Nicola was born in Paddington, London and now lives in the Westcountry. She inherited her ear for music from her father, a natural musician “he could pick out a tune on any instrument”. Sitting beside him at the piano she learned how to improvise around a tune from an early age. His first job was working as a floor manager on “Ready Steady Go” so there were test pressings and white labels lying around the house and commercial radio constantly playing whenever he was around. Her parents divorced when she was very young and on the long car journeys between households she would make up stories and rhymes with her dad and sisters, instilling a love of words that continues to this day. On her 9th birthday she got her first guitar, taught herself a few chords and started making up songs.

Her formative years in the industry were spent working as a backing vocalist for a variety of bands – doubling up on harmonica, accordion, electric & acoustic guitar, keyboard & percussion, she paid her dues gigging around London’s live music circuit and got her first taste of working in studios. This experience led to writing and recording her own songs and becoming a regular solo performer on London’s folk/acoustic circuit including the Half Moon in Putney, Acoustic Room at the Mean Fiddler, Waterman’s Arts Centre & the legendary Bunjies folk clulb in the West End. She quickly secured a record contract with FBeat/Demon records and a publishing contract with Rough Trade Music and began performing at larger venues including the Guildford and Cambridge Folk Festivals and Phoenix Festival. Although on a very minimal budget and being relatively unknown, Nicola’s talent attracted guest musicians Danny Thompson on bass (Kate Bush, David Sylvian) & Neil Conti on drums (David Bowie, Prefab Sprout) to play on her debut album “A Bowl of Chalk”.

However, as is often the case, when the A&R man who signed Nicola left the label shortly after the album’s release, the label folded along with the promotional plans.

Inspired by the music of Portishead and Massive attack at this time, Nicola sought a collaborator in the pages of Melody Maker. Her response to an advert placed by Chrysalis Music led to a meeting with Saul Freeman (ex-Thieves/McAlmont) and the formation of Mandalay. On completion of Mandalay’s first demos they were fiercely courted by the majors but opted instead to sign to David Steele’s independent Organic Records. The first single release “Flowers Bloom” got single of the week in Melody Maker.

Shortly after this release, David Steele was asked to head up Richard Branson’s new label V2 Records and took Mandalay with him.

Mandalay’s debut album “Empathy” was released to critical acclaim. Co-produced with Guy Sigsworth (Bjork, Madonna, Bebel Gilberto) it featured drummer and percussionist Steve Jansen (Japan) and the beautiful ethereal sounds of Jon Hassell on trumpet (Brian Eno, Harold Budd).

Mandalay’s live lineup included Andy Gangadeen on drums (massive attack, faithless) and they became a regular favourite at The Big Chill festivals.

On hearing “Empathy”, Madonna sited Mandalay as her favourite band and chose the first single “This Life” to be featured on the film soundrack for her film. “The Next Best Thing”. “This Life” was also chosen to feature on the soundtrack to the hit British film “This Year’s Love”

Many other Mandalay songs were featured on cult TV series’ including “La Femme Nikita”, “Six Feet Under” and “CSI MIami”.

The third single “Beautiful” appeared on a number of chillout albums of the time including the world famous compilation series’ “cafe del mar (vol 6)” and Hedkandi’s “Serve Chilled”. As a result Mandalay were invited to headline at the Cafe del mar 2oth anniversary celebrations in Ibiza in 2000. A sunset remix of “Beautiful” was recorded and mixed by Lenny Ibizarre, the leading chillout DJ/musician on the island. The song “Beautiful” went on to win a major advertising campaign (Estee Lauder, featuring Liz Hurley) and was chosen for the title track of German film “Der Eisbar”. More recently “Beautiful” was covered by Sarah Brightman and released as the lead single for her hit album “Harem”.

Mandalay’s 2nd album “Instinct” was co-produced with Andy Bradfield (Everything But the Girl, Future Sound of London, Bjork) and Yoad Nevo (Jem)

The first single from this album “Deep Love” was remixed by Nitin Sawhney and Mandalay went on to support Nitin on his UK/London dates. Performances at Ibza’s chillout festivals followed including “Las Dallias” and “Dreamdaze” culminating in a headline performance at The Big Chill UK, Sanctuary Stage.

A third album “Solace” followed, released exclusively in the US comprising a mix of tracks from Mandalay’s two existing albums (both previously unavailable in the US) together with an 11 track remix album with contributions from Wagon Christ, Alex Reece and Charlie May. This marked the beginning of a growing success in America where “Solace” Soundscanned over 44,000 copies.

By this time however problems were escalating within the Mandalay camp and disagreements on business rather than musical issues proved unresolvable. The duo split, sadly just as the US were becoming aware of them.

During Mandalay’s demise, Nicola’s songwiring and vocal talents were sought by DJ Tiesto who chose her song “In My Memory” for his forthcoming album. With a deft remix from him, it became the title track and lead single for the album, the success of which led to a live performance by Nicola at the Dutch Music Awards in 2002.

Sorting out all the post-Mandalay’s business took it’s toll and this, coupled with getting over a major house & location move, followed swiftly by a car accident whilst battling with Glandular Fever/Epstein Barr virus (!) all meant that Nicola’s energies for making music were seriously depleted. During this time however she continued to be sought by artists/musicians/dj’s contacting her via the internet and email with requests for possible collaborations and she found herself in the fortunate position of being able to choose who to work with … and how … and when …… she began working on tracks from avant garde composers Hector Zazou, Ryuichi Sakomoto, Lenny Ibizarre and the underground artist & DJ Chris Brann (Wamdue Project, P’taah etc). The resulting album “Passive Aggressive” stands a collection of her favourite collaborations from this time and is the first release on her own label Tempted.

Check out Nicola’s new release:
Passive Aggressive

For more info on Nicola Hitchcock visit:
www.nicolahitchcock.com
myspace.com/nicolahitchcock

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