Nicole Atkins

Early life

Atkins was born in Neptune, New Jersey. She grew up in Shark River Hills, a middle class enclave within Neptune overlooking the Shark River. Atkins has cited the bay as a major inspiration for her music, particularly the imagery of “the river in the rain” found in the title track on her album Neptune City. She started playing piano at nine years old and taught herself to play guitar at 13. She eschewed more popular acts of the day for musical groups her parents listened to, such as The Ronettes and Johnny Cash and The Beach Boys She has cited The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler and Cass Elliot as a major early influences.

She started playing in pick-up bands and doing gigs at local coffeehouses while attending St. Rose High School in the nearby town of Belmar.

Early beginnings in North Carolina and New York

After high school, Atkins moved to Charlotte, North Carolina to study illustration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She ingrained herself within the city’s independent music scene, discovering bands like Superchunk and Uncle Tupelo. She also started writing original songs and befriending other local musicians. Among other bands, she joined a supergroup in the city called Nitehawk that, at one point, had almost 30 members. After she returned, she joined the band Los Parasols, releasing an EP with them entitled The Summer of Love in 2002. That same year, Atkins moved to the neighborhood of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, New York. Influenced by the artists signed to independent label Rainbow Quartz, she strayed from the louder rock music she’d played in North Carolina and moved toward the songcraft style of Wilco and Roy Orbison. She returned to Charlotte and played with several bands, most notably a group called Virginia Reel. At this time, she started writing what she termed “a mix of Americana, 60s, and indie rock.” She also recorded her EP Bleeding Diamonds.

Early 2003, she commuted into New York by train to play gigs and maintain a connection to the city’s underground music scene. In mid-2004, Atkins and David Muller, who had played drums with Fischerspooner and The Fiery Furnaces, started working on a demo CD entitled Party’s Over. They recorded most of the album in Atkins’ parents’ house using a Casio keyboard, a ProTools rig, and a mini recorder. Drum parts were recorded at Muller’s apartment in Manhattan, with further tracks recorded at the Dietch Projects gallery in Brooklyn.

2005-2007: The Sea and Neptune City

In early 2005, keyboardist Dan Chen, whom Atkins knew from her days at The Sidewalk Café, approached Atkins about forming a new group. The band, now known as Nicole Atkins & The Sea, was given a residency at the small showcase bar, Piano's, and won the attention of music industry attorney Gillian Bar. She soon found herself in the midst of a bidding war between record labels and signed with Columbia Records in January 2006. In late 2006, Atkins and the Sea traveled to Sweden to record her debut album, Neptune City, at Varispeed Studios in Kalgerup and Gula Studion in Malmö with producer Tore Johansson. The album was originally scheduled for a July 2007 release, but at the behest of Columbia co-chairman Rick Rubin, it was pushed back until October 30, 2007 to accommodate re-mastering the album. It debuted at number 20 on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart and reached number 6 on the Heatseekers Middle Atlantic Chart.

2010-2011: The Black Sea and Mondo Amore

In January 2010, Atkins and The Black Sea started recording new material at Brooklyn's Seaside Lounge studio with producer Phil Palazzolo, with whom Atkins had previously worked during sessions for A.C. Newman's second solo album, Get Guilty. Several other musicians joined Atkins in the studio to record the tracks for what would become her second album, Mondo Amore, including guitarist Irina Yalkowsky, drummer Mike Graham, and bassist Jeremy Kay. Graham, Oklan, Yalkowsky and Kay would form the core lineup of The Black Sea with whom Atkins would tour in support of Mondo Amore. In June 2010, Atkins signed with New York-based independent label Razor & Tie. The label released Mondo Amore on February 8, 2011. The album received coverage from The New York Times, and Rolling Stone. The release party was held at The Music Hall of Williamsburg and announced in The New Yorker. In the month following the release Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea performed at South By Southwest and were reviewed by Spin Magazine as "the best live band of the festival.".

2012-2014: Slow Phaser

In the winter of 2012, Nicole returned to Malmö Sweden to record with Tore Johansson on her latest record, Slow Phaser which was released February 4, 2014 to rave reviews and a peak position of 143 on the Billboard 200. The album's first single, "Girl You Look Amazing" was premiered by Paste (magazine) and the video for the album's second single, "Who Killed the Moonlight?", was premiered by NPR's First Watch. In February 2014, Nicole returned to Late Night with David Letterman to perform on his last season, a new rendition of her song "War Torn," off of her "Live from the Masonic Temple, Detroit," album which was recorded while on tour as the opening act for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

2017-present: Goodnight Rhonda Lee

Nicole released her fourth studio album Goodnight Rhonda Lee on July 21, 2017. The album, like its predecessor, received rave reviews, earning an average score of 84/100 on Metacritic.

Other work

In 2008, Atkins was cast as the voice of the mother in director Geoff Marslett’s animated sci-fi comedy film Mars. On September 9 of that year, she released a four-track EP of cover songs called Nicole Atkins Digs Other People's Songs, which included the tracks: "The Crystal Ship" (The Doors), "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (The Mamas & the Papas), "Under the Milky Way" (The Church) and "Inside of Love" (Nada Surf). In 2009, Atkins' backing vocals were featured prominently on AC Newman's second solo album, Get Guilty.

Atkins provide vocals for the track "Solano Avenue" (as Estrella Cumpas) on David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's 2010 album, Here Lies Love.

Atkins also joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.

Atkins recorded a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" in 2014 for a compilation album titled Dead Man's Town, a tribute to Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. LP.

When not on the road, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

EPs

Albums

with Los Parasols

Compilations

(Atkins contributed a cover of The Doors' Crystal Ship

(Atkins contributed a cover of Billy Hayes' and Jay Johnson's Blue Christmas)

(Atkins contributed a cover of Scott Walker's The Seventh Seal)

(Atkins contributed a cover of Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks)

(Atkins contributed the track All Wrong)

(Atkins contributed the track The Stranger)

(Atkins contributed a cover of Bruce Springsteen's Dancing In the Dark)

Awards and nominations

2002

2005