Richard Niles
Encyclopedia
Richard Niles is an American
composer
, arranger
, producer
, guitarist
, broadcaster
and journalist
. He has lived in London
since 1975. Because of his extensive work across many genres Sound on Sound
magazine referred to him as "one of the most versatile men in modern music".
, Frank Sinatra
, Bob Hope
, Ray Heindorf
, Joe Venuti and Cole Porter
, and Pat Silver-Lasky
, who writes films, books, plays, and lectures in screenwriting. His parents divorced in 1959 and three years later the 8-year-old Niles moved with his mother to London. He grew up in the care of his mother and stepfather, the poet, playwright and screenwriter Jesse Lasky Jr.. According to Niles in an interview with HitQuarters
, they were very negative about him becoming a musician, saying, "They didn't want me to be anything like my father."
In 1975 Niles received a Degree in Composition from Boston
’s Berklee College of Music
where he studied with jazz greats Pat Metheny
, Gary Burton
, Michael Gibbs
and Herb Pomeroy
.
as a writer, eventually becoming staff arranger/producer of songwriter demos for Essex and EMI Music. This indirectly led to becoming Musical Director and Arranger for Cat Stevens
. On British television series for David Essex
and Leo Sayer
he arranged and conducted for many guest artists including Ronnie Spector
, Twiggy
, Kate Bush
and Denny Laine
. In 1978 as staff arranger for Hansa Records
he discovered Sarah Brightman
(then with dance troupe Hot Gossip
) and arranged both his and her first hit I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper
.
Since then he has composed, arranged and produced music for some of the world’s most creative and successful artists. Niles has arranged for great female stars Pet Clark, Cilla Black
, Kim Wilde
, Lulu
, Randy Crawford
, Anita Baker
, Deniece Williams
, Gloria Gaynor
, Heather Small
and Samantha Mumba
. He arranged the legendary Grace Jones
album Slave to the Rhythm
and a swinging big band version of Better the Devil You Know
for Kylie Minogue
’s 2001 tour.
He appeared as the leader of the house band, Bandzilla, in Ruby Wax
's series Don't Miss Wax. Bandzilla released an album of big band instrumentals (including versions of his own arrangements for "Slave to the Rhythm
" and Swing Out Sister
's "Breakout
" alongside original tracks).
His arrangements helped define the sound of the 80s for groups like Pet Shop Boys
, Swing Out Sister, Living in a Box
, Frankie Goes to Hollywood
, and Was (Not Was)
. His pen has also gone to work with many male stars including Cliff Richard
, James Brown
, Barry Manilow
, Ray Charles
, Stephen Gately
, Ronan Keating
, and contributed to hits for many boy bands including Wet Wet Wet
, ABC
, Damage
, O-Town, OTT, Take That
, Boyzone
, and many number one hits by Westlife
including their duet Against All Odds with Mariah Carey
.
Less commercial, more jazz-oriented work produced by Niles include albums by Morrissey-Mullen and Jim Mullen
.
Niles has also worked for the advertising industry, composing music for TV commercials including McDonald's
, Max Factor
, Toshiba
, , Nescafé
and Branston's.
Niles has released 2 CDs as guitarist/composer, Santa Rita (Sanctuary) and Club Deranged (Nucool). They feature players including Nelson Rangell
, Hamish Stuart
, Danny Gottlieb
, Kid Creole
, Nigel Hitchcock
and Chris Hunter.
As a journalist, Niles has been a regular contributor to Making Music since 1994. His radio career began presenting Jazz Notes and Adventures in Jazz on BBC Radio 3
in 1996. Since 1998 he wrote and presented his own highly acclaimed BBC Radio 2
programme New Jazz Standards, which The Guardian
says has "changed the tenor of jazz broadcasting."
, though the couple were later divorced. Niles married Aylin Marquez in 1999 and they have one child, Alexander, born in 2002.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
, producer
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...
, 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...
, broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. He has lived in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
since 1975. Because of his extensive work across many genres Sound on Sound
Sound on Sound
Sound on Sound is an independently-owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, UK. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, and interviews with industry professionals...
magazine referred to him as "one of the most versatile men in modern music".
Early years
Niles was born May 28, 1951 in Hollywood. He is the son of Tony Romano, a composer, singer and guitarist who worked with Bing CrosbyBing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, Ray Heindorf
Ray Heindorf
Ray Heindorf was an American songwriter, composer, conductor, and arranger.-Early life:Born in Haverstraw, New York, Heindorf worked as a pianist in a movie house in Mechanicville in his early teens. In 1928, he moved to New York City, where he worked as a musical arranger before heading to...
, Joe Venuti and Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, and Pat Silver-Lasky
Pat Silver-Lasky
Pat Silver-Lasky is an American actress, screenwriter, and writer, mostly known for her collaborations with her second husband Jesse Lasky Jr.-Early years:...
