User:Theflowermaid/sandbox

Nick Ingman was born April 29th, 1948 in Richmond-Upon-Thames, in Greater London. Nick states: “My mother was a ballet dancer and my father… well, he was a jack of all trades. Before the war, he had been a percussionist in dance bands and a music journalist for the Melody Maker. In 1940, he joined the army and saw action in North Africa and Italy. At war’s end, he had been promoted all the way up to lieutenant-colonel. Back in London, he found employment at an American advertising agency, where he stayed on for the next thirty odd years” (Eurovision Interview). When he was seventeen he came to the United States to study music at the New England Conservatory and Berklee College of music in Boston, Massachusetts. Nick stated that “coming to America was a huge culture shock for several reasons...There was also the positive shock of finding myself surrounded by an amazing scene of jazz bands, small groups, and big bands. At any time of day or night, there was a band of fellow students playing somewhere” (Eurovision Interview). During this time in America he honed his composing skills, working with several smaller bands and composing rock and jazz music, his first collaboration being “So Long Little Girl” by The Dictators in 1964. From 1964 to 1966 he learned jazz composition and arrangements under Graham Collier at Berklee College.

In the 1970s, Ingman began working more with producing music and became more independent as a composer. After graduating from Berklee, Nick Ingman returned to London. and interviewed with Norrie Paramor, who founded the Norrie Paramor Organization. Ingman was given a 6 month trial with the composer and producer Paramor and later was rehired as an assistant arranger and producer for 6 years (from 1968 to 1974). After 6 years he studied as a postgraduate at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he took private conducting lessons. During this time he also worked with up-and-coming artists such as Cliff Richard, Malcolm Roberts, and Sacha Distel. He also produced solo instrumental recordings for “Jesus Christ Superstar”, a stage play depicting the life and death of Jesus. in 1974, Norrie Paramor sold his organization to the BBC, and Nick Ingman became freelance in his work. He teamed up with another producer, Norman Newell, and they worked together for ten years helping produce music for solo artists such as Bobby Crush, Vince Hill, and others. Then Paramor fell ill and passed away in 1979, and the BBC Midlands Orchestra hired him as their new conductor. He also conducted for the BBC Radio Orchestra and joined another producing studio, Mingles Music, on the side. Mingles produced what was known as Library Music and Beautiful Music. “Library Music is instrumental music used for TV, radio, and films. I recorded arrangements which were paid for by a music publisher, who would try to sell them… if you were lucky, titles were picked up as background music or signature tunes for TV programmes. It was quite lucrative, as airplay for my music resulted in royalties. Beautiful Music, on the other hand, is a purely American phenomenon...I often played the same arrangements I wrote for America in the radio programmes with the BBC Midlands and BBC Radio Orchestras. I worked with both of the BBC orchestras until the second half of the 1980s.”(“And the Conductor Is”).

In his later years his focus turned to the creation of soundtracks for bigger artists and some notable films. in the early 1980’s through the 90’s he composed and produced themes for several BBC sitcoms, such as Don’t Wait Up (1983), Ever Decreasing Circles (1989), and Keeping Up Appearances (1990-95). he also arranged pop music for artists such as Bucks Fizz, The Fine Young Cannibals, and Azucar Moreno. However, he later teamed up with his previous teacher Graham Collier and joined the newly formed Jazz department at the Royal Academy of music in 1987. Ingman later lectured at the London College of Music as a visiting professor for 10 years. In the late 1990’s and the beginning of the 2000’s, Ingman began to work as a film orchestrator as well as a conductor. He composed with Stephen Warbeck on films such as Shakespeare in Love (1998), receiving an oscar for his work,  and Billy Elliott (2000). He later orchestrated and conducted films such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Madagascar (2005), Passion of the Christ (2004), Pirates of the Caribbean: the Black Pearl (2003), and many other films and television shows. He became one of the most wanted string arranges for the up-and-coming genre of music known as Britpop, and worked with many bands such as Oasis, Portishead, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, and Menswear. He conducted studio sessions for Radiohead’s “OK Computer” album as well as arranging Eric Clapton's Pilgrim. One of his most recent works was orchestrating First Steps by Elbow, which was the opening song for the 2012 London Olympic Games. In 2010, he was admitted to the Musicians Hall of Fame.