NEV NICHOLLS

Born on the 16th September 1930 at Millthorpe in the central west of NSW, Nev Nicholls spent his childhood on a farm at Tallwood. Tallwood is not a town merely a district of small farms and in the depression years it was a grind for the whole family to eke out an existence. In 1952 he went to Sydney to put down some custom recordings and was given an audition and then signed with Regal Zonophone. He cut 22 sides for Regal Zonophone, mostly his own material. He then appeared on radio on Australia’s Amateur Hour and Tim McNamara’s Talent Quest. In 1957 Nev did his first country tour with The Reg Lindsay Show up the north coast of NSW. On that show were: Reg Lindsay, Heather McKean, Rick & Thel Carey, Judy Stone and comedian Freddy Merideth also part of that troupe was Chad Morgan. 

In 1968 Nev got a call to audition for a night club job in Kings Cross and that led to a ten year stint at the famous Texas Tavern. The Texas Tavern wasn't a job. It was an unforgettable event playing for American servicemen on R&R from Vietnam, meeting celebrities who were making appearances at the Chevron Hotel across the street, and being accepted in the local population, as country music had never been accepted before. This is why Nev wrote "I Like Beer". People who made up part of Nev's band, The Country Playboys sounds like a who's who of the best performers in the country. In 1970 Nev released his first album 'Cross Country Music' on the Du Monde label. This was the vanguard of more than twenty albums in the years to follow.

In 1975 Nev won the Golden Guitar for Instrument Track of the Year with “Nashville Express” as Nev Nicholls’s Country Playboys. In 1977 Nev was inducted into the Hands of Fame. From the late 70s through to 1988, The Nev Nicholls National Roadshow went to air throughout Australia on more than 90 radio stations- a weekly 2-hour show. He also launched a travelling show under the same name, and he toured that show all around Australia starring at various times, Gary Brown, Phil Emmanuel, Lisa White, Debbie Lee Rae (now known as Kaye Payne) and Cowboy Bob Purtell.

As a further string to his bow Nev launched his own record label Nicholls'N’Dimes and in 1992 he was inducted into the Australasian Country Music Roll Of Renown at Tamworth. Nev had always been a prolific writer and besides recording vast numbers of his own songs he had also had many covered by other artists among these were: Reg Lindsay, Chad Morgan, Frankie Davidson, Johnny Garfield, Terry Gordon, The Wayfarers, Truckin Stevens and by no means least his longtime friend Lucky Grills. Lucky and Nev shared an album in 1998, a truckies album of course, titled "Ya Wanna Screw Driver". In 2002 Nev officially retired from country music entertaining. He was then inducted into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Tamworth. Nev died in 2022.