NIKKI SUDDEN

Named Adrian Godfrey by his parents, Nikki enjoyed entertaining people from an early age. He started playing guitar in 1972, inspired by Marc Bolan’s band T.Rex, and commenced making music with his friends David (Phones) and Steve (Jowe), and his own younger brother Kevin. Nikki became a prolific songwriter, and was the lead singer on much of Swell Maps’ material. The most natural frontman in the collective, Nikki cut a flamboyant figure on stage and on the street.

After Swell Maps split up in 1980. Nikki immediately embarked on a productive solo career, and he eventually moved to Berlin. His versatility was such that he could accommodate sensitive balladry on some records, or a raunchy rock’n’roll style on others. His song lyrics were invariably infused with the fatalistic imagery of decadence and doomed romance, and he cultivated the image of a dandyish troubadour.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Nikki had a productive partnership called the Jacobites with Dave Kusworth of the Subterranean Hawks from Birmingham. Nikki also had an occasional partnership with Rowland Howard (ex-Birthday Party). Nikki collaborated with Jeremy Gluck (The Barracudas), Rowland Howard and The Gun Club’s Jeffrey Lee Pierce, on a notable album called “I Knew Buffalo Bill”. He had some notable guests on a few of his records, like Ian McLagan (ex-The Faces), and Mick Taylor (ex-Rolling Stones).

Nikki died on 26th March 2006, after his gig at The Knitting Factory in New York.