Nick Seymour did an instore at Allans Billy Hyde for our managing Director Leah Gallin’s father, after her father gave him the lovely Blue Bass guitar pictured here, that he played at Crowded house Sydney Opera House the year previously.

Nick Seymour was born to parents who were both teachers. He has two older sisters, Hilary and Helen, and an older brother, Mark. Helen was later a music teacher, and Mark became the founding lead singer-songwriter-guitarist for Hunters & Collectors. His mother encouraged all four children to learn musical instruments and sing. When he was a young boy they all toured country Victoria, as the Seymour Family Singers. In 1972 the family moved to Melbourne, where Nick attended Yarra Junction Primary School. He taught himself to play bass guitar. After finishing secondary education he studied Visual Arts at a tertiary institute.

At the end of 1984, he auditioned with “a long line of bass players” to become a founding member of The Mullanes alongside Neil Finn on lead vocals and Paul Hester on drums (both ex-Split Enz). Seymour had played to a taped series of tracks previously recorded by Finn and Hester. The group formed early in the next year and included Craig Hooper on lead guitar (ex-The Reels). Hooper left the group and remained behind in Melbourne when the remaining trio travelled to Los Angeles to start recording sessions, where they were renamed, Crowded House.

As a member of Crowded House, Seymour provides bass guitar, backing vocals and song writing, as well as artwork for album covers, costumes and stage sets. With their second album, Temple of Low Men (July 1988), he won the ARIA Music Awards of 1989 category for Best Cover Art. He was nominated for the same award for Crowded House (June 1986) in 1987, Woodface (July 1991) in 1992, and Together Alone (October 1993) in 1994. In early 1989, after a tour of Australia and Canada, Finn fired Seymour from Crowded House. According to music journalist, Ed Nimmervoll, Seymour’s departure was due to Finn blaming him for causing the latter’s writer’s block. However Finn cited “artistic differences” as the reason. Seymour said that after a month apart, he contacted Finn and they agreed that he would return to the band. He subsequently stayed with the group until their disbandment in 1996.

Following Hester’s death in 2005, Seymour reconnected with Finn and performed on the latter’s third studio album. Over time, that project morphed into the fifth Crowded House album. In 2007, Neil Finn, Mark Hart and Nick Seymour reformed Crowded House, adding Matt Sherrod as drummer. The album Time on Earth was released in June 2007 and the group started a world tour in support of it.

Crowded House also released Intriguer in 2010. It reached #1 on the Australian charts.