, who writes films, books, plays, and lectures in screenwriting. His parents divorced in 1959 and three years later the 8-year-old Niles moved with his mother to London. He grew up in the care of his mother and stepfather, the poet, playwright and screenwriter Jesse Lasky Jr.. According to Niles in an interview with HitQuarters
HitQuarters
HitQuarters is an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It is noted for in-depth interviews with industry figures, with past subjects including Simon Cowell, Martin Kierszenbaum, Jason Flom, Diane Warren, Peter Edge, Ron Fair and RedOne, as well as its A&R...
, they were very negative about him becoming a musician, saying, "They didn't want me to be anything like my father."
In 1975 Niles received a Degree in Composition from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
’s Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
where he studied with jazz greats Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
, Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
, Michael Gibbs
Michael Gibbs (jazz composer)
Michael Clement Irving Gibbs is a jazz composer, conductor, arranger and producer as well as a trombonist and keyboardist....
and Herb Pomeroy
Herb Pomeroy
Irving Herbert "Herb" Pomeroy, III was an influential swing and bebop jazz trumpeter and educator...
.
Professional career
Returning to London in 1975, he signed to Essex MusicEssex Records
Essex Records was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1951 by David Miller primarily to record contemporary country and western, rhythm and blues as well as jazz and gospel. Jack Howard was the promotion manager. The label had little popular success. They issued a 1954 single called "Oh, Mein...
as a writer, eventually becoming staff arranger/producer of songwriter demos for Essex and EMI Music. This indirectly led to becoming Musical Director and Arranger for Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
. On British television series for David Essex
David Essex
David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...
and Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer
Leo Sayer is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and entertainer whose singing career has spanned four decades. Sayer became a naturalised Australian citizen in 2009. Sayer was a top singles and album act on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1970s...
he arranged and conducted for many guest artists including Ronnie Spector
Ronnie Spector
Veronica Yvette "Ronnie" Spector is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist, and was the lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, The Ronettes, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll."-Personal...
, Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
, Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
and Denny Laine
Denny Laine
Denny Laine is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, guitarist, and lead singer of The Moody Blues' 1965 debut album "The Magnificent Moodies"; and, later, best known for his role as co-founder of Wings...
. In 1978 as staff arranger for Hansa Records
Hansa Records
Hansa Records was a record label founded in the 1960s based in Berlin, Germany....
he discovered Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
(then with dance troupe Hot Gossip
Hot Gossip
-Formation:Arlene Phillips came to London to learn and teach developing American Jazz dance routines. Employed as a dance teacher, she taught at locations including the Pineapple Dance Studios and the Italia Conti Stage School. In 1974, Phillips started forming the core of a troupe; Italia Conti...
) and arranged both his and her first hit I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper
I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper
"I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", sometimes cited as " Starship Trooper", is a 1978 single written by Jeff Calvert and Max West of Typically Tropical and performed by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip...
.
Since then he has composed, arranged and produced music for some of the world’s most creative and successful artists. Niles has arranged for great female stars Pet Clark, Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
, Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde is an English pop singer, author and television presenter who burst onto the music scene in 1981 with the number 2 UK Singles Chart new wave classic "Kids in America". In 1987 she had a major hit in the United States when her version of The Supremes' classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On"...
, Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
, Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford
Randy Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist...
, Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
, Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
, Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits; "I Will Survive" , "Never Can Say Goodbye" , "Let Me Know " and "I Am What I Am" .-Early career:Gaynor was a singer with the Soul...
, Heather Small
Heather Small
Heather Small is a British soul singer, best known for being the lead singer in the Manchester based band M People. Her debut solo album was Proud in 2000...
and Samantha Mumba
Samantha Mumba
Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba is an Irish singer and actress.Her first album was released in 2000. Her most notable role was Mara in the 2002 film The Time Machine. She has also appeared in a number of Irish independent films.-Early life, education and early career:Mumba was born in Dublin,...
. He arranged the legendary Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
album Slave to the Rhythm
Slave to the Rhythm
Slave to the Rhythm is the seventh album by Grace Jones. It was produced by Trevor Horn and released in 1985. The album was written by Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn...
and a swinging big band version of Better the Devil You Know
Better the Devil You Know
"Better the Devil You Know" is a dance-pop song written by Stock, Aitken & Waterman for Kylie Minogue's third studio album Rhythm of Love.-Background:...
for Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
’s 2001 tour.
He appeared as the leader of the house band, Bandzilla, in Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax is a BAFTA nominated American comedian who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s.-Early life:...
's series Don't Miss Wax. Bandzilla released an album of big band instrumentals (including versions of his own arrangements for "Slave to the Rhythm
Slave to the Rhythm
Slave to the Rhythm is the seventh album by Grace Jones. It was produced by Trevor Horn and released in 1985. The album was written by Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn...
" and Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister
Swing Out Sister are a British "sophisti-pop" group best known worldwide for their 1986 song "Breakout". Other hits include "Surrender", "Twilight World", "Waiting Game" and a remake of "Am I the Same Girl?" Though album sales in the U.S. and Europe have levelled off since the early 1990s, the...
's "Breakout
Breakout (Swing Out Sister song)
"Breakout" is a single from British pop act Swing Out Sister's debut album It's Better to Travel.The single reached the number four position in the UK in 1986, and rose to number six pop and number one adult contemporary in the U.S. in 1987...
" alongside original tracks).
