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Nicholas Beggs (born 15 December 1961Larkin, Colin (1997) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music, Virgin Books, , p. 270-271) is an English musician, noted for playing the bass guitar and the Chapman Stick; he is a member of the Mute Gods and Kajagoogoo, formerly also a part of Iona and Ellis, Beggs & Howard and plays in the band of Steven Wilson. He is known for modifying a Chapman Stick into a fully MIDI-capable instrument triggering MIDI from both bass and melody strings; he calls it the Virtual Stick.
After firing lead singer Limahl in 1983 and, following a split with Strode in 1985, the three remaining band members reformed as Kaja, releasing the album Crazy Peoples Right to Speak and the single "Shouldn't Do That".
Between 1985 and 1987, Beggs concentrated on writing with various other songwriters and formed Ellis, Beggs & Howard in March 1987.Burnett, Bryan (1998) " Nick's Knack for Finding Success", Evening Times, 7 December 1988, p. 17, retrieved 2 July 2011 Ellis, Beggs and Howard split in 1989, and in 1990 Beggs joined the progressive folk music band Iona. He recorded two albums with them: The Book of Kells and Beyond These Shores.
He continued working with various artists and bands, including Gary Numan, Alphaville, Belinda Carlisle, Emma Bunton (on her album Life in Mono) and Led Zeppelin's former bass player, John Paul Jones.Christman, Ed (1999) " Zeppelin's Jones Makes Solo Return", Billboard, 14 August 1999, p. 12, 15, retrieved 2 July 2011 In 1996, Beggs met Howard Jones on a flight from the United States, and Jones invited Beggs to tour as part of his band.
Beggs worked as a manager for Phonogram Records for eight months. He later became a contributor to various guitar publications, and he is a staff writer for Bass Guitar magazine. He is also a patron of London-based guitar and bass school Guitar-X.
He has recorded and released Stick Insect (2002), The Maverick Helmsman (2004), and The Darkness Inside Mens Hearts.
Around this time Beggs and Askew joined forces with a guitar student of Steve's, Hayley. Together, they worked on the project, Industrial Salt, a guitar-driven girl band fronted by Alex Stamp and Hayley Bonnick. The band released one studio album, 'A Pocket Full of Magnetic Letters' and a hit single, 'Loop & Loop (under the thunder) which reached number 3 in the Japanese charts in 2005.
Beggs and Askew have also written material for Claudia Mills, a finalist on the talent show Let Me Entertain You.
reformed Kajagoogoo with Beggs, Askew and Croxford Neale toured in 2004. Limahl and Strode both rejoined in 2008, and the band toured extensively." Kajagoogoo announce British tour", BBC, 14 May 2009, retrieved 2 July 2011 The band released an EP of new material in 2011. In an interview with Cherry Red TV in 2018, Beggs talked about the reunion, stating "we reformed and we toured and we recorded an EP and remastered the back catalogue...and at that point I felt that we had done it all. It was a nice way to tie it up, put a bow on it and leave it alone and move on."
Since 2011, Beggs is a member of Steven Wilson's touring band," Steven Wilson ‘Grace for Drowning’ 2011 Official Dates! ", 8 July 2011, retrieved 22 September 2011 having also played on Wilson's albums Grace For Drowning, The Raven That Refused to Sing, Hand. Cannot. Erase., the EP 41/2, To the Bone, The Future Bites and The Harmony Codex.
In February 2013, Beggs's project Lifesigns, with John Young and Frosty Beedle, released a self-titled album.
Beggs also became a member of the Belgian prog band Fish on Friday, starting the collaboration with their third album named Godspeed at the end of 2014, marking the starting point of a series of successful albums, along a decade: Quiet Life (2017), Black Rain (2020), and the most recent creation, 8mm (2023).
He contributed to John Mitchell's solo project Lonely Robot, which released the album Please Come Home in February 2015.
Beggs's latest collaboration is named The Mute Gods, with Marco Minnemann and Roger King. Their first album was released in January 2016, titled Do Nothing till You Hear from Me. This was followed up with Tardigrades Will Inherit The Earth in February 2017 and Atheists and Believers in 2019. In 2024, Beggs temporarily replaced bass player Peter Trewavas of Marillion, who is unavailable after a medical procedure.
With Steve Hackett
With Steven Wilson
With Fish on Friday
With Lonely Robot (i.e. John Mitchell)
With The Mute Gods
With Trifecta
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