Draft:Nathan Wieckowski

Nathan Wieckowski is a musician from Peterborough UK.

He began Piano lesson from the age of 6 and joined All Saints' Church Choir eventually becoming Head Chorister and obtaining his Deans' Award (with honours) and Bishops' Award for Choral singing.

By 15 he had completed all his ABRSM Pianoforte graded exams, gaining Distinctions for Grades 6, 7 and 8, an achievement uncommon at such a young age.

His first experience on a public stage was an impromptu piano performance during a break at a George Melly (legendary Jazz singer) concert, at the age of 16.

After completing AS/A2 level exams at The Kings School, Peterborough, he attended Birmingham Conservatoire of Music on a BMus(Hons) degree course. He commented, "I learnt more about Music jamming with some of the best young musicians in the country, than from attending any lectures."

Composition using software such as Cubase and Ableton took up a lot of his time from the age of 16.

Deciding not to finish his studies at Birmingham he returned to Peterborough, where he found various employment on and off. This included Resident Pianist at a branch of Peter Boizot's Pizza Express.

He taught himself guitar and learnt his trade by playing live (guitar, piano and sometimes drums) with a large number of bands throughout the following years. Notably, with James Newton Chadwick (singer-songwriter), and the Richard Hall Band.

Travels around the UK, France and Spain, busking with guitar, with his older brother and fellow musicians, added to his musical education, honing his craft as an instrumentalist.

To earn money, he gave private piano and guitar lessons whilst continuing to play live sometimes 2 or 3 nights of the week. He also returned to his formative training as a classical pianist, practicing several hours a day, finding a passion and aptitude for the keyboard works of German Baroque composers (Bach, Handel, among others).

He met Kerry Devine (singer-songwriter) and began work together on her debut album ('Away From Mountains') arranging, producing and performing on tracks. The album was released on Trapped Animal Records in 2018. They toured the UK on release of the album, notably performing at the Elgar Suite, Royal Albert Hall and supporting Graham Gould and Band (10cc) at the Key Theatre, Peterborough.

Covid saw Nathan lose employment, loss of an abode, and the events snowballed with severely poor mental health, leading to substance misuse, homelessness and isolation.

Presently, he has found temporary accommodation, and spends most of his time on composition and literary writing and research.