BIOGRAPHY

Billy was born in 1949 on the White City Estate in London's Shepherds Bush into a musical family where his father, Bill Nicholls, played double-bass and sang in the RAF band, 'The Squadronairs'. There was always music being played and harmonies to learn, building a solid foundation to his musical knowledge.

Later, at Christopher Wren School, and with the encouragement of his English tutor Robert Tanitch, he got very involved in the school drama productions. It seemed a natural progression for Billy to write songs, and it wasn't long before he had a job in the music industry and access to recording studios.

His debut album 'WOULD YOU BELIEVE' was never really released due to the collapse of Immediate Records, where he was signed as a resident singer/songwriter.

Since then his songs have been recorded by many well-known artists including Del Shannon, Pete Townshend, Leo Sayer, Long John Baldry, The Babies, The Outlaws, Roger Daltrey, Justin Hayward, Kiki Dee, Marilyn Martin, Jon Astley, Little Angels, Phil Manzanera, Ruby Turner, The Chieftains and Phil Collins. (See below for a comprehensive list of artist covers).

GM Records released his second album 'LOVE SONGS' in 1974.

Leo Sayer had a top ten hit in 1977 with Billy's song, "Can't Stop Loving You", originally recorded for the 'WHITE HORSE' album, which was a collection of works by Billy and LA writers; Jon Lind and Kenny Altman.

Billy wrote four of the songs used in the soundtrack for the biographical film "McVICAR". One of these, "Without your Love", reached the top twenty in the National US Charts. Pete Townshend included Billy's song "Forever's No Time At All" on his solo project 'WHO CAME FIRST'. He also contributed a number of songs to Pete's 'PSYCHODERELICT' album.

Billy collaborated with Phil Manzanera on two tracks for the 'UNDER ONE BANNER' Album.

Morgan's 'ORGANIZED' album released in 2000 on the Source label features several tracks written by father and son.

Phil Collins had a huge success with "Can't Stop Loving You" in 2002/3; first used in a TV commercial for Toyota's Avalon Motor, it then became a hit across the States in the radio playlist charts. It features on Phil's worldwide successful 'TESTIFY' Album, his collection of 'LOVE SONGS' and in the DVD of 'FINALLY... THE FIRST FAREWELL TOUR'. Consequently, Billy received two ASCAP awards for 'Can't Stop Loving You' as the most performed song by an English Songwriter in both 2002 & 2003.

Billy set up his own record company 'Southwest Records' in 1998; re-mastered all his previous albums and put together a demo album of early work called 'SNAPSHOT'.

Two more albums of original material followed, namely 'PENUMBRA MOON' and 'STILL ENTWINED' and Sanctuary Records released a 2xCD Anthology of Billy's music in May 2005 entitled 'FOREVER'S NO TIME AT ALL'.

'ROSSLYN ROAD' a collaboration with his brother Mike was released in 2008.

'MEHER BABA' a collection of songs inspired by following his teachings.

'A SECRET GAME ' released on 7th November 2016; some old songs revisited and re-recorded plus some new compositions.

COVERS

List of artists, songs, album and year of release.

Del Shannon

'Led Along'. Single 1967.

'Cut and Come Again', 'Friendly With You', 'Led Along''. Album: 'And The Music Plays On' 1978.

Dana Gillespie

'London Social Degree' and 'Life Is Short'. Album: 'Foolish Seasons' 1968.

Pete Townshend

'Forever's No Time At All'. Solo Album: 'Who Came First'. 1973.

'Forever's No Time At All' / 'This Song Is Green'. Single 1973.

Long John Baldry

'This Boys In Love Again'. Single & Album 1976.

Leo Sayer

'Can't Stop Loving You'. Single & Album: 'Leo Sayer' 1978. Album: ''The Very Best Of Leo Sayer' 1979.

The Babies

'White Lightning'. Album: 'Head First' 1978.

The Outlaws

'Can't Stop Loving You'. Single & Album: 'Ghost Riders' 1980.

Roger Daltrey

'I Won't Be The One', 'McVicar', 'Waiting For A Friend,' 'Without Your Love' ,'White City Lights'. From the 'McVicar' Film Soundtrack & Album 1980.

'Without Your Love' Album:'Best Bits' 1982.

