Tony Nicol, of Newport, has enjoyed a remarkable career that has seen him play guitar and sing around the world, perform for royalty and share stages with musical greats.
The 80-year-old has done what many could only dream of.
The folk-influenced guitarist and singer can also boast being one of the very few Islanders to have performed on every continent on the planet, including Antarctica.
Tony Nicol, left, and Sam Goode, performing as Norfolk and Goode, circa 1977. (Image: Tony Nicol) “It’s been a fantastic life — and I’d do it all again if I could,” said Tony.
“I just wish I’d got into the music business earlier.”
Born in Stratford, in London’s East End, Tony could sing when he was a child — a boy soprano.
Following university, Tony was a marketing manager for the British Steel Corporation.
However, life took an unexpected turn when divorce led him to leave behind a comfortable life in Suffolk.
Already playing semi-professionally, he soon committed fully to a career in music.
He began writing songs, and while he never achieved a chart hit, his work was recorded by other artists and featured on their albums.
His style blended folk and rock, influenced by bands like Steeleye Span, who he befriended.
While living in Suffolk, Tony found himself in the company of legendary musicians that included Elton John’s drummer Ray Cooper, bassist Jack Bruce of Cream, rock singer and guitarist Suzi Quatro and 80s star Nick Kershaw.
He said: “They used to come and watch us play in the local pub. They became fans of us.”
Bruce encouraged Tony to contact Bunny Lewis, a prominent record producer and agent.
The introduction changed his life.
(Image: Tony Nicol) Tony landed a contract in Norway, launching his career as a professional musician in the late 1970s.
In Norway, he formed the duo Norfolk and Goode, later alternating to Tony Suffolk and Sam Watt, and spent 32 years living near Oslo.
During that time, he performed for the Queen of Norway and audiences across the country.
“She just liked what I did,” he said.
Tony regularly played her favourite Leonard Cohen songs during private performances.
His career took him to every continent, where he met and performed with some of music’s biggest names.
He recalled Cohen recognising Tony and greeting him on the street.
Tony credits much of his journey to chance and “being in the right place, right time and right context”.
Touring under Bunny Lewis in the late 1970s and early 1980s, his career gained momentum.
He performed for British troops in the Falklands weeks after the 1982 conflict, and even played in Antarctica, where he took a boat out to the shore and performed Whiskey in the Jar among whale bones.
Tony later formed a four-piece band with Michael Moore and Ian Sanderson, performing at big British folk festivals, such as Redcar and Cambridge, in front of 10,000 crowds.
The group toured Australia and New Zealand in 1983, where Tony created “amazing lifelong memories”.
Tony Nicol performing at the Skipton Peasants Festival, in Skipton, North Yorkshire, in circa 1986. (Image: Tony Nicol) One memorable stop was in the Northern Territories of Australia, where he met characters reminiscent of the film Crocodile Dundee.
The group also performed at the Alice Springs Regatta, a hilarious ‘boat race’ that takes place in a dry riverbed.
His musical journey also includes extraordinary encounters with icons from an earlier era.
In 1963, while a university student in London, he sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow with Judy Garland in an East End pub, not realising initially it was the Hollywood star.
“I had only seen her as a young woman in The Wizard of Oz.
“I just thought she was an elderly lady with a lovely voice, but it was only after we sang Somewhere over the Rainbow, I realised who she was.
“I was blown away that I’d just performed with Judy Garland.”
Tony also performed Summertime with Cleo Laine at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club, after she and Johnny Dankworth learned he was performing for the disabled on Christmas Day.
Also, busking in Washington Square Park, New York, led to a charity concert for the homeless and a three-month run on a New York television station.
Among his favourite memories is jamming with Eric Clapton and members of The Dubliners in Oslo.
Tony Nicol at home in Newport. (Image: Tony Nicol) “It was crazy. We were sitting at the bar with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce — two-thirds of Cream — and The Dubliners, and they’re jamming and everyone’s joining in.”
One of Tony’s songs, The Three Musketeers, was recorded by country artist Freddy Fender and he earned royalties for eight years.
He also knew The Highwaymen — the country supergroup of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristoffersen and Willie Nelson.
“They were playing in Honefoss in Norway. We were just a warm-up spot at a country festival.
“We knew the sound engineer and, for a laugh, I went out to do the soundcheck with him.
“I picked up the guitar and did my Johnny Cash impression, then heard the sound of laughter, but thought nothing of it.
“As we went off, Willie Nelson was standing at the side of the stage, and said: “You sound more like Johnny than Johnny”.”
In the 1980s, Tony performed in Panama, Chile and toured South America, other than Argentina, as well as India and Pakistan. He performed in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in 1999.
Tony moved to the Isle of Wight in 2016, and now performs regularly in care homes through the charity Independent Arts.
He said: “I don’t do it for money. I do it because I love doing it.”
He recalled one moving moment, when a woman with dementia sang along to Don McLean’s Vincent, despite not having spoken in more than a year.
He said: “Doing this is as good, if not better, than doing professional shows.
“I can’t think of a gig we did that gives me goosebumps, but I definitely do when I think back to that lady who couldn’t speak.”
Tony also performs regularly at the Dairyman’s Daughter in Arreton for their folk nights.