Nicholas Bracegirdle (born 28 February 1971), known professionally as Chicane, is an English musician, DJ, composer, songwriter, and record producer. Among his works are singles "Offshore", an Ibiza trance anthem included in many compilations in both chill-out and dance versions; "Saltwater", which featured vocals by Clannad member Máire Brennan; and the UK number-one hit "Don't Give Up", featuring vocals by Bryan Adams, which also became a top-ten hit on singles charts across Europe and Australia.
Far from the Maddening Crowds, Chicane's debut studio album from 1997, is still considered a seminal release among the trance music community, and his second studio album, 2000's Behind the Sun, was certified gold in the UK. In 2007, after the hindrance of an ultimately unreleased album (Easy to Assemble) in the intervening time, the third artist album Somersault was released on Bracegirdle's independent record label, followed shortly after by a tenth anniversary re-release of Far from the Maddening Crowds which included a new mix of "Offshore" ("Offshore 2007"). He released his fourth studio album Giants in 2010, with the fifth studio album Thousand Mile Stare following less than two years later, in spring 2012. The sixth studio album, The Sum of Its Parts, appeared in early 2015, and his seventh studio album, The Place You Can't Remember, the Place You Can't Forget, was released in 2018. His eighth studio album, Everything We Had to Leave Behind, was released in 2021, and his ninth studio album Nevertheless, was released two years later in 2023. His latest album, Trampolines, was released in 2024.
In addition, Bracegirdle also worked with Leo Elstob under the alias Disco Citizens, producing a handful of less radio-friendly, vocal-less tracks with a stronger progressive house sound. Working with singer Vanessa St. James and producer Mr. Joshua, Bracegirdle was part of the Mr. Joshua Presents Espiritu project, known for the song "In Praise of the Sun", released with both English and French vocals. Bracegirdle contributed with executive production on Tomski's "14 Hours to Save the Earth". Nick Bracegirdle has also used the alias Sitvac to produce a one-off single, "Wishful Thinking".
Early life While having trained in classical guitar and piano at an early age, Bracegirdle's earliest influences in electronic music came from melodic composers such as Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis, and synthpop pioneer Vince Clarke;Tracks: Nick Bracegirdle: Recording Chicane's "Don't Give Up". (May 2000). Sound on Sound. Retrieved 17 March 2006. a further influence was the dance hit "Anthem" by the house music group N-Joi. All of this convinced him to pursue the creation of melodic electronic dance music. By the age of 12, he was making music in recording studios and sending demos to record labels.Tierney, Paul. Chicane. Top Magazine (retrieved from the Internet Archive). April 2000. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
Career 1996–1998: Initial success and Far from the Maddening Crowds Bracegirdle's first release was the four track EP Cyanide Music Volume One in 1996. This contained music styles varying from deep house to trip hop and nu-disco. This was released the Cyanide record label and was a little known precursor to "Offshore". The Cyanide label then released Offshore EP #1, which contained the original version of "Offshore" as well three other tracks, again of varying styles. Eventually Bracegirdle founded his own record label Modena Records, which holds the rights to all his songs and licenses them to other labels for release and distribution. A partnership with Leo Elstob produced the first Disco Citizens single, "Right Here Right Now", in 1995, as well as the first Chicane single, "Offshore", in 1996. "Offshore" would be the first of Chicane's many releases on Edel UK Records and independent UK dance music record label Xtravaganza Recordings, then-newly founded by DJ and Bracegirdle's college friend Alex Gold.Interview with BBC Radio 1. (1998). Chicane.cc. Retrieved 7 April 2006. It reached No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart (and No. 1 on other UK-based charts compiled by Mixmag, Record Mirror, and others),Chicane biography. Chicane.cc (Retrieved from the Internet Archive). Retrieved 17 March 2006. the top 40 in multiple European countries,Editorial – Chicane . (May 2000). Urbnet.com. Retrieved 17 March 2006. and No. 5 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts in 1997 upon re-release.[ Artist Chart History – Chicane]. Billboard.com. Retrieved 17 March 2006. Its inclusion on numerous Ibiza-themed trance music compilation albums[ Offshore]. AllMusic. Retrieved 17 March 2006. (such as Café del Mar) attest to its popularity in the nightclubs on the island, one of the worldwide epicentres of dance music.
"Sunstroke", the follow-up single, attained similar popularity and chart numbers. A third single, "Offshore '97" (a separate item from the re-release of "Offshore") is a mashup of "Offshore" with the a capella from the Power Circle song "A Little Love, a Little Life", mixed by producer and DJ Anthony Pappa. Originally a bootleg, it was turned into an official release, credited to "Chicane with Power Circle".
Following these releases, Bracegirdle's debut studio album Far from the Maddening Crowds was released in September 1997. Additional singles that followed were "Lost You Somewhere", the Benelux release "Red Skies", and the non-album single "Strong in Love", for which Bracegirdle used vocals by British singer Sylvia Mason-James (after discovering that she was the vocalist on the Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne remix of "Lemon" by U2) and first collaborated on production with Ray "Madman" Hedges (producer for B*Witched and Boyzone).
