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Nick Kamen (born Nicholas Ivor Kamen, 15 April 1962, in Harlow, Essex, England) is a British male model, songwriter and musician and brother of session guitarist Chester Kamen.
Kamen was first brought to the public's attention in 1984 when Ray Petri featured him on the front cover of The Face.[1] The striking cover showed him wearing a ski-hat, orange roll-neck sweater and aviator sunglasses. His lips were whitened with zinc and there was a yellow plaster over one eyebrow. Above him in large bold type was the word 'HOT' - ironic in the middle of a cold London winter.
He is most famous for his 1985 beefcake performance in Levi's "Launderette" TV commercial[2] where he strips down in order to stone-wash his blue jeans in a 1950s style public laundromat while he waits clad only in his boxer shorts, which dramatically increased their popularity. It was selected for "The 100 Greatest TV Ads" in 2000.citation needed
Notable was his 1986 UK Top 10 hit "Each Time You Break My Heart" from his self-titled debut album. Written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, it also cracked both the U.S. dance chart (remix by Shep Pettibone) and the Top 50 in Canada. Madonna also sang the backing vocals. Her original demo remains one of many Unreleased Madonna Songs.
Kamen also had a #16 follow-up in the UK with the second single, "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever", although his later singles were less-commercially successful.
He appeared on UK television, singing, on "Top of the Pops" (12 March 1987 and 18 October 1990), "This Morning" (9 April 1990), "Night Network" (15 April 1987, 19 August 1987 and 1988) and "The Tube" (31 October 1986 and 21 November 1986).
Kamen's second album Us (1989) was produced by Patrick Leonard. Madonna again made an appearance as a guest-backing vocalist on the song "Tell Me", this time without contributing to the songwriting or production.
In 1989 Kamen performed the song "Turn It Up" on the soundtrack to Walt Disney's film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
A new dance remix of his 1990 song "I Promised Myself" was featured on a 2004 various artists collection in Europe and three years later, in 2007, the Spanish singer José Galisteo recorded his own version of the song.
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Discography
Albums
- 1987 - Nick Kamen
- 1988 - Us
- 1988 - Loving You
- 1990 - Move Until We Fly
- 1991 - Each Time You Break My Heart
- 1992 - Whatever, Whenever
- 2008 - TBA
Singles
- "Each Time You Break My Heart" (1986)
- "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" (1987)
- "Nobody Else" (1987)
- "Tell Me" (1988)
- "I Promised Myself" (1990)
- "I Promised Myself" (2004 Remix)
References
- ^ Ognyan Yordanov (Jan 2008). "Ray Petri - Urban Guerrilla". Wound Magazine 1 (2): 116–117. London: Francis Malone. ISSN 1755-800X.
- ^ Stephanie Jenkins and Joan Williams (2005). "Clothes & Shoes". UK television adverts 1955–1985. Retrieved on 2008-01-26.
External links
