Kevin Nixon is a music industry professional. In a career spanning more than 40 years he has amassed a wealth of experience as a musician, recording artist, songwriter, producer, artist manager and music educator. In addition in being responsible for the sale of millions of records and shaping the destiny for platinum selling artists in Artist Management and as a Producer, the Music Colleges he has co-founded over the last 14 years have produced many top artists and musicians including scores of other graduates who have achieved careers in all areas of the music industry.
With a bandleader grandfather and four jazz musician uncles, becoming a music industry professional was almost guaranteed for Kevin. Growing up in York, the accomplished guitar and bass player landed his first record contract aged 17 only to be dropped a year later.
At the age of 19 his talents won a second deal with EMI, but history repeated itself and by the time he turned 20 the label had dropped him again. He did gain valuable experience via 2 years of recording extensively at 10cc’s Strawberry Studios in Manchester. With a clear vision about his abilities, Kevin identified an opportunity when the punk scene started to explode and embarked on a career as a fledgling record producer and songwriter, he moved to London in 1977.
Kevin’s producing and writing abilities took him to France, Belgium and Germany. He worked in A&R in the mid 80’s, and started his own label. With further progression into Artist Management he signed and developed hit artists including Little Angels. They had 11 top 40 hits in the UK and a No.1 album. Kevin produced and co-wrote many Little Angels hits. He went on to work with It Bites frontman Francis Dunnery on the album “Fearless” with Atlantic Records in New York, and Kula Shaker, who signed to Sony/Columbia in 1995, achieved a 2m selling and number one debut album “K”, 5 top 10 hit singles, and won a 1997 Best Newcomer Brit Award. At this point, he realised he was a music industry professional.
Richard Branson then headhunted Kevin to establish a new management division at V2 Records and run the A&R dept, but despite more success in that role, the tragic death of Kirsty MacColl, who Kevin had signed to the label and also managed, prompted Kevin and colleague Sarah Clayman to reassess their careers, and make the decision to redirect their efforts into music education with an ethos of creating Academic Music Colleges for young musicians, run by musicians.
Kevin and Sarah launched the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) in 2002, starting with 180 students. By 2012, BIMM had grown to include campuses in four cities including Dublin, and with more than 2,000 students.
Having sold BIMM to Private Equity in January 2012, Kevin and Sarah have since built an international music education business by opening the Detroit Institute of Music Education (DIME) launched in Sept 2014, DIME ONLINE global distance learning courses, plus a new Detroit based record label Original 1265 Recordings, and Music Publishing Company 1265 Songs Inc. His passion continues to pass on his music industry professional skills and knowledge to the next generation.
