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Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer, he was a noted figure in Pub Rock and New Wave and he has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica.

He is best known for the songs  and "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" (a top 10 UK hit), as well as his production work with Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and others. Lowe also wrote , a hit for Costello and covered by numerous other groups.


Lowe joined school friend Brinsley Schwarz in a band that eventually bore his friends name. Slowly they established credibility on the London pub rock circuit. Lowe wrote some of his best-known compositions while a member of the band, including "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", a hit for Elvis Costello in 1979; and "Cruel to Be Kind" , also in 1979, Lowe's single and biggest worldwide hit, co-written with bandmate Ian Gomm.




After leaving Brinsley Schwarz in the mid 1970s Lowe began playing bass in Rockpile with Dave Edmunds. In August 1976, Lowe released "So It Goes", the first single on the Stiff Records label, where he was an in-house producer.

The single and the label were funded by a loan of £400 from Dr. Feelgood's Lee Brilleaux. The label's first EP was Lowe's 1977 four-track release Bowi. 

Lowe continued producing albums on Stiff and other labels. In 1977 he produced Dr. Feelgood's album, Be Seeing You, which included "That's It, I Quit", written by Lowe. Private Practice, issued the next year, included "Milk and Alcohol", written by Lowe and Gypie Mayo. This song and "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" are the only Lowe compositions to reach the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart.

Because the two main singers in Rockpile had recording contracts with different record labels and managers, albums were always credited to either Lowe or Edmunds, so there is only one official Rockpile album, 1980's Seconds of Pleasure, which was not released until the waning days of the collaboration. 

Of this era was 'I knew the Bride'



Seconds of Pleasure featured the Lowe songs "When I Write the Book" and "Heart". However, two of the pair's most significant solo albums from the period, Lowe's 'Labour of Lust' and Edmunds' 'Repeat When Necessary', were effectively Rockpile albums, as was Carlene Carter's Lowe-produced 'Musical Shapes' album. 

Nick Lowe was briefly married to Carlene Carter.

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