|
   
MAGAZINES
NEWSPAPERS
Tales
From The Rock 'N' Roll Highway - Marley Brant
2004
Billboard Books
Nick
Gilder (solo artist):
I have been working on the new CD, and every once in a while I
wander back to the 70’s and those tour days. Funny how the
years have a way of softening the edges. One thing that is
still very clear is that the band rocked! Then and now, I have
always found myself with great rock players. Not that much has
changed from those days. Actually, that’s not entirely
true. I wish we still had the budgets we had then!
We had our share of excesses, but not to the extent of some, who
have suggested it remarkable they are still alive to reflect on their
outrageous glory days, let alone remember them. Somehow, it
seemed we were always tryin’ to keep the road crew out of
trouble, as much as any other activity. I remember one night
hearing a thud in the aisle of the bus as one of the guys fell out of
his bunk. This was thanks, I am sure, to the bus driver
forgetting it was a new gig and not his old truck route.
We had the almost cliché tour experience with the ladies
wanting to express their appreciation with as much affection as
possible. It wasn’t unusual to see one of God’s
beauties in her birthday suit, walking down the hallway of a hotel to
an after-gig party room. Oh yeah.
Outrageous is not something new. The kids liked to show their
fashion sense in kaleidoscopic extravagance, and they do now.
The touring, though, is the same. You wait for the stage time
that night. It’s somehow the focus of your day, whatever
comes your way.
It’s still dreamlike in some way, as I think of a fateful day
in a piano refinishing shop in Vancouver when a young guitar hopeful
named Randy Shepard asked if I would like to sing in their band,
after my exhortations of music experience in England. From
there, a chance meeting with Jim McCulloch, who claimed to have
connections with a real booking agent, and did!
Our first gig was opening for Heart at The Cave in Vancouver.
We played every nook and cranny after that. And suddenly I saw
“Roxy” (Gilder’s hit song “Roxy Roller”) all
around me. Then I saw her at the top of the charts! It
gets way too confusing after that. Next thing you know, Jim and
I and the guys of the Nick Gilder Band are shaking hands with Dick
Clark, and I’m accepting awards and propositions of every
artistic nature.
I have truly enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, my life as a recording
and performing artist.
The
Billboard Book Of Number One Hits - Fred Bronson
1997
Billbaord Books
"I'm intrigued by sex," Nick Gilder confessed to Rolling
Stone. "It's so much a part of everything we do, and we
don't completely understand why we're doing it. It's our prime
directive, almost, on this planet. Seek out and multiply, you
know. I write stories around it because it intrigues people so much."
Nick Gilder fashioned one of his stories around the wasted life of a
street-wise Lolita ("Drinking champagne is her pastime/Making
love is her mainline.") in "Hot Child In The
City." His platinum-selling single debuted on the Hot 100
at number 88 on June 10, 1978, and took 20 more weeks to reach the
top, longer than any other single that had come before.
"`Hot Child In The City` could well have been entitled, `Don't
Bite The Apple,`" Gilder said in Rolling Stone.
"I've seen a lot of young girls, 15 and 16, walking down
Hollywood Boulevard with their pimps. Their home environment
drove them to distraction so they ran away, only to be trapped by
something even worse. It hurts to see that so I tried writing
from the perspective of a lecher - in the guise of a innocent pop song."
The man Rolling Stone dubbed "the Nabokov of the jukebox"
was born November 7*, 1951, in London England. When he was 10,
his family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After
attending technical college, he teamed up with guitarist Jimmy
McCulloch in 1971 to form a rock band Sweeney Todd. They
struggled in semi-obscurity until 1976 when London Records released
"Roxy Roller," a sardonic tune about a groupie.
Gilder and McCulloch bowed out of Sweeney Todd due to internal
squabbling, and traveled south to test their power-pop sound in the
more lucrative waters of Los Angles. They signed with Chrysalis
Records, while their former label released a semi-new version of
"Roxy Roller" in the United States, featuring a different
lead singer and the original Sweeney Todd backing track.
When Chrysalis got wind of it, they obtained an immediate injunction
that banned the record from further airplay and issued a new
recording of the song by Gilder. To further complicate matters,
a revamped Sweeney Todd went back in to the studio and recorded an
entirely new version. As a result of the muddle, all three
singles bombed.
After an aborted attempt to record with Beatles producer George
Martin, Gilder teamed up with Stuart Alan Love in 1977 to produce his
debut LP, You Know Who You Are. For his second effort, 1978's
City Nights, Gilder was paired with glitter pop producer Mike Chapman
to record three tracks in three days. One of them was "Hot
Child in the City."
"I didn't think that track was strong enough to the
single," Chapman told Jim McCullaugh in a Billboard
interview, "Their was another tracked called `All Because
Of Love` which I thought should be the single but Chrysalis president
Terry Ellis felt "Hot Child in the City" was stronger.
He was right on that one.
Ellis` decision gave Chapman two consecutive number one singles as
Gilder succeeded the Chapman-produced "Kiss You All Over"
by Exile. "It's like a dream come true," Chapman told
McCullaugh. "I've wanted that kind of success in the U.S.
for a long time and it's finally starting to happen."
Encyclopedia
of Canadian Rock, Pop & Folk Music - Rick Jackson
1994
Quarry
Press
Nick
Gilder
Nick Gilder first gained prominence as a member of the Vancouver
quintet Sweeney Todd. After two albums and four singles, they
broke up in 1977 when Gilder and Jimmy McCullouch, another member of
the group, moved to Los Angeles. Their biggest hit was Roxy
Roller in 1976, which was written by Gilder and McCullouch.
In 1977 Gilder went on to enjoy a successful solo career. Signed to
Chrysalis Records, his debut album was You Know Who You Are in 1977.
Not until his second album City Nights did he finally experience
success with the song Hot Child in the City. It reached number
one on Billboards Hot 100 chart on October 28, 1978. Gilder
went on to record other albums and hit singles but was unable to
duplicate the success f his only number one hit.
(As
Sweeney Todd)
Singles:
Sweeney Todd Folder 1976, Roxy Roller 1976, Say Hello Say Goodbye
1976, If Wishes Were Horses 1977.
Albums:
Sweeney Todd 1975, If Wishes Were Horses 1977
(By
Nick Gilder)
Singles:
She's a Star (In Her Own Right) 1975-76, Hot Child in the City 1978,
Here Comes the Night 1978-79, (You Really) Rock Me 1979, Metro Jets
1980, Catch 22 1981, Prove It 1981, Let Me In 1985, Footsteps 1986
Albums:
You Know Who You Are 1977, City Nights 1978, Frequency 1979, Body
Talk Muzak 1981.
THE
GUINNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, 1992
Born November 7, 1951 in London, England. Gilder is best
known for his 1978 hit, "Hot Child In The City," which
reached number 1 in the U.S. Gilder moved to Vancouver, Canada
in 1971 and later joined the band Sweeney Todd. They charted
with "Roxy Roller" in 1976. With band member, Jim
McCulloch, Gilder relocated to Los Angeles and signed as a solo
artist with Chrysalis Records.
"Hot Child In The City" was his first and greatest
success, followed by two lesser chart singles "Here Comes The
Night" and "(You Really) Rock Me." Gilder also
placed two albums on the charts, "City Nights" and
"Frequency," but was unable to repeat his success after the
end of the 70's, despite further albums for Casablanca Records and
RCA Records.
Albums:
You Know Who You Are (1977), City Nights (1978), Frequency
(1979),Rock America (1980), Body Talk Muzik (1981) & Nick Gilder (1985).
MAGAZINES
NEWSPAPERS
Top |