Nick Lightowlers (1955 – February 26, 2022) was a British performer, lyricist, producer, and music industry professional better known to many by his stage name Nick Tesco, the lead singer of

the Members The Members are a British punk band that originated in Camberley, Surrey, England. In the UK, they are best known for their single "The Sound of the Suburbs", reaching No. 12 in 1979, and in Australia, "Radio" which reached No. 5 in 1982. Car ...

Career

As a founding member and co-songwriter of

, Tesco fronted the band from 1976 until his departure and the subsequent split of the band in 1983. The Members, from

Camberley, Surrey Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Camb ...

, signed with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

at the tail-end of punk in 1978 and had a No.12 hit with the single "

The Sound of the Suburbs The Members are a British punk band that originated in Camberley, Surrey, England. In the UK, they are best known for their single "The Sound of the Suburbs", reaching No. 12 in 1979, and in Australia, "Radio" which reached No. 5 in 1982. Ca ...

". Co-written by Tesco and Jean-Marie Carroll, the single reportedly sold 250,000 copies and went on to become a staple of punk compilations. After leaving the band, Tesco co-performed and released the 1983 single "Cost of Living" for UK based independent label Albion Records with J. Walter Negro. Albion Records was a label he had previously worked for as a producer (The Outpatients single "New Japanese Hairstyles" (1981)) and it was as a producer that he continued to work for the remainder of the decade - extensively for CBS, but also East West, WEA and Ariola. In 1989, he appeared in ''

Leningrad Cowboys Go America ''Leningrad Cowboys Go America'' is a 1989 road movie by Finnish film director Aki Kaurismäki about the adventures of the Leningrad Cowboys, an eccentric band that travels to the United States to become successful, and combines their brand of p ...

'', written and directed by

Aki Kaurismäki Aki Olavi Kaurismäki (; born 4 April 1957) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the award-winning '' Drifting Clouds'' (1996), ''The Man Without a Past'' (2002), ''Le Havre'' (2011) and ''The Other Side of Hope'' (20 ...

, and starring

Jim Jarmusch James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...

, a film about a fictional

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

rock band touring the US. This fictional band then toured and recorded in real life from 1990 until 1994. ''Leningrad Cowboys Go America'' was followed five years later by a sequel, ''

Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses ''Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses'' is a 1994 film directed by Aki Kaurismäki. It is a sequel to the popular 1989 film ''Leningrad Cowboys Go America'' that introduced the fictional Russian rock band Leningrad Cowboys which, subsequently, became a ...

'' (1994) and a concert film ''

Total Balalaika Show ''Total Balalaika Show'' is a 1994 film by director Aki Kaurismäki featuring a concert by the Leningrad Cowboys and the Alexandrov Ensemble. The concert took place on 12 June 1993 on Senate Square in Helsinki, Finland. The event drew a crowd ...

'' (1994). In 1998, he joined ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' and produced the ''Music Week Directory'' from 1999 until 2009 and also appeared in other films such as ''Iron Horsemen'' and ''

I Hired a Contract Killer ''I Hired a Contract Killer'' is a film directed, produced and written by the Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki in 1990. It is a Finnish-British- German-Swedish co-production and stars the renowned French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud. The film also f ...

'' and

BBC 6 BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

's ''Roundtable''. In 2007, the Members reformed and toured the UK.

Death

Lightowlers died aged 67 on 26 February 2022.

References

External links

*https://www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Week-Directory-2005-Tesco/dp/0862131448 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tesco, Nick 1955 births 2022 deaths 20th-century British male singers 21st-century British male singers