1970s His first music-related job was working as a session player for
Bronze Records in 1978 after being scouted by producer Martin Smith while recording the band he was in, "Why Worry.” During this time he worked with and appeared live with such bands as
Goldie and The Small Ads amongst others. In 1979, Coler was signed to Warner Bros. Music with the band The Tigers.
1980s Then was signed to
A & M Records in the USA, during this time he worked with bands such as The Dynamites,
Tokyo Blade, Ya Ya,
Angel Witch and the
Cutting Crew,
The JAMS,
Zodiac Mindwarp,
Alice Cooper,
The Timelords, and
The KLF.
1990s Coler rented a studio with Hans Zimmer and was an integral creative part of the cult band The
KLF. In the book "
The Manual"
Jimmy Cauty and
Bill Drummond write – "Our programmer, Nick Coler, is a genius. He can play on the piano every piece of music ever written, his left hand a blur of fumbled bass notes, while his spectacles slide down his perspiring nose. His cathedral choir boy sense of fun has never left him and he sports a line of strange hand knitted jumpers. Is continually trying out new haircuts. Drives second hand Audi's. He plays keyboards with
The Rubettes.” In 1993, Coler also worked on the less well received single "Lemmings", based upon the Lemmings computer game and credited to SFX, released under Parlophone, spending three weeks in the charts. During this time he also worked with
Ned's Atomic Dustbin,
Jesus Jones,
Pete Wylie,
Shampoo,
Cher,
The Montrose Avenue, The Young Offenders,
The Rubettes,
Indecent Obsession and
Chicane. He left Xenomania in 2010 and is now signed to BMG Berlin working on new acts with his own independent production company Mr Magus including acts such as CTA, Felony Disco and Randomizer. During his career he has also worked on various soundtracks including ''
Wayne's World and Revenge of the Nerds and contributed music for numerous television shows from Tweenies to Totally Spies!''.
2010s In 2011, Coler played at the Southbank Centre Festival Hall participating in a Vintage Weekend at the behest of
Saint Etienne's
Bob Stanley playing alongside other notable musicians such as
Graham Gouldman of
10cc and
Rob Davis of
Mud fame. Coler has also produced and collaborated on the 2012
Saint Etienne release
Words and Music by Saint Etienne which has received universal acclaim according to
Metacritic's review criteria. He has also written a track for
Starlight Express with
Andrew Lloyd Webber, he has been nominated for three
Ivor Novello Awards for the
Girls Aloud song – "
The Promise",
Sugababes' song "
Hole in the Head" and
Gabriella Cilmi's song "
Sweet About Me", and has won the
Music Week's Producer of the year award as part of Xenomania in 2009.
2020s In April 2026, it was announced he was adapting the 2019 film
Fighting with My Family into a stage musical, alongside
Miranda Cooper and
Jon Brittain. ==References==