Nick Lowe is a singer-songwriter, musician and producer.
A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock, and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano, and harmonica. He is perhaps best known for his songs “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, And Understanding” and “Cruel to Be Kind”, as well as his production work with Elvis Costello.
Lowe began his recording career in 1966 as a member of Kippington Lodge, founded with his friend Brinsley Schwarz, which released a few singles on Parlophone. Three years later Kippington Lodge had changed its name to Brinsley Schwarz and its musical focus to country- and blues-rock.
After leaving Brinsley Schwarz in the mid-1970s, Lowe began playing in Rockpile with Dave Edmunds. In August 1976 Lowe released “So It Goes” b/w “Heart of the City”, the first single on the Stiff Records label where he was in-house producer (the label’s first EP was Lowe’s 1977 four-track release Bowi, apparently named in response to David Bowie’s contemporary LP Low) . On this and other labels, Lowe would go on to produce The Damned’s Damned Damned Damned and many albums by Elvis Costello. Upon moving from Stiff to Jake Riviera’s Radar and F-Beat labels, Lowe became extremely selective in his choice of production tasks.
