Nick Straker (born Nicholas Bailey) is a London-born musician, who had hits in Europe and the US in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Career

Straker joined his first band, called Stonehenge, in 1969. The band changed its name in 1971 to Matumbi, a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

band signed to

Trojan Records Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name ''Trojan'' comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck ...

, but Straker left in 1974. Along with his friend, guitarist Dave McShera, Straker joined Pete Hammond (bass) and Phil Towner (drums) in a dance band playing working men's clubs and weddings. They then met American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

singer

Limmie Snell Limmie Frank Snell, Jr. (October 4, 1948 – May 27, 1986) was an American soul singer, born in Dalton, Alabama, United States. He grew up in Canton, Ohio, and attended McKinley Senior High School, but did not graduate. According to anoth ...

, and the band became Limmie Funk Limited with Andy Gierus on guitar. They played

discotheque A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gene ...

s around the country and toured the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and Sweden in early 1978. Tony Mansfield, later the lead singer and songwriter with

New Musik New Musik were an English synthpop group active from 1977 to 1982. Led by Tony Mansfield, they achieved success in 1980 with the top 20 single " Living by Numbers" which was followed up with the top 40 hits "This World of Water", "Sanctuary" ...

, joined, originally as

roadie The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This ca ...

, but eventually he and Straker formed a collaboration that led to the

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

of a successful UK single, "A Walk in the Park", in 1979. A year later, the track was re-recorded and released, and made number 20 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The

Nick Straker Band The Nick Straker Band were an English pop music group from London, England, led by musician and vocalist Nick Straker. Several members of the band were also in New Musik, and the band's line-up consisted of Straker along with Tony Mansfield, T ...

released a few more singles, but none had the success of "A Walk in the Park" in the UK, although "

A Little Bit of Jazz "A Little Bit of Jazz" is a 1980 single by the group Nick Straker Band. The British band had their only American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United ...

" reached number 1 on the U.S.

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart in 1981. Straker re-recorded "A Walk in the Park" in 1987; the new version was produced by

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considere ...

, and charted at only number 82 in the UK.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Musicians from London English songwriters English record producers English rock keyboardists English rock guitarists {{England-musician-stub