{"id":63473,"date":"2020-06-30T13:51:16","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T12:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=63473"},"modified":"2020-06-30T13:53:19","modified_gmt":"2020-06-30T12:53:19","slug":"nik-kershaw-returns-with-brand-new-ep-out-now-and-new-album-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2020\/06\/nik-kershaw-returns-with-brand-new-ep-out-now-and-new-album-in-september\/","title":{"rendered":"Nik Kershaw Returns With Brand New EP Out Now And New Album In September"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nik Kershaw exploded onto the UK pop scene in 1984 as a solo artist. A string of global hit singles \u2013 including \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it Be Good\u2019, \u2018The Riddle\u2019 and his biggest hit, \u2018I Won\u2019t Let the Sun Go Down on Me\u2019 \u2013 helped to propel him to 62 weeks on the UK Singles Chart through 1984 and 1985 \u2013 beating every other solo artist, together with a crowd pleasing performance (and famously forgetting the words to ‘Wouldn\u2019t It Be Good\u2019) at the legendary Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in\u00a0\u201985 – 35 years ago on July 13th.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

After stepping out of the limelight to concentrate on writing and producing, Nik wrote Chesney Hawkes\u2019s mega-hit \u2018The One and Only\u2019 and has collaborated with Elton John (including writing and producing one of the songs on the\u00a0Duets<\/em>\u00a0album), Sia, Gary Barlow and Bonnie Tyler, whilst continuing to release his own well-reviewed studio albums, featuring his distinctive voice and highly personal lyrics. He has also continued to play festivals and tour consistently throughout the 4 decades he\u2019s been a performer.<\/p>\n

Nik has just released his first new music in 8 years, with a 6-track taster EP called \u2018These Little Things\u2019 \u2013 being a precursor to a full studio album, \u2018Oxymoron\u2019, coming in the Autumn. Nik has been working with Audio Network for some years now, and was encouraged\u00a0by the global music company\u2019s Chairman, Andrew Sunnucks,\u00a0to work with them on this, his ninth studio album, and his first release since 2012.<\/p>\n

Nik Kershaw is a masterful songwriter, blending a wonderful gift for soaring melodies with articulate wordplay and thoughtful lyricism. Recording this new material at Abbey Road Studios marked a return to a location with a lot of history for Nik. The room where this album was recorded was the same one in which he recorded \u2018The One and Only\u2019 with Chesney Hawkes. At Abbey Road, Nik says,<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou get the best studios, the best engineers, the best string section, the best brass players \u2013 and they bring everything together, with the mixing, to make [the record] sound like it\u2019s all come from the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Having avoided writing about himself in his 80s heyday \u2018because I wasn\u2019t interesting enough!\u2019, Nik says of these new tracks that,<\/p>\n

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\u201cthey\u2019re probably all about me really. Some things are cathartic, but it\u2019s never conscious,\u201d whilst also confessing that, as with many of his songs, \u201coften you only find out what they\u2019re about retrospectively, and through talking to people about them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nik Kershaw\u2019s EP \u2018These Little Things\u2019 is out now through Audio Network, while his new album \u2018Oxymoron’ will be released in September. Listen to ‘These Little Things’:<\/p>\n