Kershaw played guitar and sang in a number of underground bands from about 1976 before deciding on a career as a songwriter. However, he ended up performing his own songs rather than giving them to others, and signed a deal with MCA Records in 1983, which spawned a debut single, "I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", which just missed out on the UK Top 40. At the beginning of 1984, he made his breakthrough when "Wouldn't It Be Good", featuring a video of Kershaw as a chromakey-suited alien, reached Number 4 in the UK charts. He enjoyed three more Top 20 hits from debut album Human Racing , including the title track and a successful re-issue of his debut single, which ultimately proved his biggest hit as a performer when it got to Number 2 in the UK.
Despite winning awards, attracting admirers for his writing such as Elton John & Eric Clapton. He gainied a huge teenage fanbase, Kershaw was not without his critics. Some complained that he did too much onstage when he had a competent backing band called the Krew to play all the required guitar and keyboard parts of his songs.
Kershaw, who was married to long-time love and backing singer Sheri, then released a single called "The Riddle", which would send fans, journalists and linguists into overdrive, as each tried to establish what the meaning was behind the strange set of circumstances and clues which Kershaw put in the verses and chorus (though it in fact later turned out to be hastily created nonsense). Another major hit, it was also the title track of his second album, which also spawned two more UK Top 10 hits, "Wide Boy" and "Don Quixote".
In July 1985 Kershaw was among performers at Live Aid, Wembley Stadium. His star began to wane soon afterwards and he enjoyed only one more UK Top 40 hit, the debut single from his third album, Radio Musicola. Radio Musicola, despite receiving critical acclaim, was a flop in the UK charts. After this, Kershaw teamed up with 'We Built This City' producer Peter Wolf for his fourth album, The Works. After neither Kershaw or Wolf were happy with the results, Kershaw re-recorded the album with producer Julian Mendelsohn. The Works failed to chart in the UK, but it’s debut single, One Step Ahead, charted at No. 55. The albums failure led to him being dropped by MCA Records.
After The Works, Kershaw retired from recording music in favour of his original career path as a songwriter. His prowess as a songwriter served him well in 1991 when his song The One And Only, appeared on the soundtrack to the Brittish movie Buddy's Song and in the American film "Doc Hollywood", and provided a UK Number 1 single for the star of the film, Chesney Hawkes (son of the Tremeloes' Chip Hawkes). In 1993 The Hollies had a minor hit with another of his songs, The Woman I Love. Kershaw featured prominently as a vocalist on Tony Banks’ album Still, along with penning some of the tracks.
1999 saw the release of the Britpop-styled 15 Minutes, a collection of songs that are generally more personal and mature, and that he could not envisage being recorded by other artists. Both this and the more commercial To Be Frank (2001) are stylistically different from his earlier work by being underpinned by acoustic guitar rather than synthesiser.
These were followed by 'You’ve Got To Laugh', another collection of acoustic-led songs and 'EI8HT', a commercial MOR pop album brought on by the 80s revival and also led to the return of synthesisers in his music. Kershaw released his latest album, Oxymoron, in 2020 and is in the process of releasing a series of EPs, Songs from a Shelf. He still performs regularly.
For more information visit the official site at http://www.nikkershaw.net
Fiction
Nik Kershaw Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Each memory
And put it in hardback for people to buy
The critics would laugh, yeah, they'd call
It ridiculous
And sit around waiting for Porky to fly
The truth is stranger than fiction
But the truth is stranger than fiction to me
If they made a film of the book of the memory
With Bobby De Niro and Demi De Moore
You'd sit in your seat with your popcorn
And chocolate
And wonder aloud at the point of it all
The truth is stranger than fiction
And I must believe what I see
But the truth is stranger than fiction to me
If it can happen, it will happen, it has
Happened already
If you don't understand no reason and
No rhyme
Don't ask why
If someone had told you you'd be where
You are today
You'd of thought they were crazy and laughed
In their face
And I never thought I would long for the
Memory
I never thought I would get to this place
But
The truth is stranger than fiction
And I must believe what I see
But the truth is stranger than fiction to me
The truth is stranger than fiction to me
The lyrics to "Fiction" by Nik Kershaw explores the concept of memory and reality. The opening stanzas talk of books, memory, and criticism. If every memory was a book, critics would call such an idea ridiculous, and wait for the impossible, much like how Pigs flying is an unrealistic concept. The lyrics point out reality's nature is stranger than fiction, making it hard to believe what one sees. The second verse talks again of adaptation into movies, with big names Bobby DeNiro and Demi Moore, and even with their presence, one still wonders about the point of all of it. The bridge in the song talks about accepting life's unforeseeable nature, where things happen without reason or rhyme, and how the present, linked to the past, is the now, no matter how unbelievable it all seems.
The final repetition of "the truth is stranger than fiction, and I must believe what I see, but the truth is stranger than fiction to me" drives home the point that what one sees isn't always what they'll believe. The song is more of an existential bit of self-reflection and assertion of the human condition's often-harsh realities, despite whatever illusions of control a person may have.
Line by Line Meaning
If you wrote a book with a page for each memory
If every memory was documented in a book
And put it in hardback for people to buy
And made it available for sale in a robust bookbinding
The critics would laugh, yeah, they'd call it ridiculous
The reviewers would scoff at it and deem it absurd
And sit around waiting for Porky to fly
And skeptically wait for a fictional event to occur
If they made a film of the book of the memory
If a movie was made based on the book of memory
With Bobby De Niro and Demi De Moore
Starring Robert De Niro and Demi Moore
You'd sit in your seat with your popcorn and chocolate
You would settle in your seat with snacks
And wonder aloud at the point of it all
And question the purpose of the movie
If it can happen, it will happen, it has happened already
If something can occur, history shows that it eventually will
If you don't understand no reason and no rhyme
If you can't comprehend the logic or justification
Don't ask why
Don't inquire about the reason
If someone had told you you'd be where you are today
If someone had predicted your current position
You'd of thought they were crazy and laughed in their face
You would have found them absurd and laughed in disbelief
And I never thought I would long for the memory
And I didn't expect to yearn for past experiences
I never thought I would get to this place
I never anticipated ending up here
The truth is stranger than fiction
In reality, events can be more surprising than imagined
And I must believe what I see
I have to trust what I observe
But the truth is stranger than fiction to me
However, even the undeniable truth can be unexpected
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: NIK KERSHAW
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
pecede45
Nik's the most underrated singer-songwriter by a long way.
Steve Morton
Great song! Deserves a greater audience.
Henrik Vollesen
Just an insanely beautiful song!
raymond miller
The mark of a good musician is having other musicians listen in and say "Bravo". But....heres a guy that done this album near enough 20 or so years ago...and its been on my playlist ever since...thats a different kind of special.
Fabio Meridiani
15 Minutes it's a Masterpiece.
Grant Tully
What a well crafted song.Love it and the album.
emma jones
Wow. Lovely. Remember you from my youth. yes, the truth is very much stranger than fiction. I had a feeling you weren't like the others. Keep going. I'll keep listening. Emxx
Cathy Guesdon
Cette chanson me fait penser à chaque seconde à l'homme que j'aime le plus au monde
SOYCD99
Show me Love