Never The Bride
myspaceBob Harris, Radio 2 DJ
“Never The Bride, an absolutely brilliant British band. They are fantastic on stage and they've really built up a reputation of being one of the best live bands in Britain.”
Never the Bride’s Nikki Lamborn and Catherine Feeney first met on stage at a jam session in a London pub.
Instant rapport and a similar taste in music and direction, lead to more jamming before Nikki from Bristol and Catherine, better known as Been, from Glasgow, formed a song writing collaboration.
Nikki commuted to write, gig and busk in Covent Garden. Never the Bride was born and the duo built up a core following around the capital.
Their live reputation went from strength to strength and big support slots followed from The Who, ZZ TOP and The Pretenders. After successfully supporting The Who, a personal call from Roger Daltrey lead to Nikki and Been joining Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Paul Rodgers, Peter Frampton and a few more rock gods on The British Rock Symphony Tour. The band toured the UK, Europe and Australia with the Orchestra, making a huge impression with their interpretation of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir and Stairway to Heaven.
Their first performance at The Royal Albert Hall is a key moment in Nikki and Beens’ lives. Roger held up both their arms and said to the audience who were going crazy, “What d’ya reckon then? Nikki Lamborn has the best female rock voice since Janis Joplin and I know what I’m talking about, I knew Janis.”
“After The Rock Symphony Tour ended in Australia, we decided to stay awhile and write some songs,” explains Been.
“We did a Thelma and Louise, rented a car and drove across the country drinking tequila in small bottles.
“The money had run out by the time we reached Sydney, but luckily it was around the time of The Olympics and there were lots of people to entertain. Our busking skills paid for the song-writing trip and some of those songs are on our latest album, Surprise!”
Nikki’s powerful presence and strong vocals has been described as Tina Turner and Robert Plant rolled into one.
Been, keyboard player and occasional guitarist, is the main composer behind the songs that together with Nikki’s voice, make Never the Bride unique.
Other band members include Murray Gould on guitar, David Levy on bass guitar and Richard Newman on drums and these guys have played with everyone from Elton John, Dido and Faithless to Ronan Keating, from the lengenday Rory Gallagher to the late great James Brown.
NTB returned to the Royal Albert Hall, summer 2006, this time sharing the stage with Sir Elton John.
Meanwhile they continue to reach new audiences with their eclectic mix of music, the latest being dedicated fans of Diva Dame Shirley Bassey. She performed their song The Living Tree on The Royal Variety Show in front of
Her Majesty The Queen. Nikki and Been have were in the studio last summer with Dame Shirley, recording and producing her stunning version of their song and her album Get The Party Started which entered the UK top 40 at no.6 and has just been released in the USA.
As a response to their growing fan base worldwide, the band have recorded a DVD rockumentary, entitled For Richer For Poorer, highlighting life for a rock band on the road both at home and abroad.