1999–2003: Collaborations and Behind the Sun 1999 saw the release of "Saltwater", a song based on Máire Brennan's vocals from "Theme from Harry's Game" by the Celtic band Clannad. It surpassed all previous Chicane singles, reaching No. 6 on the UK charts and No. 1 on all five major UK dance charts. The song was used in a Belfast City advertisement broadcast in 2005–2006 across regional channels. The version of the vocals used in "Saltwater", however, was a new recording by Brennan herself.
After producing a radio remix of Bryan Adams's "Cloud Number Nine", Bracegirdle offered Adams the vocal position on the song "Don't Give Up". The vocals Adams recorded were subsequently heavily processed through a vocoder so as to play down his rock music vocal style. The vocal credit was initially not publicised when the single was sent to Pete Tong's BBC Radio 1 program Essential Selection.Interview with BBC Radio 1 . (February 2000). Chicane.cc. Retrieved 7 April 2006. On the show, Tong made the song his first "Essential New Tune" selection of the new millennium.Gill, Alexandra. Bryan Adams, king of rave? . Globe Interactive. 22 August 2000. Retrieved 29 March 2006. It was also Chicane's biggest hit, debuting at No. 1 on the UK charts (and notably replacing "American Pie", Madonna's No. 1 single of the previous week),Zywietz, Tobias. Chart Log UK: Oliver Cheatham – Convert. (22 March 2005). Chart Log UK. Retrieved 17 March 2006. reached No. 3 on the US dance chart and No. 1 on Australian and Russian charts, and made other charts across Europe as well.
On 27 March 2000, Bracegirdle released his second studio album Behind the Sun. It was certified gold by the BPI, while "Don't Give Up" was certified silver.Zywietz, Tobias. Chart Log UK: M – The Mars Volta. (22 March 2005). Chart Log UK. Retrieved 17 March 2006. Two other singles were released from the album—the double A-side "No Ordinary Morning / Halcyon", and "Autumn Tactics"—but neither were as successful as the preceding releases.
In 2002, Bracegirdle co-wrote two songs on Cher's album Living Proof, "You Take It All" and "Alive Again", the latter which was released as a single in Europe only. The 2001 Edition of the EA Sports Formula One Video Game Series included the songs "Sunstroke", "The Drive Home", and a remix of "Nagasaki Badger".
2006–2008: New management and Somersault
Eventually, under the new management of John Cavanagh, April 2006 saw the release of a new single, "Stoned in Love", on Globe Records through Universal Music Group, featuring singer Tom Jones on vocals. (Press Release). At the time of the announcement the song was also played twice by Pete Tong.BBC Radio 1 – Pete Tong – Tracklisting, 24 February 2006. BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 29 March 2006.BBC Radio 1 – Pete Tong – Tracklisting, 10 March 2006. BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 29 March 2006.
The track received substantial UK TV promotion in the run up to the week of release, featuring utterly live performances on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, The New Paul O'Grady Show and a semi-live performance on BBC's now defunct Top of the Pops. Jones and Bracegirdle were also interviewed on Channel 5 News; When asked in the 5 News interview where he had been since "Don't Give Up", Bracegirdle replied that he had been "basically stuffed" by the internet bootlegging of the album Easy to Assemble.
In February 2007, Chicane departed from Universal as well; according to the official website, all new material would be released through Modena itself. The follow-up single "Come Tomorrow" was released on 16 July 2007, followed by the third official studio album, Somersault, a week later on 23 July 2007. Bracegirdle has entirely self-financed these initial independent releases, as well as subsequent live performances. On 4 May 2007, the Cicada remix of "Come Tomorrow" was played on Radio 1 by Pete Tong.BBC Radio 1 – Pete Tong – Tracklisting, 4 May 2007. BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
On 25 August 2008, Chicane released "Bruised Water" with Natasha Bedingfield. Promotional copies of the track were made available, with remixes from Mischa Daniels and Adam K. Following the leak of his 2003 album, Chicane now employs the international internet policing company, Web Sheriff to prevent links to unlicensed material, such as this single and other tracks from his upcoming album, from being posted on various blogs and websites.
In October 2008, Chicane released a greatest hits compilation, The Best of Chicane - 1996-2008 which features his previous singles, along with a new track called "Wake Up", a collaboration with Keane. "No Ordinary Morning", "Don't Give Up" and "Saltwater" were re-recorded for the album as the original sound recordings were still owned by Xtravaganza and were unable to be licensed due to the dispute between Chicane and Alex Gold in 2002. Chicane's Xtravaganza recordings from Far From The Maddening Crowds were no longer owned by Xtravaganza and thus were included in their original form.
2009–2010: Giants Bracegirdle worked with producers James Hockley and Richard Searle on the Re-Work EP for a targeted summer 2009 release, along with a new and fourth Chicane album and mixes of forthcoming productions by BT and William Orbit. The lead track from the Re-work EP, "Poppiholla" based on the track "Hoppípolla" by Sigur Rós, was A-listed on Radio 1. It charted at No. 7 in the top 10 on 19 July 2009, and was added to a reissued version of the Best of album. The download single contained a remix by the Thrillseekers, along with a mix by Bracegirdle's moniker Disco Citizens. The follow-up to this single was revealed as "Hiding All the Stars", which contains a sample of Gary Numan's "Cars", which had its first full play on Radio 1's Floorfillers on 21 August 2009.