Nikki Nash

Early Influences:

Hank Williams Sr., Elvis, Liberace, Stephen Foster, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Brenda Lee, Johnny Tillotson, Bob Dylan, Peter - Paul and Mary.

So, I quickly learned them to sing along with him.
At age 7, I'd show my piano teacher songs I'd written, (words and music), along with classical piano,
voice and music theory training.
By age 9, he was getting me gigs singing and playing pop tunes for different organizations' banquet
dinners.
By age 14, CHESS RECORDS signed my folk single, SOMETIMES/LIFE IN A DREAM.
(click link to listen - SOMETIMES / LIFE IN A DREAM)
Then I formed the all girl, original folk/pop band, the U.F.O.'s/Unidentified Female Objects, who won the
JUNIOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TALENT CONTEST, so we played the Northwest suburban teen club circuit.
An all male band had wanted to buy my song I LOVE MY BABY.
I appeared in the Evanston Review at the opening of my high school's student union.

At 14, I met the Director, John Frankenheimer,(of MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE fame) at the Art Institute,
Chicago, using a Cockney English accent; pretending to be a friend of the Beatles from Liverpool.
We talked politics for hours and I finally revealed I was really a local gal. He wanted to cast me in
GRAND PRIX;(the film he was directing at the time). He gave me his Los Angeles office and home numbers,
as well as the number of the hotel he was staying at. Though he acted completely appropriately,
I threw the numbers out on the way home because my Mom had instilled the red flag of hotels and men.
Though 2 years later, when Eric Clapton asked me to go to his hotel room, I went.
(I brought my girlfriend, Claire with me, who had to take a bus home earlier than I did). After she left,
I taught him my song PURPLE WASTELANDS. He played it acoustically on his guitar and we sang it together.
Then hugged and kissed and talked.

By age 15, I was reading my poetry on New Trier East's high school radio, including
INTERIM, (click to read INTERIM). With day-glo tempera paints, I put INTERIM on the back of my
t-shirt. Alex Chilton said: "slow down I'm trying to read your poem". So I moved my hair out of
the way and stopped for him to clearly read it. We talked for a while about writing poetry.
And by age 16, I was the poetry editor/submitter of an underground newspaper,
JERICHO, out of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
By age 19, I appeared in the Chicago Daily Defender, lead model in a fashion show at the
Pick Congress Hotel.

And at 19, I pitched a teleplay to Rod Serling. He expressed interest/giving me the address to
send it to. I never heard anything back; (though I'd enclosed a self addressed stamped envelope).
Then, saw it televised as the 2nd season premiere of NIGHT GALLERY
(with the credits falsely saying: from an original story by Charles Beaumont).
While still in college, I sang A Cappella, BE MY BABY for James Gang, while they were on tour.
They asked me to be their back up singer for the remainder of the tour and wear an afro wig
and a dominatrix outfit and whip them in the course of the show. I declined.
Then, I won a KENTUCKY STATE POETRY SOCIETY CONTEST for my narrative poem, NIGHTDRIVE.
Then I met Roald Dahl at Steppenwolf Theater, and asked him for advice for a
fellow writer. His sage words of wisdom, while smiling warmly: "Keep on writing".
Subsequently over 3 years, a friend, Ann Anderson and I, wrote storyboards, acted in and
filmed, on Super 8, four silent movies (that she edited and added music to on VHS).
We had intended to submit them to Image Union on PBS as struggling Independent Filmakers.
We had creative and personal differences that ended the collaboration.
(click link to see the MP4 of N/A Productions: THE WAD EPIC; - all four silent films we created).
I won a CHICAGO'S EVERYTHING MUSIC GUIDE SONGWRITING CONTEST for my alternative rock song,
HARD KNOCKS. I won studio time (where I recorded WOMEN'S JOB BLUES, that had airplay on
Triton College Radio). (* - WOMEN'S JOB BLUES, GETTIN' IN & OUT OF TROUBLE, HARD KNOCKS)

And the David Letterman show called to say they'd love to have me on
as soon as I was signed to a major label. (* MISTAKEN, one of my 3 songs they heard)
Then Geffen called interested in hearing more (after they heard 3 of my songs:
MOON MADNESS, NOT MY STYLE and LISTEN. *)
I followed up with 2 mellower songs, so, they felt that material was too album oriented rock
(not "hard" enough for them, at the time).
Then BIG WEDGE MUSIC, Nashville, Tennessee, published my songs QUARTER and COOKIN'.
(* QUARTER).

I had an excellent review in the ILLINOIS ENTERTAINER of 3 songs;
(* - NOT PRETTY, I'M AT WAR, 2 of the 3 songs reviewed).
Subsequently NOT PRETTY got airplay on KOOX FM.

I formed the band NIKKI IN THE POCKET, which played different night clubs in Chicago.
(click to watch the video: Nikki In The Pocket at Club Stodola)
Set List: 1) MOVE OVER(Janis Joplin) 2) ALWAYS TRYING TO SELL(words and music by Nikki)
3) KEEP AWAY(words and music by Nikki), 4) GETTIN' BURNED(words and music by Nikki),
5) NEVER NEVER CHANGE(words and music by Nikki), 6) LOVE BY SABOTAGE(words and music by Nikki),
7) FIRST I LOOK AT THE PURSE(J. Geils Band), 8) MAD DOG(words and music by Nikki),
9) CAN'T HELP ME NOW(words and music by Nikki), 10) I'M AT WAR(words and music by Nikki),
11) SWEET RELIEF (words and music by Nikki), 12) I NEED TO BE LOVED, TOO (words and music by Nikki),
13) NOT PRETTY (words and music by Nikki)
Here we are "unplugged": NAKED (words and music by Nikki) (*)

MP3's of songs with accompaniment: GUILTY, NO MORE STORIES, MONSTERS (*)
(words and music by Nikki)

I subsequently had 18 roots rock songs,(co-written with a friend, Steve Hepler,
the CLEAN SHAVEN MAN collection), published by OLD SLOWPOKE MUSIC/CHERRY HILL RECORDS, of Tulsa, OK.
www.POETRY.COM included my poem, BANSHEE OF REGRET in an anthology (click link to read BANSHEE OF REGRET)
and then later included my poem, I COULD JUST AS EASILY BE A POTATO in their anthology,

AMERICA AT THE MILLENNIUM: The Best Poems and Poets of the 20th Century.(click to read
I COULD JUST AS EASILY BE A POTATO)

MP3's of songs with accompaniment: IF YOU WANT ME, OVERDUE, GO 'N LEAVE ME, TOO
(*) (words and music by Nikki)
MP3 of BRIGHTER DAYS - *. (live recording of Nikki singing and playing)
(words and music by Nikki)

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