Nik Carter

Nik Carter (born 6 September 1985) is an English saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, arranger and composer, primarily noted for session work, and live work.

Biography and career

Carter was born in King's Lynn, England in 1985.

Carter plays all saxophones, flutes and clarinets and works on both the live performance and recording sessions in the UK and Internationally. He is a global artist for Yamaha Saxophones^[1] and Woodwinds, D’Addario Woodwinds,^[2] Lawton Mouthpieces, Bam Cases and Hercules Stands.

Carter is a founding member of Blackjack Horns (Along with Jack Birchwood (Trumpet), Steven Fuller (Trombone) and Gary Barnacle (Saxophone) who record at studios around London, these include RAK Studios, Abbey Road Studios, Metropolis Studios and Angel Recording Studios as well as their own studio.

At 15 Carter began travelling to London every Saturday morning to play with NYJO (The National Youth Jazz Orchestra led by Bill Ashton.) At 17 Carter attended the Royal Academy of Music Junior Jazz programme led by de:Nick Smart and the following year Carter gained a place on the Jazz BMUS course at Trinity College Of Music in London.

At 20 years old Carter left Trinity to tour with Lily Allen.^[3]

Carter accompanied Allen on two world tours playing at the Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Stadium plus music festivals including Glastonbury, Coachella, V Festival and Big Day Out and TV shows including Saturday Night Live, Jools' Annual Hootenanny and Later with Jools Holland, The Late Show with Jay Leno, The Jonathan Ross Show, The Today Show, Top Of The Pops, and Ellen Degeneres.

In 2008 Nik Carter played on two releases by the Mystery Jets :- the single Two Doors Down (Mystery Jets song) and the album Twenty One (album), which was BPI certified silver.^[4]

In 2011 Carter, with the Blackjack Horns, contributed to the no.1 hit single for X Factor finalist Olly Murs' Dance with Me Tonight which sold over 797,000 copies, was BPI (British Phonographic Institute) certified platinum and is his biggest selling UK single.^[5] They also performed on his album In Case You Didn't Know, which was BPI certified triple platinum (1,105,014 units sold in the UK, as of 2018) and is this artist's second biggest selling UK album.^[6] This album is the only one by this artist to have been IFPI certified platinum in Europe for over a million sales (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry).

2012 saw Nik Carter playing on Higher (The Overtones album)^[7] by the Overtones (band) and Given to the Wild^[8] by the Maccabees, among others.

Other artists and producers Carter has worked with include Alexandra Burke,^[9] James Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Beverly Knight, Scouting For Girls, Mark Ronson, Boy George, Ed Sheeran, Duffy, Future Cut, Pixie Lott, Juan Zelada,^[10] Lemar, Katie Melua, Alesha Dixon, Jocelyn Brown, Samuel L Jackson, Wretch 32 and Lorde.

Carter’s West End and touring musical theatre credits include: 'Dance 'til Dawn' featuring Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace from Strictly Come Dancing, Bat Out of Hell The Musical, The Rocky Horror Show (which included the live cinema performance recorded in the West End featuring Stephen Fry, Anthony Head, Emma Bunton, Mel Giedroyc, Ade Edmondson and Richard O'Brien, the show's creator.

In 2013 Carter also co-produced Acoustic Covers Vol 2 by West End actor and singer Ben Forster.^[11]

Orchestral Credits Include Magic FM’s Magic of the Musicals 2016 and 2017 under conductor Jon Ranger at The Royal Albert Hall

Also in 2013, he recorded with Blackjack Horns on a production by Walter Afanasieff called "Love Letters" by Brenna Whitaker, among others.

2014 saw him recording on the Mue^[12] album by Emilie Simon (with the Blackjack Horns) and in 2015, on the Cutting Crew album Add To Favourites^[13] plus on their single 'Till The Money Runs Out'^[14] (again with the Blackjack Horns).

Also in 2014 Nik Carter and Jack Birchwood contributed the horn parts to three songs on the Modern Life album by Si Cranstoun - 'Gods Of Love', 'Being With You' and 'Like It Like That', all of which were co-written and co-produced by Roy Stride of Scouting for Girls fame.

In 2015 Nik Carter, along with fellow Blackjack Horns member Jack Birchwood, recorded the brass parts for Jamie Lawson's debut album Jamie Lawson (album).^[15] Released on Ed Sheeran's new label Gingerbread Man Records - it entered the UK charts at No. 1 and was BPI certified gold.

In 2016 and 2017, Carter worked with writer/producer Simon Law on his first solo album Look To The Sky^[16] on Dome Records (including the single "Fire On Fire" featuring Lain Gray, with brass by the Blackjack Horns). That year he also played on the double album 'Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical - Original Cast Recording'.^[17]

Also in 2017, Nik Carter contributed to the recording of the single Misbehaving by Labrinth^[18]

In October 2017 at The Royal Albert Hall for 'Michael Giacchino At 50' (a birthday gala celebration) with The Cinematic Sinfonia.

In 2017, Carter accompanied Gloria Gaynor at the Library Of Congress in Washington DC on the recognition of "I Will Survive" in the National Recording Registry.

References

External links

• Nik Carter at AllMusic
• Nik Carter discography at Discogs
• Nik Carter on Facebook
• Nik Carter at Last.fm
• Blackjack Horns credits