His arrangements helped define the sound of the 80s for groups like Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
, Swing Out Sister, Living in a Box
Living in a Box
Living in a Box were a British band from the 1980s and early 1990s. They are best known for their eponymous debut single, produced by Richard James Burgess.-Formation and split up:...
, Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...
, and Was (Not Was)
Was (Not Was)
-Studio albums:-Compilation albums:-Singles:-Contributions:* A Christmas Record - "Christmas Time In The Motor City"* That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk - "Ba-Lue-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are"...
. His pen has also gone to work with many male stars including Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
, James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Stephen Gately
Stephen Gately
Stephen Patrick David Gately was an Irish pop singer–songwriter, actor, dancer, musician and author, who, with Ronan Keating, was one of two lead singers of the pop group Boyzone. All of Boyzone's studio albums hit number one in the United Kingdom, their third being their most successful...
, Ronan Keating
Ronan Keating
Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...
, and contributed to hits for many boy bands including Wet Wet Wet
Wet Wet Wet
Wet Wet Wet are a Scottish pop rock band that formed in the 1980s. They scored a number of hits in the British charts and around the world. The band is composed of Marti Pellow , Tommy Cunningham , Graeme Clark and Neil Mitchell...
, ABC
ABC (band)
ABC are an English band, that charted ten UK and five US Top 40 singles between 1981 and 1990. The band continues to tour and released a new album, Traffic, in 2008.-Formation:...
, Damage
Damage (British band)
Damage were a British R&B boy band who achieved success in the 1990s with eleven hit singles, including four Top 10 successes in the UK Singles Chart.-Biography:...
, O-Town, OTT, Take That
Take That
Take That are a British five-piece vocal pop group comprising Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Barlow acts as the lead singer and primary songwriter...
, Boyzone
Boyzone
Boyzone are an Irish boy band comprising Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating,Shane Lynch, and formerly Stephen Gately. Boyzone have 19 singles in the top 40 UK charts and 21 singles in the Ire charts. The group currently have 6 UK number one singles and 9 number one singles in Ireland with 12...
, and many number one hits by Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...
including their duet Against All Odds with Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
.
Less commercial, more jazz-oriented work produced by Niles include albums by Morrissey-Mullen and Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen
Jim Mullen is a Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum.-Biography:...
.
Niles has also worked for the advertising industry, composing music for TV commercials including McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
, Max Factor
Max Factor
Max Factor & Company is a cosmetics company, founded during 1909 by Maksymilian Faktorowicz , Max Factor, a Polish-Jewish cosmetician. Max Factor & Company was a related, two-family, multi-generational international cosmetics company before its sale in 1973 for $500 million dollars...
, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
, , Nescafé
Nescafé
Nescafé is a brand of instant coffee made by Nestlé. It comes in the form of many different products. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestlé" and "café". Nestlé's flagship powdered coffee product was introduced in Switzerland on April 1, 1938 after being developed for seven or eight years...
and Branston's.
Niles has released 2 CDs as guitarist/composer, Santa Rita (Sanctuary) and Club Deranged (Nucool). They feature players including Nelson Rangell
Nelson Rangell
Nelson Rangell is an American velvet-smooth jazz musician and composer originally from Castle Rock, Colorado. Although Rangell is known for his work with the tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, his primary instrument is the piccolo flute, which he began playing at the age of 15...
, Hamish Stuart
Hamish Stuart
Hamish Stuart is a guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer.- Biography :Stuart had recorded a couple of singles with his first band, the Dream Police, before he was invited to join the recently formed Average White Band in June 1972.A member of AWB from 1972 to 1982, he went on to...
, Danny Gottlieb
Danny Gottlieb
Danny Gottlieb is a freelance drummer who has performed as part of the Pat Metheny Group and Mahavishnu Orchestra. He is also a member of the University of North Florida jazz faculty, where he teaches as a fulltime Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies.- Biography :Danny graduated from the...
, Kid Creole
Kid Creole
Nathaniel Glover Jr., , is an American rapper first known as Danny Dan and after 1975 as the better-known stage name The Kidd Creole. He is one of the pioneers of classic hip hop, and is most famous for his work as a founding member of the group Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five...
, Nigel Hitchcock
Nigel Hitchcock
Nigel Hitchcock is an English jazz saxophonist.-Biography:Hichcock began to play alto sax at age 8. In 1982 he and his elder brother Clive joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. After one year Nigel took the lead alto chair for the next 5 years...
and Chris Hunter.
As a journalist, Niles has been a regular contributor to Making Music since 1994. His radio career began presenting Jazz Notes and Adventures in Jazz on BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
in 1996. Since 1998 he wrote and presented his own highly acclaimed BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
programme New Jazz Standards, which The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
says has "changed the tenor of jazz broadcasting."
Personal life
In the 1980s, Niles was married to vocalist Tessa NilesTessa Niles
Tessa Niles is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of artists.-Early life and career:Born in Kent, Niles began her professional singing career, as both a lead and a backing vocalist, in 1979...
, though the couple were later divorced. Niles married Aylin Marquez in 1999 and they have one child, Alexander, born in 2002.