Nicholas Gunn

Nicholas Gunn is a classically trained songwriter, lyricist, and music producer. He is known for his originating instrumental works and his current works featuring vocalists from the electronic music space across Trance, Melodic House, and Chill. He is also the owner of Blue Dot Music, a record label and music publishing company located in the United Kingdom.

Nicholas Graham Gunn was born in Rochester, Kent in South East England. He studied flute under a formal classical education from age seven till age eleven when his family moved to Southern California. After moving to Southern California Gunn continued his classical flute studies under private instruction. During junior high school and high school Gunn played wind ensemble in the band during concert season and drums and percussion during the marching season. After high school Gunn sidestepped music for a year, focusing his efforts towards modeling and acting which led to a small role on the national TV show Freddy's Nightmares as Monkey Puke Stone on season 2 episode 11 "Dreams That Kill".

Early on Gunn found himself immersed in a passion for recording his own instrumental style of music. Gunn shunned popular terms such as New Age and the connotation associated with his own music, preferring the term Instrumental or World Music. After unsuccessful attempts to obtain a recording deal from submissions, Gunn self-released his debut recording Afternoon in Sedona in 1992. With national radio starting to escalate and CD sales starting to occur, Gunn received interest from nature retail chain Natural Wonders, which led him to a record deal with Sausalito, California-based instrumental music label Real Music.

Re-released under Real Music in 1993, Afternoon in Sedona became an instant best seller at national retail chains such as The Nature Company and Natural Wonders. It was his second album, The Sacred Fire, released in 1994, that first landed Gunn on the Billboard charts for New Age Album, where it ran for five weeks and peaked at number ten. To date, The Sacred Fire has exceeded over 500,000 copies sold globally.

Taking part in Real Music's "National Park Series", Gunn's third album, The Music of the Grand Canyon, was released in 1995 and sold over 100,000 copies its first year. Once again Gunn found himself Top Ten on the Billboard charts and charted for fourteen weeks. To date, The Music of the Grand Canyon has sold over 1,000,000 copies sold globally. Outside of Real Music and the "National Park Series", Gunn has gone on to release numerous albums influenced by the beauty of America's landscape and parks, such as Return to Grand Canyon (1999), Through the Great Smoky Mountains (2002), Journey to Yellowstone (2003), and Beyond Grand Canyon (2006). Beyond Grand Canyon was also released as a DVD, in which Gunn paired his musical compositions with photography of the Grand Canyon taken by Michael Fatali, creating a unique audio-visual experience.

On Crossroads, his fourth album released in 1996, Gunn began to incorporate a Latin influence into his sound, a theme which has subsequently embraced a number of his other albums, most notably Breathe (2004) and Encanto (2007), on which he collaborated with award-winning Latin guitarist Johannes Linstead. It was also on his 14th album, Thirty-One Nights, that he heavily incorporated this Latin influence working with Flamenco guitarist, Chris Fossek. Inspired by his trip to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the album also features Spanish spoken word. Released on 11 September 2012, Thirty-One Nights charted No. 8 on the Billboard chart in its debut week. It was also chosen by John Diliberto and Echoes as one of the Top 25 Albums for October 2012.

Since 1991, Gunn has sold millions of copies of his instrumental music albums, an impressive feat considering that the marketing of his albums have mostly bypassed the traditional route of radio and mainstream outlets, finding large success through niche retail chains such as the Nature Company, Natural Wonders, and gift stores throughout the National Parks.

Gunn began combining his electronic sound with his instrumental roots in 2016 with the release of Under the Influence of Music. In his subsequent singles, Ibiza Sunset and Saint Lucia, one can hear his classic instrumental "Nicholas Gunn" sound moving into a more Ambient / Electronic space.