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Though Nick has become known in Guernsey for playing the electric guitar, the first instrument he tried to play was the piano. He said: "I attempted, very badly, to play the piano... it didn't last long fortunately!"

Nick playing at Fermain in the 1980s

But it was the guitar that came next: "I found a guitar and gave that a go, it seemed to fall into my hands quite naturally."

Nick's musical talents were, maybe, not that surprising as his parents were both musical entertainers, his mother played during the war and Nick's formative years were filled with everything from ragtime to Strauss to King Crimson. He also listened to Radio Luxembourg in the late 1970s and absorbed the music they broadcast.

From there Nick joined his first band while at Beaucamps school, though they never gigged, before he auditioned for a band popular at youngsters events called Zephyr's Wing.

Nick saw an advert in the press and went for it, he said: "I played a few Thin Lizzy numbers... and got the job."

Nick with Paul Young's band in the Middle East

Of playing with bands he said: "It was very natural, I didn't have dreams of stardom, I just thought 'this is something I enjoy doing'."

After Zephyr's Wing Nick rejoined some of his former band members and school friends to form Limbo who played original rock music. This band's time together culminated when they supported Irish rockers Thin Lizzy when they visited Guernsey in 1981.

Nick described this as an "amazing experience" and said he even got to play frisbee with Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy's legendary frontman and bass player) and the band's roadies. Nick said Phil was "really friendly and wished us well".

Nick playing with Busta Groove in 2009

From Limbo Nick moved in other musical directions with Splat, who Nick described as "parodying ourselves and up for a laugh", and the more serious prospect Drop in the Ocean who secured management with the same people who managed Orchestral Manouvers In The Dark - though Nick said that did not seem to get them anywhere.

Nick described the 1980s as his "most prolific period" as it was in this time he was a member of bands supporting both Sister Sledge and Big Country and then touring as part of Paul Young's band.

Nick on stage with Limbo in 2009

Since then Nick has continued to play, in summer 2009 he was playing with Busta Groove and took part in a special Limbo reunion show at the Fermain Tavern.

He described Guernsey's music scene in 2009 as "as good as it's ever been" and said through his work on the Music Sub-Committee of the Guernsey Arts Commission he hopes to be able to help new bands make it.

Archive photos courtesy of Mark Windsor.