Northern Girl
12-10-2004, 07:05 PM
California dreams
Port Huron native makes noise on the West Coast
By JAMIE CARRACHER
Times Herald
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His music has been on some of America's most popular television shows -- Melrose Place, Joan of Arcadia, Punk'd, America's Next Top Model -- just to name a few.
He's played with former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth and produced songs with Traci Lords, the former porn star who made waves in the 1980s when it was discovered she filmed her movies while underage.
He even taught guitar to actor Kiefer Sutherland.
To Nick Nolan's friends and family back home, it's astonishing to hear the stories.
"It's funny to him because he doesn't think he's a big star," his sister Therese Nolan-Robison said.
Today a resident of Sherman Oaks, Calif., Nolan has created a successful career with his talents in music. A 1982 graduate of Port Huron Northern High School, he always was interested in music, he said. And when Eddie Van Halen selected him for a scholarship to the Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, he packed up his things and hit the road with some friends.
"We were really nervous for him to go live in Los Angeles by himself," Nolan-Robison said.
In California he chased his rock-star dreams for years, edging frustratingly close to stardom.
Nolan said about five years ago he auditioned for Guns 'N Roses, but singer Axl Rose's psychic, after pondering a photograph of Nolan, told Rose she didn't think he was right for the band.
And, for an evening, he thought he was in David Lee Roth's band. He auditioned with the star in his California mansion.
"He was jumping out of his chair and high fiving," Nolan said. It seemed a cinch until he came home and got the message that there was just one more person to audition. That guitarist got the gig.
So the fork in the road appeared. After "bumping into the wall" for years, should he abandon his rock-star dreams for more stable ventures? In television, he saw work that offered steady pay with honest employers. It all started to pay off when he wrote for Touched by an Angel, creating 90 pieces for the series during its run.
Today he writes music for cartoons, such as those on Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes Web site. He also creates a steady stream of songs he sends to music supervisors at a variety of television shows.
Where there were once dreams of rock stardom are now new dreams. He aims to move into senior roles in television and eventually film.
"The most fun is writing it in one room, and a couple of days hearing it come out of the TV," he said.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/news/stories/20041207/localnews/1707805.html
Port Huron native makes noise on the West Coast
By JAMIE CARRACHER
Times Herald
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
His music has been on some of America's most popular television shows -- Melrose Place, Joan of Arcadia, Punk'd, America's Next Top Model -- just to name a few.
He's played with former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth and produced songs with Traci Lords, the former porn star who made waves in the 1980s when it was discovered she filmed her movies while underage.
He even taught guitar to actor Kiefer Sutherland.
To Nick Nolan's friends and family back home, it's astonishing to hear the stories.
"It's funny to him because he doesn't think he's a big star," his sister Therese Nolan-Robison said.
Today a resident of Sherman Oaks, Calif., Nolan has created a successful career with his talents in music. A 1982 graduate of Port Huron Northern High School, he always was interested in music, he said. And when Eddie Van Halen selected him for a scholarship to the Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, he packed up his things and hit the road with some friends.
"We were really nervous for him to go live in Los Angeles by himself," Nolan-Robison said.
In California he chased his rock-star dreams for years, edging frustratingly close to stardom.
Nolan said about five years ago he auditioned for Guns 'N Roses, but singer Axl Rose's psychic, after pondering a photograph of Nolan, told Rose she didn't think he was right for the band.
And, for an evening, he thought he was in David Lee Roth's band. He auditioned with the star in his California mansion.
"He was jumping out of his chair and high fiving," Nolan said. It seemed a cinch until he came home and got the message that there was just one more person to audition. That guitarist got the gig.
So the fork in the road appeared. After "bumping into the wall" for years, should he abandon his rock-star dreams for more stable ventures? In television, he saw work that offered steady pay with honest employers. It all started to pay off when he wrote for Touched by an Angel, creating 90 pieces for the series during its run.
Today he writes music for cartoons, such as those on Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes Web site. He also creates a steady stream of songs he sends to music supervisors at a variety of television shows.
Where there were once dreams of rock stardom are now new dreams. He aims to move into senior roles in television and eventually film.
"The most fun is writing it in one room, and a couple of days hearing it come out of the TV," he said.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/news/stories/20041207/localnews/1707805.html