User:Jupiterwar/Nic billington

Hailing from Durban, South Africa, Nic spent most of his younger days with his notebook and pen in hand, scribbling his lyrics while laying down melodies on his Dictaphone. He often slipped the protective eye of his mum, venturing out to indulge in his favourite past time: music. While growing up, Nic’s tastes were acquired from a diet of Janet Jackson, UB40, Bob Marley, Depechè Mode, Prince and Madonna, courtesy of his close family. He now names Britney Spears, Linkin Park, Aaliyah and local musicians like Tasha Baxter and Flash Republic, as respected all round artists.

At 14 years of age Nic started drama lessons and joined the school choir. It was there he met a fellow friend that eagerly shared the same interests in music. Their friendship eventually culminated into the formation of now defunct group, The Verdict. The Verdict enjoyed popular success with their combination style of house music. It wasn’t long after, that the duo started receiving a large amount of attention from the public.

The Verdict’s unique blend of house, kwaito and dance music was created on their home PC. They sent demos to some of the major record companies only to later be rejected. What would normally shatter the dreams of many aspiring musicians only made them more determined to succeed. East Coast Radio jock, Trevor William discovered the duo and invited them as guests on his show. They were referred to a recording company but failed to record independently because of their financial status.

The two were forced into day jobs to raise money for their album. Nic got a job at an independent record company, where he spent a few years learning the ins and outs of the music business. The Verdict was put on hold, for what seemed like forever, and this put a huge strain on the group. Both went their separate ways, only to find Nic at the bottom of the chain again.

Unperturbed by this minor setback, Nic wasted no time and began networking with producers. He used his business perceptive to slowly build the foundations of his future career as a solo artist.

In 2007, Nic started taking vocal lessons at Williams-Ros Studios and performed for his very first time as a solo act in a show at Ushaka Marine World in a show called “Natural Elements”.

Determined to forge ahead in music industry Nic decided to take a different approach when it came to reaching his fans. His ingenious plan of creating covers of popular music videos and broadcasting them on Youtube has gathered Nic a following worldwide. It was an independent project that he started by himself, in his room with just a camera and a computer.

Nic’s version of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” appeared on the American pop singers official website, www.britneyspears.com in October 2008.

Nic was soon approached by Trevor Williams yet again, to appear on his latest compilation CD, the Trevor Williams Vol.2 compilation. The album soon hit stores across Southern Africa and it featured Nic’s version of the Richard Marx classic, Hazard. Hazard was produced by Nic, with the help from fellow friend and R&B musician, Verd of Brotherhood Productions.

DJ Roxxi and Nic Billington collaborated with Flash Republic’s Craig Massiv to deliver a dance track called "Away". Defying the usual routes of music distribution, the duo decided to embrace the information super-highway by launching the single online on DJ Roxxi’s official website. The track was made available on www.djroxxi.com in the form of a free download on the 15th of May 2009.

While performing and promoting the “Away” single with DJ Roxxi, Nic is currently working towards releasing his debut album in the next year.