Nick Lowe

Lowe’s career hit off in ’69 as bass player for seminal pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz, the UK pub rock scene setting the stage for punk rock and new wave.

But it was Lowe’s work as Stiff Records’ (co-founder and) in-house producer which was to be highly influential on the development of punk rock. An extensive list of early producing credits notably include ‘Damned Damned Damned’, The Damned’s debut album, credited as the UK’s first punk album, Elvis Costello’s first five albums between ’77 and ’81 and The Pretenders debut single ‘Stop Your Sobbing’.

Lowe released the first ever single and EP on Stiff Records, but his most successful hits read as ‘I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass’ from his debut album Jesus of Cool (or Pure Pop for Now People as it’s known in the USA); ‘Cruel To Be Kind’ lifted from his second album Labour of Lust and a re-worked Brinsley Schwarz tune ‘(What’s so Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding’, successfully covered by Elvis Costello and later Curtis Stigers for The Bodyguard soundtrack.

Over the past forty-plus years, Nick Lowe’s evolving musical styles have forged a path through pub rock, roots, rhythm & blues and rock & roll, with works often echoing strong influences of American vintage country and roots music. There have been many musical incarnations over the decades including Rockpile, a collaboration with guitarist Dave Edmunds, and short-lived super-group, Little Village, with John Hiatt, Ry Cooder & Jim Keltner.

In celebration of his long career, in August of this year during a packed-out, showcase performance at the Grammy Museum in LA, Nick Lowe revealed to a spellbound audience: “As you get older, it’s more fun to sing the blues. It cheers you up.”