Justin Hayward

'Penumbra Moon'. Album: 'Night Flight' 1980.

Life

'Heaven Come Quickly'. Album: 'Life' 1981.

Carolyn Mas

'Under One Banner'. Album: 'Modern Dreams' 1981.

Kiki Dee

'Under One Banner'. 1990s.

Jon Astley

'Suffering Fools'. Co-Write. Album: 'Everyone Loves The Pilot' 1987.

'I Dream About You (But I Cannot Sleep)' Co-Write. Album: 'The Complete Angler' 1988.

Marilyn Martin

'Homeless'. Co-Write. Album: 'This Is Serious' 1988.

Little Angels

'Do You Wanna Riot'. Co-Write. 1989.

Phil Manzanera

'Put Love In Your Heart' 'Without Love'. Co-Write. Album: 'Under One Banner' 1990.

Ruby Turner

'It's Magic'. Co-Write Late 1980s.

The Chieftains

'Then I Saw White Horses'. Co-Write 1990s. Album ‘Rosslyn Road’

Morgan Nicholls

'Flying High', 'Here Comes The Rain', 'Paparazzi', 'Heaven Come Quickly', 'Something He Said', ' Soul Searching'. Co-Write Album: 'Organized' 2000.

Phil Collins

'Can't Stop Loving You'. Single and Albums: 'Testify' 2002 and 'Love Songs' 2004 and 'The Singles' in 2016.

Keith Urban

'Can't Stop Loving You'. Album: 'Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing' 2006. 

The Quireboys

‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’. Album ‘Halfpenny Dancer’ November 2009

Edwina Hayes

Beautiful version of 'I Can't stop Loving You' on her album "Good Things Happen Over Coffee' released in 2011

Samantha Whates

Single release of 'Can't Stop Loving You' in Sepember 2013 following the success of the Barclay Premier League Advert on TV.

Ituana

‘Can’t Stop Loving You (Though I Tried)’ Album ‘Cafe Retro’ July 2014 and ‘BACK2LOVE’ 2016

Taylor Swift

BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge 3rd September 2019 ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ Great version of Billy’s Song; incorrectly credited to Phil Collins.

Not only has Billy produced all his own albums, but he has also co-produced for other artists including The Who's 'Join Together' live album and 'Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting' recorded by The Who on the 'Two Rooms' album - a tribute to Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

Besides producing all his own albums, Billy co-produced the classical album 'Who's Serious' with the London Symphony Orchestra, consisting of symphonic renditions of The Who's greatest hits.

Billy then went on to work with the London Chamber Orchestra producing more classical tracks for Pete's 'Lifehouse Chronicles' project.

More recently Billy has worked on vocal production on The Who's latest album 'Endless Wire' as well as backing vocals.

Billy first worked as Musical Director for Pete Townshend's 1986 'Deep End Concert' performed at The Brixton Academy. He also directed vocals for 'The Iron Man' operetta written by Ted Hughes and Pete Townshend.

The first time Billy acted as Musical Director was for Pete Townshend's Deep End Concerts at the Brixton Academy in November 1985, and in January 1986 for Rockpalast at MIDEM in Cannes.

Also for The Who on their 1989 World Tour, for Pete's 1993 'Psychoderelict' USA tour, Roger Daltrey's tour of America in 1994, and The Who's 'Quadraphenia' World Tour 1996 / 1997, and with Pete on the 'Lifehouse Chronicles' both in the studio and on stage.

Throughout the years Billy has worked on many charity benefit concerts from "The Snowball", in aid of The Chiswick Family Rescue Charity, to the Who at the Albert Hall on 30th March 2010 in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. Since then he has worked with Roger Daltrey on many shows for this worthy cause.

With his natural sense of harmony, Billy's background vocals have enhanced the recordings of many artists.

These artists include:

The Small Faces, The Nice, The Who, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwhistle, Asia, Phil Manzanera, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Joe Cocker, Dave Gilmour, John Ilsley, Lulu, Ronnie Wood, Ronnie Lane, The Chieftains, Ian Drury, Jack Bruce, Michael Schenker, Lou Reed, Sinead O'Connor, Justin Hayward, Eddy Vedder, Brian Adams and, of course, his son Morgan.