Biography

Nic France  born: 30/03/1956

I have always had a love of music both listening and playing. 

I started playing piano when I was  7 years old. I had a formal and  intense musical education as a cathedral chorister at Ely from the age of  8 and started learning piano and violin as well. I didn't start playing drums until I was about 14 and played in a school rock band. In 1976 I studied music at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology taking lessons in percussion, piano and singing.  Whilst in Cambridge I played drums regularly at the Modern Jazz Club with fellow students Chucho Merchan and John Donaldson and had the great opportunity to play with some outstanding musicians such as Gordon Beck, Martin Taylor and Tony Coe.

In 1980 I moved to London to work as a freelance session drummer and started playing with Ian Carr's Nucleus. This lead to playing with many other established London based musicians including Ronnie Scott, John Taylor, Allan Holdsworth, Jim Mullen, Tim Whitehead and Bobby Wellins.  International artists included  Mose Allison, L. Shankar, Hank Crawford and David Fathead Newman and an appearance on BBC TV with Billy Cobham. I  was a founder member  of Loose Tubes alongside  Django Bates, John Parricelli, Chris Batchelor , Mark Lockheart, Iain Ballamy and Julian Arguelles.

By 1984 I had joined Working Week, toured Europe extensively and recorded 3 albums. In 1988/89 I had the great pleasure of playing drums and singing backing vocals with Bill Withers on a UK and a European tour. From 1989-95,  I  played with Tanita Tikaram, involving several world tours and albums. I played with the Brazilian guitarist, Heitor Pereira (Simply Red's guitarist and now Hollywood film music composer) at Montreux Jazz Festival. From the mid 90's I also played with the Italian vituoso guitarist Antonio Forcione, singer Ian Shaw, Irish singer/songwriter Christie Hennessey and toured and recorded with Tim Garland's Lammas. In the late 90s I was delighted to be asked to play with Pete Jacobsen's trio and soon after with Pete Sabberton's trio. 

In 2001/2 I had the good fortune to play with David Gilmour with guests Kate Bush, Bob Geldorf  and Robert Wyatt, appearing on the David Gilmour Live DVD recorded at the Festival Hall. I played with Andy Sheppard, Nigel Kennedy and Barb Jungr  over this period. With Andy Sheppard I played with Rita Marcotulli and Anders Jormin. I played drums for Terry Callier from 2005-2010. I played with Mbawula a South African Township band, and Jazzinho a contemporary Brazilian band. In 2009 I played with the Charlie Haden Liberation Orchestra  I have also recorded and toured with the NDR Big Band, one tour with Norma Winstone. I have played on a few projects with the Birmingham Royal Ballet since 2009.  

Since 2011 I have been playing for Charlie Wood & Jacqui Dankworth. In January 2015  I started playing with Theo Travis'  Double Talk  with Mike Outram and Pete Whitaker. In December 2015 I began playing with Soft Machine covering for the great John Marshall. Also since the summer of 2015 I have been playing with Noel McCalla (singer with Manfred Mann & Morrisey Mullen). Since 2016 I started playing with Mo Foster and Ray Russell again and also John Etheridge's organ trio.

I  resumed playing live shows with Tanita Tikaram again in 2024. I also performed with Swing Out Sister in Japan in April 2024.

I teach at  Goldsmiths College London and Uppingham School and have tutored on the National Youth Jazz Collective courses and summer schools. At the NYJC summer school I have also had the pleasure of playing with Dave Holland & Mike Walker.