Nicholas George "Nick" Gilder is an English-Canadian musician who first came to prominence as the frontman for the glam rock bandSweeney Todd. He later had a successful solo career as a singer/songwriter.
Biography
Born in London, England, Gilder was raised in Vancouver. He began his career as front-man for the glam rockband Sweeney Todd, which later briefly featured a very young Bryan Adams. Sweeney Todd had a number one hit, "Roxy Roller", that held on to the top spot in the Canadian music charts for three weeks in 1975. It went on to win a Juno Award for "Best Selling Single" in 1977. Feeling they had international scope, Gilder and fellow band member, guitarist, and songwriting partner James McCulloch left the band and signed a US record deal. It was in his second solo album, which spawned the hit "Hot Child in the City", that gave Gilder chart success in the United States. That song went to No.1 both in Canada and the US. It also earned him two more Juno Awards: "Single of the Year" and for "Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year" in Canada as well as a People's Choice Award in the US. It stalled outside the Top 40 in the United Kingdom, though it was featured on Top of the Pops and also in a Hot Gossip dance routine on The Kenny Everett Video Show. He's had subsequent singles, but with only minimal success in Canada and none that cracked the US Top 40. Gilder has also been successful as a songwriter for artists such as Bette Midler, Joe Cocker, Pat Benatar and Toni Basil. In 1984, the band Scandal featuring Patty Smyth had a US Top 10 hit with "The Warrior," which was written by Gilder and Holly Knight and earned him a BMI Airplay Award. The song also reached #1 in Canada, making him the first Canadian artist to reach the Top of the Canadian chart as lead singer for a band, a solo artist and songwriter for another artist. Gilder's songs have been used in several movies such as Youngblood with Rob Lowe, The Wraith with Charlie Sheen, Barb Wire with Pamela Anderson, Scenes From the Goldmine, that included a cameo appearance in the movie by Gilder, and in TV series Sex and the City, That '70s Show, Ed, Nip/Tuck, and most recently in the 2010 movieThe Runaways, where "Roxy Roller" was featured early in the film. Armand Van Helden sampled "Rockaway" on his 2005 club hit, "When the Lights Go Down." The following year Nemesis recorded “Hot Child in the City” for their 2006 debut CD, Rise Up and Rocket recorded "Backstreet Noise" for their CD, Girls with Candy Hearts. Gilder returned to Canada in the mid-1990s, where he continues to record and tour. He has settled in the Vancouver, British Columbia area, where he lives with his family. Gilder was to release an album called A Night on the Town, A Day in the Country in 2005, but it was shelved.
