Mark Nicholas

All Music Guide:

Boston based songwriter Mark Nicholas grew up in a small town on the New Jersey shore. He found inspiration in Bruce Springsteen, the Seaside Heights Boardwalk, and the legendary performance venue in Asbury Park, The Stone Pony. As a kid, he proclaims that he was a free spirit and he grew up quickly. He has taken that freedom and transposed it into the very essence of his music. Hot Sands, Nicholas' debut album, was comprised of songs which were largely inspired by the ocean and it's allure and romance. At the age of seventeen, Mark Nicholas left home to attend college in Pennsylvania and then went on to attend law school in upstate New York. He lived in Philadelphia and became an intricate part of it's music scene. In 1996, Nicholas left the East Coast to move to San Francisco. He wrote many songs in California, because in California's beauty he found true inspiration. It seemed that everywhere he looked a new inspiration lurked. He also believes that this is when he really began to discover and understand himself. He feels that this is when his music took a drastic transformation, this is the period in which his songwriting matured. Moving back to the Boston area, Mark Nicholas joined the renowned circle of Boston singer/songwriters. Nicholas was a finalist in the 2000 Sierra Songwriters Festival. He has also been a two time winner in the category of best performance, at the NCSA. In addition to his amazing songwriting skills, his unique vocal style, and his ability to captivate an audience makes his live performances so totally inspiring. Having a signature style which has a focus on a rough and road worn quality, lends to the overall natural and unique feel to Mark Nicholas. He lists some key influences as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, and Chris Smither. He feels that these artists were influential to him but he does not feel that there is much which one will hear in his music that hints of these influences. He believes that his music is exactly that, his music, with a unique and original quality. In 2000, Nicholas released his sophomore album, Standing Right Here, which was a collection of original and penetrating songs. The album ranges from the revealing and personal, "Scared" and "Time That I Go," to the very loose and fun songs, "Beer" and "Has Anybody Seen My Coat." He describes the songs as painting a vivid clear picture to the listener. Mark Nicholas, in 2001, continued to reside in the Boston area and write material for another album, form a second music video, and perform in regional venues.

Wikipedia:

Mark Charles Jefford Nicholas (born 29 September 1957) is a cricket commentator and former player. He played for Hampshire from 1978 to 1995, captaining them from 1985 to his retirement.

Nicholas was born in Westminster, London. His grandfather Fred Nicholas captained Essex CCC, his mother is the actress Anne Nicholas and his stepfather the broadcaster Brian Widlake. He was educated at Bradfield College where he was coached by John Harvey.

Playing career

A middle-order batsman and occasional medium-pace bowler, Nicholas captained Hampshire to four major trophies - the Benson & Hedges Cup in 1988 and 1992, Sunday League (now Pro40) in 1986, and NatWest Trophy (now Friends Provident Trophy) in 1991. Despite captaining England A on tour to Zimbabwe in 1989-1991, Nicholas might be considered one of his generation's better players never to play a Test for England.

Known for his suave appearance and urbane manner, Nicholas is one of a long line of colourfully dressed characters to captain Hampshire County Cricket Club, including Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie and CB Fry.

Broadcasting career

Since his retirement as a player, he has worked in broadcasting, first as a commentator for Sky Sports, and 1999-2005 as the anchorman for Channel 4's cricket coverage. He worked freelance in 1995 for Sky and others, before signing for Sky Sports in 1996 as anchorman, where his first major role was presenting domestic and international cricket.

He led Sky's coverage of England's Winter Tours to Zimbabwe and New Zealand in 1996/7, and continued this in the West Indies in 1998. His last role with Sky Sports was presenting the network's Live and Exclusive coverage of the 1998/99 Ashes Series in Australia.

He also commentates for Australia's Nine Network during the Australian summer cricket season. He now anchors the Nine coverage, being a future anticipated replacement for Richie Benaud as the face of cricket on Nine, despite having once been dropped from the commentary team for reasons that were never fully explained before his reinstatement. His rise to the top of sports broadcasting - in Australia at least - is quite remarkable considering he never played at international level during his cricketing career. (Every other senior member of Nine's on-air team has played at the elite level, many of them captaining Australia.)

Up until 2008 he wrote a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph. He was named Sports Presenter of the Year in 2001 by the Royal Television Society, as well as being one of only two presenters to ever stand in for Richard and Judy. Nicholas also presented the 2nd series of the UK version of the reality show Survivor. He continued his commitments to Australia's Nine Network in March 2006, anchoring the afternoon coverage of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. He also rated fourth in a Melbourne newspaper poll that set out to find the public's choice on the new host of the Australian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.

While as Channel 4 anchor for the cricket, Nicholas presented "Today at the Test" which would cover the highlights of the day's play at the England Test matches or the trophy finals.

Mark Nicholas was approached by Five to cover England cricket highlights from 2006–present, the program being named "Cricket on Five". He commentates on the program with former cricketer and Channel 4 cricket commentator Geoffrey Boycott and former Channel 4 cricket analyst Simon Hughes, plus ex-England Captain Michael Vaughan. They are normally joined by a guest commentator from the touring country.

Nicholas recently served as anchorman and commentator for the Nine Network coverage of the 2010/2011 Ashes Series and continues to serve this role for other Australian Home Test Series. He was part of the world feed commentary team for both the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, and the 2011 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

Nicholas is also the "anchorman" for EA Sports Cricket 07 game. He introduces the matches the user is playing, and also commentates during the game with Richie Benaud, taking over from Jim Maxwell.

Nicholas began presenting ITV1's Britain's Best Dish in 2007 and fronted it for four series until in 2010, he was replaced by Mary Nightingale. He is currently into his sixth year as main presenter and commentator of "Cricket on Five".