Bill Nelson is an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
guitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
,
songwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
,
producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
,
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and
experimental musicExperimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
ian. He currently lives in
SelbySelby is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Situated south of the city of York, along the course of the River Ouse, Selby is the largest and, with a population of 13,012, most populous settlement of the wider Selby local government district.Historically a part of the West Riding...
.
Career
Born to Walter Nelson, a musician, he also had a brother who was involved in music:
IanIan Walter Nelson was an English New Wave musician, and younger brother of Be-Bop Deluxe singer and guitarist Bill Nelson, whom he accompanied in different musical projects...
(1956–2006), and who collaborated on the Be-Bop Deluxe song "Ships In The Night", and formed the band
Fiat LuxFiat Lux was an English synthpop band formed in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, in 1982, by Steve Wright and David P Crickmore...
.
1970s
Nelson was educated at the
Wakefield College of ArtWakefield College is a Further Education College in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It has provided education within the city since 1868 .-History:...
, where he developed an interest in the work of
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and filmmaker
Jean CocteauJean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
. At this time he was also developing as a musician, drawing upon
Duane EddyDuane Eddy is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young"...
as a primary
guitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
influence.
His first record was a brief contribution on the album
A-Austr, with Chris Coombs, Brian Calvert, Brian Wilson, Ted Hepworth and Mike Levon. Levon recorded and produced the album
A-Austr: Musics from Holyground which appeared on the Holyground label in 1970. After that Nelson appeared in a much more substantial role with "Lightyears Away" on
Astral Navigations released in 1971. One track from this also gave Nelson his first
airplay* Airplay is the amount of time a song is played on the radio.It may also refer to:* AirPlay, an audio & video streaming technology from Apple Inc.* Airplay , Foster & Graydon music project from 1980* Citroën C1, Citroën C1 Airplay...
by
John PeelJohn Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, "Yesterday", written by Coombs, where Nelson's
lead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
s were recorded by Levon in an
acid rockAcid rock is a form of psychedelic rock, which is characterized with long instrumental solos, few lyrics and musical improvisation. Tom Wolfe describes the LSD-influenced music of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Iron Butterfly, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Cream,...
style, supporting Coombs' stylophone riff.
Nelson's debut
solo albumA solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...
Northern Dream drew more attention from Peel on his national
BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
programme in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and this eventually led to Nelson's band Be-Bop Deluxe signing to
EMIEMI Records is the flagship record label founded by the EMI company in 1972 and launched in January 1973 as the successor to its Columbia label. The EMI label was launched worldwide...
. All of the Nelson recordings made at Holyground were released in February 2001 on the CD,
Electrotype. Shortly after this, Be-Bop Deluxe were signed to EMI, releasing
Axe VictimAxe Victim is the debut album of art rock band Be-Bop Deluxe, released in June 1974. It was recorded in AIR London, Audio International Studios and C.B.S. Studios, all located in London, England....
.
After the breakup of Be-Bop Deluxe, Nelson created
Red NoiseBill Nelson's Red Noise, or called simply Red Noise, was a "synthpop/new-wave" band, formed by Bill Nelson , his brother Ian , Andy Clark , Rick Ford and Steve Peer , around 1978....
(releasing the
Sound on Sound album), but eventually settled into a career as a solo musician, recording albums in the early electropop vein such as
The Love That Whirls and
Quit Dreaming and Get On the Beam. Many of these albums were released with bonus tracks, including records featuring experimental
ambientAmbient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
instrumentalAn instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
s. For a period between the late 1970s and early 1980s, Nelson self-produced on his Cocteau label a plethora of releases, consisting of solo synthesizer and keyboard instrumental pieces. Many were later released on the short-lived
EnigmaEnigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, which it split-off from in 1985 to become its own company...
label.
1980s
In mid 1980 Nelson released "Do You Dream In Colour?", and after airplay on BBC Radio 1, the
singleIn music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
reached #52 in the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
He was hired by British synthpop artist
Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
to produce his 1983 album
WarriorsWarriors is the seventh studio album by the British musician Gary Numan, released in 1983. It was his last studio album released on Beggars Banquet Records.-Preproduction:...
, with Numan claiming that Bill Nelson was his "favourite guitar player, bar none." However, the two musicians failed to maintain a working relationship, and ultimately Nelson chose not to be credited for his role on the album. Nelson also contributed towards several tracks on
David SylvianDavid Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...
's
Gone to Earth (1986).
