Gram Parsons met Nicholson's band at The Palomino, country music’s California headquarters. Nicholson’s band won the club’s talent contest that night and met Delaney Bramlett, James Burton, Glen Campbell, Red Rhodes and Tony Booth.[6]Parsons found the band a place to stay and Red Rhodes introduced them to Linda Ronstadt and her producer, John Boylan. Known as The White Horse Brothers, the group soon attracted attention by performing Nicholson’s original songs with bluegrass harmonies. Nicholson’s college classmates Don Henley and Jim Ed Norman joined him in L.A. Henley played drums with Nicholson’s band for its record-label showcase at The Troubadour, as well as on the demos that landed the group its recording contract.[7]
Now renamed Uncle Jim’s Music, Nicholson’s band enlisted Boylan to produce its 1971 debut LP. Keyboardist Norman joined the band in time for its second album in 1972.[8]
In 1973, Gary Nicholson married his college sweetheart Barbara and moved back to Texas. [9]
Nicholson worked as a guitarist in Delbert McClinton’s band throughout the rest of the 1970's. He also started a group called Hot Sauce that melded country-rock and blues and were sometimes joined by his guitar hero Freddie King at their weekly Sunday residency at Mother Blues in Dallas.[10]
Nicholson's breakthrough came in 1980[11] when he sent Norman, who was becoming an in-demand record producer in Nashville, a song called “Jukebox Argument,” which Norman recorded with singer Mickey Gilley for the movie Urban Cowboy.[12]
Jim Ed Norman then invited Nicholson to relocate to Nashville to write for his publishing company. [13]
Nicholson relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 1980.[14] During this period he continued picking up gigs as a hired guitar, playing for such artists as Billy Joe Shaver and Guy Clark.
In 1983 Nicholson signed a publishing contract with Tree Publishing (now Sony/ATV Music Publishing).[15][16] He achieved his first number 1 hit in 1984 with the song "That's the Thing About Love", recorded by Don Williams. Dozens more country hits followed including "One More Last Chance" by Vince Gill, "The Trouble With The Truth" by Patty Loveless, "She Couldn't Change Me" by Montgomery Gentry, and "When Love Get's A Hold Of You" by Reba McEntire.[17]
After 14 years at Sony-Tree, he formed his own company, Gary Nicholson Music, in 1997.[18]
Nicholson’s songs have been sung by country superstars such as George Jones, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, George Strait, the Dixie Chicks, Anne Murray and Willie Nelson. But he has also provided much material to the r&b community, with recordings of his tunes by B.B. King, The Neville Brothers, Etta James, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Irma Thomas, Keb’ Mo,’ Junior Wells and more. Nicholson’s songwriting talents have come to the attention of such pop/rock artists as Bonnie Raitt, Neil Diamond, Fleetwood Mac, String Cheese Incident, Ringo Starr, Los Lonely Boys, NRBQ, Robert Plant, Mountain and Gregg Allman. In the folk field, his songs have been recorded by the likes of John Prine, David Wilcox, Patty Griffin, John Sebastian, Paul Brady and Dave Olney. Even bluegrass artists have come to him for material – Doug Dillard,Vassar Clements, Del McCoury, Tim O’Brien, New Grass Revival and Peter Rowan among them.[19]
In 1997, albums for River Road and Delbert McClinton furthered Nicholson’s producing reputation. T. Graham Brown’s acclaimed Wine Into Water (1998) came next. Nicholson produced Wynonna’s New Day Dawning and The Judds’ landmark Reunion in 2000. McClinton won Grammy Awards with the Nicholson-produced Nothing Personal (2001) and Cost of Living (2005).[20]
His songs have been heard in the movies Crazy Heart, Major League, City of Hope, Message in a Bottle and Where the Heart Is.[21]
Nicholson was nominated to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006 and inducted into Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2011. He has also won several ASCAP songwriting awards.[22]
Songwriting Discography
Further information on songs recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Songs_written_by_Gary_Nicholson
For full discography: http://www.garynicholson.com/songwriting-discography/
There are over five hundred recordings of his songs in various genres including country, rock, blues, folk, bluegrass, and pop by such diverse artists as BB King, Garth Brooks, Bonnie Raitt, George Strait, Fleetwood Mac, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Etta James, John Prine, Dixie Chicks, Don Williams, Stevie Nicks, Buddy Guy, Emmylou Harris, Keb Mo, Ringo Starr, George Jones, The Neville Brothers, Reba McEntire, Robert Plant, Waylon Jennings, Patty Loveless, Kenny Chesney, Guy Clark and the list goes on.[23]
Discography
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Uncle Jim's Music - Uncle Jim | Kapp |
| 1972 | Uncle Jim's Music - There's A Song In This | Kapp |
| 2000 | Gary Nicholson - The Sky Is Not The Limit | Gary Nicholson |
| 2000 | Fortunate Sons - Fortunate Sons | Fortune |
| 2008 | Whitey Johnson - Whitey Johnson | Palo Duro |
| 2010 | Gary Nicholson - Nashville Songbook | Fearless Recordings |
| 2011 | Gary Nicholson - Texas Songbook[24] | Bismeaux Productions |
References
- ^ "Gary Nicholson | The Sky Is Not The Limit | CD Baby Music Store". Cdbaby.com. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
- ^ a b c d [1]
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gary-nicholson-mn0000153133/biography.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://nodepression.com/article/gary-nicholsons-new-album-texas-songbook-pays-homage-home-state-bimeaux-records.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://nodepression.com/article/gary-nicholsons-new-album-texas-songbook-pays-homage-home-state-bimeaux-records.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://musiccityroots.com/artist/gary-nicholson/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://musiccityroots.com/artist/gary-nicholson/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://musiccityroots.com/artist/gary-nicholson/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://musiccityroots.com/artist/gary-nicholson/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://nodepression.com/article/gary-nicholsons-new-album-texas-songbook-pays-homage-home-state-bimeaux-records.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gary-nicholson-mn0000153133/biography
- ^ http://musiccityroots.com/artist/gary-nicholson/.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ http://nodepression.com/article/gary-nicholsons-new-album-texas-songbook-pays-homage-home-state-bimeaux-records.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ GoMemphis: Entertainment News from The Commercial Appeal
- ^ Interviewed by Michael Laskow. "TAXI A&R Interview: Gary Nicholson, Songwriting Producer". Taxi.com. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
- ^ Gary Nicholson. "Gary Nicholson - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
- ^ http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Music-Review-Gary-Nicholson-Texas-Songbook-1407759.php.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Music City Roots".
- ^ "Music City Roots".
- ^ "Music City Roots".
- ^ http://nodepression.com/article/gary-nicholsons-new-album-texas-songbook-pays-homage-home-state-bimeaux-records.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Gary Nicholson | The John Jarrard Foundation
- ^ https://beta.prx.org/stories/131935/details.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ The No Surf Review: Gary Nicholson - Texas Songbook