Biography
As the twenty-first century settles into its stride, a new generation of Australian stars is emerging and one of the brightest young talents in this galaxy of stars is a young guitar slinger named Jake Nickolai.
Jake has caused quite a stir since his talents first became evident a few years back. He was tipped then as a major star of the future, and now, aged 22, he's more than living up to those early predictions.
In the past few years he's notched up a string of successes and picked up a stack of major awards. Jake was recently singled out by Commercial Radio Australia to perform at their annual National Radio Conference and based on his performance, they are sponsoring him to travel to the U.S. to write and perform.
Jake travelled to Nashville during the CMA's Annual Music Festival in June and appeared on the CMA's Global Artist Showcase. He also performed at a number of venues around Nashville with his good mate Catherine Britt, as well as being invited by some local based musicians to perform and also sit in on some recording sessions. Jake did some serious writing with some of Nashville's best writers such as Neil Cody, Rachel Tee, Elisha Hoffman, Mike Mobley and Jon Vesner. One of the highlights of the trip was working on a charity recording session with Jedd Hughes, Lee Ann Womack and Joe Nicholls produced by none other than Dan Huff (Keith Urban / Tim McGraw). Jake also played on a session with up and coming artist, Kyle Wyley who was so impressed with Jake's guitar skills he instantly offered Jake the opportunity to go into the recording studios with him. And then there was the chance meeting with Steve Cropper (Dock of The Bay) who gave him one of his guitar picks.
Signed to ABC Music for recordings, Jake's first single "Faster" was snapped up by radio stations across the country and his distinctive version of silverchair's "Miss You Love" received much critical acclaim. His current mini-album has received great reviews nationally and the first two singles have topped the charts.
Jake has a management deal with the prestigious Vital Entertainment Solutions group.
In some ways Jake is following in the footsteps of Keith Urban – he's shaping up to be a world-class guitarist, and he has a youthful, very appealing vocal style that conveys every nuance of emotion. Then there's that quality that makes a star – the much-touted x-factor, which in Jake's case consists of bucket loads of presence and on-stage charisma.
He has spent the last 12 months touring Australia as the opening act for Beccy Cole, taking time out to tour Queensland with guitar hero Tommy Emmanuel who cites Jake as being a major new Australian star.
"The last couple of years have been such a fantastic ride – everything I've ever dreamed of. Now I feel I'm at the beginning of the next stage. Nothing beats that feeling of getting up on stage and carrying the audience away with your music, I just love it!" Jake said.
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