Chicane is the recording name used by Nick Bracegirdle.  As Chicane, his reputation has been established on the strength of several lush, melodic singles, particularly "Offshore," "Sunstroke," "Strong In Love," and "Saltwater" on Alex Gold's Xtravaganza Recordings.  As Disco Citizens, he has performed numerous remixes for high-profile artists such as BT, Everything But The Girl, B*Witched and Bryan Adams.

Bracegirdle was initially inspired by electronic music when he heard Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygene" at the age of 11 or 12. Already studying classical guitar and piano, he saved his money to buy some cheap analogue synthesisers.  Meanwhile, he pursued a career in graphic design, even having his own design company at one point.  It was "Anthem" by N-Joi, however, that really prompted Bracegirdle's change of career direction.  He was excited by the track's melody and chord changes combined with a dancefloor-friendly bass and rhythm section.  With a friend, Bracegirdle recorded and released a "white label" single called "Right Here, Right Now," sampling the same track by the Fatback Band that Fatboy Slim later used on his hit of the same name.

The track provoked a great deal of A&R interest and Disco Citizens eventually signed to Deconstruction Records.  The duo saw the single reach number 40 in the UK in July 1995.  Later, Bracegirdle established his own label, Modena, and released an EP that included "Offshore."  The track was not only a huge dancefloor hit, especially in Ibiza, where its ambient, feel-good textures were entirely appropriate, but also crossed over into the UK Top 20 in December 1996.  It has also been heavily used as incidental music on BBC television programmes such as Grandstand.  Chicane thereafter released a solo debut album, Far From the Maddening Crowd.

In May 1999, Chicane teamed up with M ire Brennan of Clannad to re-record the vocals of the theme from "Harry's Game" (originally recorded in 1982) for a trance reworking of the track that became a massive club hit and entered the UK Top 10. The track's success consolidated Chicane's growing reputation for consistently good commercial dance music and kept the requests for remixes arriving at Bracegirdle's door.  He enjoyed a UK chart-topper in March 2000 with "Don't Give Up," featuring Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams.

Chicane says Adams nearly bit his arm off to record the vocals to "Dont Give Up."  "I thought I'd give Bryan a call and see what he thought of it.  He went completely nuts about the track and demanded to sing on it,"  Nick told Radio 1.

They collaborated before on a song called "Cloud Number 9," and Nick says he thinks it's more of a risk for Bryan to be part of "Don't Give Up" than the other way around.  "He's a legend. He does not have to go and do any of this. It's quite scary to think he's lending his vocals to a track that might do nothing or even bomb." 

source:  Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK Ltd.