Nigel Pegrum's biography
I was born in North Wales then moved to London with my parents when I was seven. It was here I began taking piano lessons, and I taught myself guitar and ukulele for fun!
At the age of nine I started experimenting with analogue tape recorders, creating and recording music for school plays and local film club movies.
At eleven years old I joined the school ‘rock band’ on drums and recorded a few demo tapes using homemade equipment. From age eleven to seventeen I played with a range of bands, including
fledgling London band The Small Faces who of course went on to great things. During this time I recorded in many London studios – now legends in their own right – gathering skills and experience
along the way.
From 1966 to 1973 I worked with a variety of bands – there was a year in Spain working with the band Lee Grant & the Capitols
(where we managed a #18 chart place), then back in the UK I joined heavy metal band Spice (later to become Uriah Heep) and we recorded a single and an LP for United
Artists. I took another overseas trip after that, working in Italy for about 18 months in a Blood, Sweat and Tears type big band, achieving a #2 chart hit with the ballad “Sole Si
More”. A couple of years with the experimental fusion band Gnidrolog saw us recording two albums and touring the UK and Europe supporting some amazing bands and musicians such as David
Bowie, Genesis, The Kinks, King Crimson and Wishbone Ash. When Gnidrolog disbanded I spent a little time with the folk/blues band Halcyon (we recorded one album and won Melody
Maker’s “Best New Band” award) and then I joined the UK folk/rock band Steeleye Span.
I was with Steeleye Span from 1973 to 1989 and in that time we were awarded five Gold and seven Silver Disks, accumulating #1 hit singles in five European countries. We had our own thirteen part BBC
television series as well as countless other appearances on TV in the UK and throughout Europe and the USA; we toured the world extensively in that time, including twelve tours of the USA and six
Australian tours.
During my time with Steeleye Span I created the record label Plant Life Records, with which I produced thirty-five folks/blues albums, many of which have become collectors’ items. I also formed
Pace Productions for which I built two recording studios; we produced numerous albums and CDs and made countless TV and radio jingles, TV documentary themes and music, and feature film themes
and music. One of our TV theme albums won a Gold Disk award. I also had the challenging job of designing a radio studio for the BBC!
As well as playing, recording and producing music through these years I also met my future wife Carmel, a Cairns-born young lady; we married and have two lovely daughters. We lived happily in the
UK at first but decided we would like to see the family grow up in Australia so I spent about three years gradually withdrawing from all work and financial commitments to my UK businesses – and
enjoying a temporary sojourn touring with British comedy band The Barron Knights – and then in 1991 we immigrated to Cairns, Queensland.
Here I built and operated Select Sound, later to become Pegasus Studios where I have produced in excess of two hundred CDs with combined sales of well over one million units. Working with David
Hudson and Ashley Dargan I have produced some fifty didgeridoo based “soundscape” CDs for the Indigenous Australia label, which are sold throughout the world. I’m also regularly involved in
various recording projects in the Torres Straits and Cape York communities in collaboration with Dr Karl Neuenfeldt of CQU, producing both community CDs and solo artists pitching for commercial
sales. Some of the big successes to come from those projects are the six Seaman Dan CDs that I have engineered and co-produced, two of which have won their year’s ARIA Award for “Best World
Music CD”. For more details on awards I have won for my music and my production skills see the
Awards page.
Whenever I get the chance I still play too, whether drums, oboe, flute or any other instrument that fits the bill but it’s mostly drums – I’m the drummer for two great Cairns-based bands, folk-fusion
band Kamerunga and corporate entertainment band Tectonic and together we always have lots of fun!
(Wikipedia's entry on Nigel Pegrum)
Video of Kamerunga
Here's a little video of me playing in one of the many bands I've worked with over the years. For Kamerunga I have produced
and recorded two albums.
Me with Kamerunga band
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Me in the studio
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