Born and raised in The Netherlands, Europe, Nicolay's passion for music has dominated his life for as long as he can remember. Brought up with equal parts of Stevie Wonder and Neil Young, most of his days were spent listening to whatever music he could get his hands on and his early love for classical music drove him to seek a formal music education. Being a true multi-instrumentalist, Nicolay is proficient in playing piano and keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. His diverse understanding of music led him to play in several Hip-Hop and R&B bands, opening up for artists such as K-Ci & JoJo, Boyz II Men, MC Lyte and many others.
NICOLAY is best known as the producing half of THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE (with Phonte Coleman of Little Brother), who's debut album Connected (BBE; 2004) made a huge impact on the underground hiphop and soul scene, garnering praise from listeners, critics and peers alike. THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE was featured on MTV, VH1, BET and NPR, while Connected quickly reached #1 on CMJ’s Hip Hop chart. In 2005, NICOLAY was one of URB Magazine’s Next 100. Since then, he has produced for Little Brother, Supastition, Masta Ace, Strange Fruit Project and Zion I, remixed tracks for Roy Ayers, Bob James, Candy Dulfer and many others, toured the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan, and released several albums under his own name, most notably City Lights Volume 1.5 (BBE; 2005) and Here (BBE; 2006).
In 2007, NICOLAY started his own record label on which he plans to release several new projects. The new label, a partnership with Premium Blend Music Productions (GmbH), will bear the same name as his production company, NICOLAY MUSIC.
The first project to be released on NICOLAY MUSIC is Nicolay & Kay Presents ... TIME:LINE, a concept album from NICOLAY and Houston emcee Kay (who’s worked with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, A Tribe Called Quest, Oh No and SA-RA Creative Partners, just to name a few), featuring artists from both of their musical families. Features include Oh No, Strange Fruit Project, Stokely from Mint Condition, PZ from Ideal, K-Otix/The Legendary K.O., Nicole Hurst and many more. Their first single, Tight Eyes feat. Oh No & The Luv Bugz, will be premiered online on July 17th and released through iTunes shortly after, just in time for the summer, followed by the album in digital format and on CD in the fall.
Other projects that NICOLAY plans to release include a new installment in his City Lights series and a mixtape with DJ Rhettmatic of the World Famous Beat Junkies. In the meantime, NICOLAY has begun working on The Dutch Masters Vol. 2 (Hard Boiled; TBA), and he and Phonte are in the final stages of completing the much anticipated sophomore FOREIGN EXCHANGE album, titled Leave It All Behind (October 14 2008).
NICOLAY currently lives and works in North Carolina.
