Nick Kamen
Encyclopedia
Nick Kamen is an English
male model
, songwriter
and musician
, and brother of session
guitarist
Chester Kamen and artist
Barry Kamen.
along with his brother Chester. Kamen was first brought to the public’s attention in 1984 when Ray Petri
featured him on the front cover of The Face
. The cover showed him wearing a ski-hat, orange roll-neck sweater and aviator sunglasses.
He is most remembered, in the UK
, for his 1985 beefcake
performance in Levi's
"Launderette" television commercial, where he strips down in order to stone-wash his blue jeans
in a 1950s style public laundromat while he waits clad only in his boxer shorts
, which was one of a series of Bartle Bogle Hegarty
advertisements that dramatically increased the popularity
of Levi 501s. It was selected for, and came fourth in, The 100 Greatest TV Ads of all time in 2000.
His first single
was the 1986 UK number five hit
"Each Time You Break My Heart
" from his eponymous début album
. Written
and produced
by Madonna
and Stephen Bray
, it also cracked both the U.S.
dance chart
(remix
by Shep Pettibone
) and the Top 50
in Canada
. Madonna also sang the backing vocals
. Her original demo remains one of many unreleased Madonna songs. Kamen also had a #16 follow-up in the UK with the second single, Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever, although his later singles were less-commercially successful in the UK but more so in the rest of Europe, particularly Italy, France, Germany and Spain.
He appeared on UK television, singing, on Top of the Pops
(12 March 1987 and 18 October 1990), This Morning
(9 April 1990), Night Network
(15 April 1987, 19 August 1987 and 1988) and The Tube
(31 October 1986 and 21 November 1986).
Kamen's second album Us (1988) was produced by Patrick Leonard
. Madonna again made an appearance as a backing vocalist on the song "Tell Me", this time without contributing to the songwriting or production. In 1989 Kamen performed the song "Turn It Up" on the soundtrack
to Walt Disney
's film
, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
.
1990 saw the release of one of his biggest hits. The single "I Promised Myself", from the album Move Until We Fly, reached Number 1 in eight European countries and was the fourth most played record in Europe in 1990. The song was later covered by Dead or Alive
(1999), A-Teens (2004) and Basshunter
(2009). In 1992 Kamen released his last album, Whatever, Whenever.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
male model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, and brother of session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Chester Kamen and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
Barry Kamen.
Career
Nick attended St Marks RC Comprehensive School in HarlowHarlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
along with his brother Chester. Kamen was first brought to the public’s attention in 1984 when Ray Petri
Ray Petri
Ray Petri was a fashion stylist and creator of the fashion house, Buffalo.Born Ray Petrie in Dundee, Scotland, Petri moved to Brisbane, Australia with his family at age 15. In 1969, feeling Australia was too provincial, he moved to London where he ran a jewelry booth at the Camden Street...
featured him on the front cover of The Face
The Face (magazine)
The Face was a British music, fashion and culture monthly magazine started in May 1980 by Nick Logan.-1980s:Logan had previously created the teen pop magazine Smash Hits, and had been an editor at the New Musical Express in the 1970s before launching The Face in 1980.The magazine was influential in...
. The cover showed him wearing a ski-hat, orange roll-neck sweater and aviator sunglasses.
He is most remembered, in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, for his 1985 beefcake
Beefcake
Beefcake is a term denoting the use of nude or semi-nude male bodies. It can refer to a genre or a person. It often is used to denote male sexual attractiveness stemming from physical build but the definition has expanded to include anyone interested in physical fitness, bodybuilding and weight...
performance in Levi's
Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss was a German-Jewish immigrant to the United States who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm, Levi Strauss & Co., began in 1853 in San Francisco, California.-Origins:...
"Launderette" television commercial, where he strips down in order to stone-wash his blue jeans
Jeans
Jeans are trousers made from denim. Some of the earliest American blue jeans were made by Jacob Davis, Calvin Rogers, and Levi Strauss in 1873. Starting in the 1950s, jeans, originally designed for cowboys, became popular among teenagers. Historic brands include Levi's, Lee, and Wrangler...
in a 1950s style public laundromat while he waits clad only in his boxer shorts
Boxer shorts
Boxer shorts are a type of undergarment worn by men. The term has been used in English since 1944 for all-around-elastic shorts, so named after the shorts worn by boxers, for whom unhindered leg movement is very important.Reasons for a preference for boxers can be attributed to their variety of...
, which was one of a series of Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Bartle Bogle Hegarty is a British advertising agency, responsible for some notable advertising campaigns of the last 30 years. The company was founded by John Bartle, Nigel Bogle & Sir John Hegarty in 1982. Sir John Hegarty and Nigel Bogle still lead it today, together with worldwide CEO Simon...
advertisements that dramatically increased the popularity
Popularity
Popularity is the quality of being well-liked or common, or having a high social status. Popularity figures are an important part of many people's personal value systems and form a vital component of success in people-oriented fields such as management, politics, and entertainment, among...
of Levi 501s. It was selected for, and came fourth in, The 100 Greatest TV Ads of all time in 2000.
