Ivor Neville “Nick” Kamen (15 April 1962 – 4 May 2021) was an English male model, songwriter, and musician. He was best known for the singles “Each Time You Break My Heart” from 1986 and “I Promised Myself” from 1990, as well as for appearing in a now-iconic 1985 Levi advert.
His debut single was the 1986 UK number five hit “Each Time You Break My Heart”, from his eponymous début album. Written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, it also cracked both the US dance chart (remix by Shep Pettibone) and the Top 50 in Canada. Madonna also sang the backing vocals on the track. Kamen also had a No. 16 follow-up in the UK with the second single, “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” (a cover of the Four Tops’ 1966 hit), although his later singles were less-commercially successful in the UK, more so in the rest of Europe, particularly Italy, France, Germany, and Spain.
Kamen’s second album Us (1988) was produced by Patrick Leonard. Madonna again made an appearance as a backing vocalist on the song “Tell Me”, this time without contributing to the songwriting or production. The song became a massive hit in Italy in the summer of 1988, spending a total of nine weeks at number one. In 1989, Kamen performed the song “Turn It Up” on the soundtrack to Walt Disney’s film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
1990 saw the release of one of his biggest hits. The single “I Promised Myself”, from the album Move Until We Fly, reached Number 1 in eight European countries and was the fourth most played record in Europe in 1990. The song was later covered by Dead or Alive (1999), A-Teens (2004), Basshunter (2009), and most recently by German punk rockers Maggers United (2013).
In 1992, Kamen released his last album, entitled Whatever, Whenever.
Nick Kamen died, after a long illness, from bone marrow cancer on 4 May 2021 aged 59. he will be forever missed.