Nelson had bad luck with major
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s in the 1980s. A deal with CBS Records went sour, leaving one album,
Getting the Holy Ghost Across (U.S. title:
On a Blue Wing). Nelson and his manager Mark Rye had formed the Cocteau Records label in 1981, and for many years this label handled the majority of Nelson's output, which often included multiple albums per year. Among the more ambitious Cocteau releases were the four-record boxed set of experimental electronic music,
Trial by Intimacy (The Book of Splendours), and the later ambient collection,
Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights, which contained music informed by Nelson's
GnosticGnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
beliefs. In the late 1980s, Nelson signed to
Enigma RecordsEnigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, which it split-off from in 1985 to become its own company...
, who went out of business, although they had just re-released his entire Cocteau catalogue.
As the 1980s ended, Nelson suffered a series of personal setbacks, including a divorce, tax problems, and an acrimonious dispute with his manager over his back catalogue rights. In the case of one album, the unreleased
Simplex, Nelson discovered his manager had been selling copies via
mail orderMail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
without Nelson's authorisation or knowledge; Nelson claims he never received any
royaltiesRoyalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
from these sales.
1990s
In the 1990s he released the 4-CD box set,
Demonstrations of Affection, and he worked on some guitar-based instrumental projects such as the albums
Crimsworth and
Practically Wired, or How I Became Guitar Boy. Further large scale improvised offerings included
My Secret Studio and
Noise Candy.
By 1996, Nelson's troubles with his former manager were resolved in a lawsuit which enabled Nelson to recover much of his back catalogue. A fully authorised version of the
Simplex album was released in 2001.
In the late 1990s, Nelson created the Populuxe label, with a distribution arrangement with
Robert FrippRobert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
's
Discipline Global MobileIf you were looking for the Italian Prog-Power Metal band, see DGM .Discipline Global Mobile, alias DGM, is a small independent record label company started in 1992 by Robert Fripp of King Crimson. In addition to running a mail-order music shop, it has offered Crimson/Fripp and related live...
, but his relationship with them had stagnated and Nelson's last release on that label was
Atom Shop in 1998. Subsequent releases have been on other imprints such as Toneswoon and Voiceprint as well as direct mail-order releases.
2000s
2002 saw the release of
Three White Roses and a Budd, (with
Fila BrazilliaFila Brazillia was an electronica collaboration from Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire in North-East England. Formed in 1990 by Steve Cobby and David McSherry...
and
Harold BuddHarold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....
) on
Twentythree RecordsTwentythree Records is a record label based in Yorkshire, England. The label was founded by Steve Cobby, David McSherry, and Sim Lister—who are regarded as significant names in the development of the electronica genre in the United Kingdom....
.
By 2006, Universal Music (UK) re-issued three
MercuryMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
albums;
Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam,
The Love that Whirls, and
Chimera all have been remastered, and released with bonus tracks. The lone CBS album,
Getting the Holy Ghost Across/On a Blue Wing, has also been re-issued, with all the original tracks and extras on Nelson's Sonoluxe imprint.
An annual event known as 'Nelsonica' is held every year in Yorkshire, at which Nelson makes a rare public performance. He has recently released the first part of an autobiography.
Albums
- Northern Dream (1971)
- Axe Victim
Axe Victim is the debut album of art rock band Be-Bop Deluxe, released in June 1974. It was recorded in AIR London, Audio International Studios and C.B.S. Studios, all located in London, England....
(1974) (Be-Bop Deluxe)
- Futurama
Futurama was the second album by the band Be-Bop Deluxe and released in 1975.After the line-up of Be-Bop Deluxe changed the band recorded the album with Bill Nelson , Charlie Tumahai , Simon Fox and Andrew Clark...
(1975) [Be-Bop Deluxe]
- Sunburst Finish
Sunburst Finish is the third studio album by art rock band Be-Bop Deluxe, released in February 1976. It was recorded in Abbey Road Studios, London....
(1976) [Be-Bop Deluxe]
- Modern Music (1976) [Be-Bop Deluxe]
- Live! In The Air Age (1977) [Be-Bop Deluxe]
- Drastic Plastic
Drastic Plastic is the last album of Art rock band Be-Bop Deluxe, released in February 1978. It was recorded in Chateau Saint Georges, Juan-les-Pins, in the south of France in the summer of 1977....
(1978) [Be-Bop Deluxe]
- Sound - On - Sound (1979) (Bill Nelson's Red Noise
Bill Nelson's Red Noise, or called simply Red Noise, was a "synthpop/new-wave" band, formed by Bill Nelson , his brother Ian , Andy Clark , Rick Ford and Steve Peer , around 1978....