His first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
was the 1986 UK number five hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
"Each Time You Break My Heart
Each Time You Break My Heart
"Each Time You Break My Heart" is a 1986 song recorded by singer Nick Kamen featuring Madonna and Siedah Garrett on backing vocals. It was his debut single from his album Nick Kamen, released in 1987. The song achieved success in many European countries, including Ireland, Italy, UK, Swiss, and in...
" from his eponymous début album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
. Written
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
and Stephen Bray
Stephen Bray
Stephen Bray is an American songwriter, drummer, and record producer from Detroit. Bray is best known for his collaboration with Madonna.Bray began studying music through private instruction in Detroit, and continued his education at Berklee College of Music in Boston.Bray owns and operates Saturn...
, it also cracked both the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
dance chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
(remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
by Shep Pettibone
Shep Pettibone
Robert E. Pettibone, Jr. is a record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. His earliest work known to the public was for one of New York City's top disco/dance radio stations, WRKS 98.7 "Kiss" FM, and later as remixer/producer for the disco label Salsoul...
) and the Top 50
Top 50
The Top 50 refers to a list of weekly hit singles, or albums. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the same but similar to the top 40, but with 10 extra places....
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Madonna also sang the backing vocals
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
. Her original demo remains one of many unreleased Madonna songs. Kamen also had a #16 follow-up in the UK with the second single, Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever, although his later singles were less-commercially successful in the UK but more so in the rest of Europe, particularly Italy, France, Germany and Spain.
He appeared on UK television, singing, on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
(12 March 1987 and 18 October 1990), This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
(9 April 1990), Night Network
Night Network
Night Network, Night Time and Night Shift were names given to the overnight schedule of the ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24 hour broadcasting in 1986, with all of the companies broadcasting through the night by 1988...
(15 April 1987, 19 August 1987 and 1988) and The Tube
The Tube
The Tube may refer to:*The London Underground* "The Tube", slang for Television, from the term cathode ray tube*The Tube , an ITV/Sky programme featuring the work of staff on the London Underground...
(31 October 1986 and 21 November 1986).
Kamen's second album Us (1988) was produced by Patrick Leonard
Patrick Leonard
Patrick Raymond Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist and music producer, known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna on many different recordings....
. Madonna again made an appearance as a backing vocalist on the song "Tell Me", this time without contributing to the songwriting or production. In 1989 Kamen performed the song "Turn It Up" on the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
's film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 comedy film. The directorial debut of Joe Johnston and released through Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III, the film tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to 1/4 of an inch with his electromagnetic...
.
1990 saw the release of one of his biggest hits. The single "I Promised Myself", from the album Move Until We Fly, reached Number 1 in eight European countries and was the fourth most played record in Europe in 1990. The song was later covered by Dead or Alive
Dead or Alive (band)
Dead or Alive were a British New Wave band from Wirral, England, United Kingdom, Europe. The band rose to fame in the 1980s with their number one single on the UK Singles Chart, "You Spin Me Round ". They were the first group to have a number one single under the production team Stock Aitken Waterman...
(1999), A-Teens (2004) and Basshunter
Basshunter
Jonas Erik Altberg , better known by his stage name Basshunter, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. He is best known for his number one hits "Boten Anna", "Dota", "Now You're Gone" and "All I Ever Wanted". Basshunter has so far released a total of six albums, two of which have...
(2009). In 1992 Kamen released his last album, Whatever, Whenever.
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Certifications | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
ITA | NLD MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
CHE Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
AUT Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
SWE Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
|||
| 1987 | Nick Kamen | 34 | 5 | 38 | 12 | — | 50 | |
| 1988 | Us | — | 2 | — | — | — | — | |
| Loving You | — | 7 | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1990 | Move Until We Fly | — | 9 | — | 12 | 4 | 15 |
|
| 1991 | Each Time You Break My Heart | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1992 | Whatever, Whenever | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
IRE Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
ITA | NLD MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
FRA Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
GER Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
CHE | AUT Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
SWE Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
NZL Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
|||
| 1986 | "Each Time You Break My Heart Each Time You Break My Heart "Each Time You Break My Heart" is a 1986 song recorded by singer Nick Kamen featuring Madonna and Siedah Garrett on backing vocals. It was his debut single from his album Nick Kamen, released in 1987. The song achieved success in many European countries, including Ireland, Italy, UK, Swiss, and in... " |
5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 25 | 6 | 41 | Nick Kamen |
| 1987 | "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" | 16 | 18 | 1 | 13 | — | 51 | 15 | — | — | — | |
| "Nobody Else" | 47 | 19 | — | 97 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Come Softly to Me" | — | — | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Win Your Love" | — | — | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1988 | "Tell Me" | 40 | — | 1 | 74 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Us |
| "Bring Me Your Love" | — | — | 16 | — | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Oh What a Night" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Loving You | |
| 1989 | "Don't Hold Out" | — | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1990 | "I Promised Myself" | 50 | — | 8 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | Move Until We Fly |
| "Oh How Happy" | — | — | 37 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Looking Good Diving" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Agony and Ecstacy" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1992 | "You're Not the Only One" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Whatever, Whenever |
| "We'll Never Lose What We Have Found" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||