Nick Kamen

Ivor Neville "Nick" Kamen (born 15 April 1962 in Harlow, Essex, England)[1] is an English male model, songwriter and musician. He is best known for the singles "Each Time You Break My Heart" from 1986 and "I Promised Myself" from 1990. In a 1985 Levi commercial he took off his blue jean '501s' and white T-shirt in a launderette.

Nick Kamen
Birth nameIvor Neville Kamen
Born (1962-04-15) 15 April 1962
Harlow, Essex, England
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, model
Years active1985–1993

Career

Kamen attended St Marks RC Comprehensive School in Harlow along with his brothers Barry and Chester. Kamen was first brought to the public's attention in 1984 when Ray Petri featured him on the front cover of The Face.[2] The cover showed him wearing a ski-hat, lipstick, orange roll-neck sweater and aviator sunglasses.

He is known in the UK, for his appearance in the 1985 Levi's "Launderette" commercial,[3] where he strips down to wash his blue jeans in a 1950s style public laundromat while he waits clad only in his Sunspel boxer shorts, which was one of a series of Bartle Bogle Hegarty advertisements that dramatically increased sales of Levi 501s. The commercial, directed by Roger Lyons, was selected for, and came fourth in, The 100 Greatest TV Ads in 2000.[4]

His first single was the 1986 UK number five hit "Each Time You Break My Heart" from his eponymous début album.[5] Written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, it also cracked both the US dance chart (remix by Shep Pettibone) and the Top 50 in Canada. Madonna also sang the backing vocals. Her original demo remains one of many unreleased Madonna songs. Kamen also had a No. 16 follow-up in the UK with the second single, "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" (a cover of the Four Tops' 1966 hit), although his later singles were less-commercially successful in the UK[5] but more so in the rest of Europe, particularly Italy, France, Germany and Spain.

Kamen's second album Us (1988) was produced by Patrick Leonard. Madonna again made an appearance as a backing vocalist on the song "Tell Me", this time without contributing to the songwriting or production. The song became a massive hit in Italy in the summer of 1988, spending a total of nine weeks on the number one position.[6] In 1989 Kamen performed the song "Turn It Up" on the soundtrack to Walt Disney's film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

1990 saw the release of one of his biggest hits. The single "I Promised Myself", from the album Move Until We Fly, reached Number 1 in eight European countries and was the fourth most played record in Europe in 1990. The song was later covered by Dead or Alive (1999), A-Teens (2004), Basshunter (2009) and most recently German punk rockers Maggers United (2013).

Kamen's 1988 European single "Bring Me Your Love" has a Cantonese cover version "今夜你是否一人" reached No.1 on the airplay chart in Hong Kong in 1989.

Kamen appeared on UK television, singing, on Top of the Pops (12 March 1987 and 18 October 1990), This Morning (9 April 1990), Night Network (15 April 1987, 19 August 1987 and 1988) and The Tube (31 October 1986 and 21 November 1986).

In 1992, Kamen released his last album to date, entitled Whatever, Whenever.

Cherry Pop Records released his debut album as a 2-disc-deluxe-edition in 2015,[7] followed by The Complete Collection, 6CD Boxset in 2020.[8]

Discography

Albums
Year Title Chart positions Certifications
UK
[9]		 AUT
[10]		 GER
[11]		 ITA
[12]		 NLD
[13]		 SWE
[14]		 SWI
[15]
1987 Nick Kamen 34 — 59 5 38 50 12
1988 Us — — — 2 — — —
Loving You — — — 7 — — —
1990 Move Until We Fly — 4 44 9 — 15 12
1992 Whatever, Whenever — — — — — — —
2020 Nick Kamen: The Complete Collection, 6CD Boxset[17] — — — — — — —

Singles
Year Title Chart positions Album
UK
[9]		 AUT
[10]		 CAN
[18]		 FRA
[19]		 GER
[20]		 IRE
[21]		 ITA
[22]		 NLD
[13]		 NZL
[23]		 SWE
[14]		 SWI
[15]
1986 "Each Time You Break My Heart" 5 25 64 8 8 3 2 5 41 6 2 Nick Kamen
1987 "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" 16 — — — 51 18 1 13 — — 15
"Nobody Else" 47 — — — — 19 — 97 — — —
"Come Softly to Me" — — — — — — 19 — — — —
"Win Your Love" — — — — — — 13 — — — —
1988 "Tell Me" 40 — — — — — 1 74 — — — Us
"Bring Me Your Love" — — — 20 — — 16 — — — —
"Oh What a Night" — — — — — — — — — — — Loving You
1989 "Don't Hold Out" — — — — — — 32 — — — —
1990 "I Promised Myself" 50 1 — 11 5 — 8 4 — 1 3 Move Until We Fly
"Oh How Happy" — — — — — — 37 — — — —
"Looking Good Diving" — — — — — — — — — — —
"Agony and Ecstasy" — — — — — — — — — — —
1992 "You're Not the Only One" — — — — — — — — — — — Whatever, Whenever
"We'll Never Lose What We Have Found" — — — — — — — — — — —
2004 "I Promised Myself 2004" — — — — — — — 42 — — —

References
  1. "Nick Kamen". IMDb. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  2. Ognyan Yordanov (January 2008). "Ray Petri – Urban Guerrilla". Wound Magazine. 1 (2): 116–117. ISSN 1755-800X.
  3. Stephanie Jenkins and Joan Williams (2005). "Clothes & Shoes". UK television adverts 1955–1985. Retrieved 26 January 2008.
  4. "100 Greatest TV Ads (Pt 16)". YouTube. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  5. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 296. ISBN 978-1-904994-10-7.
  6. "Hit Parade Italia - Top Settimanali Single". Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  7. "Nick Kamen: Deluxe Edition - Cherry Red Records". Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  8. "Nick Kamen: The Complete Collection, 6CD Boxset - Cherry Red Records". Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  9. "Nick Kamen". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  10. "Discographie Nick Kamen". Austriancharts.at (in German). Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  11. "Suche nach "nick kamen"". Charts.de (in German). Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  12. "Top Annuali Album". Hitparadeitalia.it (in Italian). Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  13. "dutchcharts.nl – Discografie Nick Kamen". Dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  14. "Discography Nick Kamen". Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  15. "Discographie Nick Kamen". Swisscharts.com. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  16. "Gold & Platin". Ifpi.at (in German). Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
  17. "Nick Kamen: The Complete Collection, 6CD Boxset". Cherry Red Records. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  18. "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  19. "lescharts.com – Discographie Nick Kamen". Lescharts.com (in French). Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  20. "Chartverfolgung / Kamen,Nick / Single". Musicline.de (in German). Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  21. "The Irish Charts – All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  22. "Indice per Interprete: K". Hitparadeitalia.it (in Italian). Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  23. "charts.nz – Discography Nick Kamen". Charts.nz. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
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