)
- Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam (1981) Mercury
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
- Sounding The Ritual Echo (Atmospheres for Dreaming) (1981)
- Das Kabinet (The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari) (1981)
- The Love That Whirls (Diary Of A Thinking Heart) (1982)
- La Belle Et La Bete (1982)
- Chimera (1983)
- Savage Gestures For Charm's Sake (1983)
- The Two-Fold Aspect of Everything (1984)
- Trial By Intimacy - The Summer Of God's Piano (1985)
- Trial By Intimacy - Chamber Of Dreams (Music from the Invisibility Exhibition) (1985)
- Trial By Intimacy - Pavilions Of The Heart And Soul (1985)
- Trial By Intimacy - A Catalogue Of Obsessions (1985)
- Chameleon (The Music Of Bill Nelson) (1985)
- Getting The Holy Ghost Across (1986)
- Iconography (1986) [Orchestra Arcana]
- Map Of Dreams (1987)
- Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights - The Angel At The Western Window (1987)
- Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights - The Book Of Inward Conversation (1987)
- Optimism (1988) [Orchestra Arcana]
- Demonstrations Of Affection - Chimes And Rings (1989)
- Demonstrations Of Affection - Nudity (1989)
- Demonstrations Of Affection - Heartbreakland (1989)
- Demonstrations Of Affection - Details (1989)
- Simplex (1990)
- Raiding the Divine Archive - [Be-Bop Deluxe] (1990)
- Altar Pieces (1990)
- Luminous (1991)
- Blue Moons & Laughing Guitars (1992)
- Automatic (1994) [Channel Light Vessel]
- Radioland - [Be-Bop Deluxe] (1994) BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
live in concert 1976
- Crimsworth (Flowers, Stones, Fountains And Flames) (1995)
- Practically Wired or how I became…Guitarboy! (1995)
- My Secret Studio Volume I - Buddha Head (1995)
- My Secret Studio Volume I - Electricity Made Us Angels (1995)
- My Secret Studio Volume I - Deep Dream Decoder (1995)
- My Secret Studio Volume I - Juke Box For Jet Boy (1995)
- After The Satellite Sings (1996)
- Excellent Spirits (1996) [Channel Light Vessel]
- Confessions Of A Hyperdreamer: My Secret Studio Volume II - Weird Critters (1997)
- Confessions Of A Hyperdreamer: My Secret Studio Volume II - Magnificent Dream People (1997)
- Atom Shop (1998)
- Whistling While The World Turns (2000)
- Noise Candy - Old Man Future Blows The Blues (2002)
- Noise Candy - Stargazing With Ranger Bill (2002)
- Noise Candy - Sunflower Dairy Product (2002)
- Noise Candy - King Frankenstein (2002)
- Noise Candy - Console (2002)
- Noise Candy - Playtime (2002)
- Caliban And Chrome Harmonium (2002)
- Astral Motel (2002)
- Whimsy (2003)
- Whimsy Two (A Garage Full Of Clouds) (2003)
- The Romance Of Sustain Volume One: Painting With Guitars (2003)
- Luxury Lodge (2003)
- Plaything (2003)
- Dreamland To Starboard (2004)
- Custom Deluxe (2004)
- Satellite Songs (2004)
- Wah-Wah Galaxy (2004)
- Rosewood: Ornaments And Graces For Acoustic Guitar Volume One (2005)
- Rosewood: Ornaments And Graces For Acoustic Guitar Volume Two (2005)
- Orpheus In Ultraland (2005)
- The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill (2005)
- Neptune's Galaxy (2006)
- Return To Jazz Of Lights (2006)
- Arcadian Salon (2006)
- Gleaming Without Lights (2006)
- Secret Club For Members Only (2007)
- And We Fell Into A Dream (2007)
- Silvertone Fountains (2008)
- Illuminated At Dusk (2008)
- Mazda Kaleidoscope (2008)
- Clocks & Dials (2008)
- Golden Melodies Of Tomorrow (2008)
- Fancy Planets (2009)
- Here Comes Mr Mercury (2009)
- Theatre Of Falling Leaves (2009)
- The Dream Transmission Pavilion (2009)
- Non-Stop Mystery Action (2009)
- Picture Post (2010)
- Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms (2010)
- Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus (2010)
- Fables And Dreamsongs (2010)
- Fantasmatron (2011)
- Signals From Realms Of Light (2011)
- Model Village (2011)
External links