Nigel Sixsmith

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Nigel Sixsmith was born in Peterborough. England. He lived most of his early childhood in Ryhall before moving with his family to Barnack where his love for music was spotted by his primary school teacher, Mr. Sharp, who encouraged Nigel to learn and play the piano. At age 11, he went to Arthur Mellows Village College whereupon he was met by one of the finest music teachers in the area, Malcolm Stowell-Smith, who immediately enrolled him in both the school band and orchestra as well as in the Cambridgeshire County Band. Nigel also sang in various small operetta productions, held at the school.

In the 1970s, after leaving school and a short stint in the British Army where he studied at the Royal Military School of Music in Twickenham, Nigel travelled the world to further develop his knowledge of electronic music. He performed on synthesizer with several bands including Hawkwind at the Windsor Park Free Festival and other Free Festivals held in England and Europe. (See New age travellers)

Nigel also co-founded The Art Of Sound studios in London and helped provide many new and upcoming keyboard players with their first 'hands-on' experiences with synthesizers

In the 1980s he wrote several demos for the BBC Micro Music 500 System (AMPLE) as well as creating and running the AMPLE User Group. He also became a prolific composer of music for the Amiga writing soundtracks for several games and demos under different pseudonyms. He performed live with several London bands of the era and released two limited edition solo albums, "Let's Help the World" and "In Verbatim" to rave reviews.

In the mid 1990s Nigel left England and emigrated to the USA. He set up a small electronic music studio in Gilbert, Arizona where he now writes, performs and records music for the Korg Oasys under the name The Art Of Sound He is also a regular contributor to the Karma-Lab & KorgForums

A founding member of The Art Of Sound, Nigel continues to promote the use of synthesizers in both modern and classical music.