Nick Kamen

Ivor Neville "Nick" Kamen (15 April 1962 – 4 May 2021) was an English male model, songwriter and musician.

He was best known for the singles "Each Time You Break My Heart" from 1986 and "I Promised Myself" from 1990, as well as for appearing in a 1985 Levi advert.

Nick Kamen was in relationships with Amanda De Cadenet (1999 - 2001), Talisa Soto and Tatjana Patitz.

Career

Kamen attended St Marks RC Comprehensive School in Harlow along with his brothers Barry and Chester. Kamen first came to the public's attention in 1984 when Ray Petri featured him on the front cover of The Face. The cover showed him wearing a ski-hat, lipstick, orange roll-neck sweater and aviator sunglasses.

He is best known in the UK for his appearance in the 1985 Levi's "Launderette" commercial, where he strips down to wash his blue jeans in a 1950s style public launderette while he waits, clad only in his Sunspel boxer shorts. It was one of a series of Bartle Bogle Hegarty advertisements that dramatically increased sales of Levi 501s. The commercial, directed by Roger Lyons, was selected for, and came fourth in, The 100 Greatest TV Ads in 2000.

His first single was the 1986 UK number five hit "Each Time You Break My Heart", from his eponymous début album. Written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, it also cracked both the US dance chart (remix by Shep Pettibone) and the Top 50 in Canada. Madonna also sang the backing vocals. Her original demo remains one of many unreleased Madonna songs. Kamen also had a No. 16 follow-up in the UK with the second single, "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever" (a cover of the Four Tops' 1966 hit), although his later singles were less-commercially successful in the UK, but more so in the rest of Europe, particularly Italy, France, Germany and Spain.

Kamen's second album Us (1988) was produced by Patrick Leonard. Madonna again made an appearance as a backing vocalist on the song "Tell Me", this time without contributing to the songwriting or production. The song became a massive hit in Italy in the summer of 1988, spending a total of nine weeks at number one. 

In 1989, Kamen performed the song "Turn It Up" on the soundtrack to Walt Disney's film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

1990 saw the release of one of his biggest hits. The single "I Promised Myself", from the album Move Until We Fly, reached Number 1 in eight European countries and was the fourth most played record in Europe in 1990. The song was later covered by Dead or Alive (1999), A-Teens (2004), Basshunter (2009), and most recently by German punk rockers Maggers United (2013).

Kamen's 1988 European single "Bring Me Your Love" has a Cantonese cover version "今夜你是否一人" reached No.1 on the airplay chart in Hong Kong in 1989.

Kamen appeared on UK television, singing on Top of the Pops (12 March 1987 and 18 October 1990), This Morning (9 April 1990), Night Network (15 April 1987, 19 August 1987 and 1988) and The Tube (31 October 1986 and 21 November 1986).

In 1992, Kamen released his last album, entitled Whatever, Whenever.

Cherry Pop Records released his debut album as a two-disc-deluxe-edition in 2015,[8] followed by The Complete Collection, 6CD Boxset in 2020.

Kamen died on 4 May 2021 aged 59, after a long illness.