Carter was born in King's Lynn, England in 1985. Carter plays all saxophones, flutes and clarinets and works on both the live performance and recording sessions in the UK and Internationally. He is a global artist for Yamaha Saxophones and Woodwinds, D’Addario Woodwinds, Lawton Mouthpieces, Bam Cases and Hercules Stands. Carter is a founding member of Blackjack Horns, Steven Fuller and Gary Barnacle who record at studios around London, these include RAK Studios, Abbey Road Studios, Metropolis Studios and Angel Recording Studios as well as their own studio. At 15 Carter began travelling to London every Saturday morning to play with NYJO At 17 Carter attended the Royal Academy of Music Junior Jazz programme led by :de:Nick Smart and the following year Carter gained a place on the Jazz BMUS course at Trinity College Of Music in London. At 20 years old Carter left Trinity to tour with Lily Allen. Carter accompanied Allen on two world tours playing at the Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Stadium plus music festivals including Glastonbury, Coachella, V Festival and Big Day Out and TV shows including Saturday Night Live, Jools' Annual Hootenanny and Later with Jools Holland, The Late Show with Jay Leno, The Jonathan Ross Show, The Today Show, Top Of The Pops, and Ellen DeGeneres. In 2008 Nik Carter played on two releases by the Mystery Jets :- the single Two Doors Down and the album Twenty One, which was BPI certified silver. In 2011 Carter, with the Blackjack Horns, contributed to the no.1 hit single for X Factor finalist Olly Murs' Dance with Me Tonight which sold over 797,000 copies, was BPI certified platinum and is his biggest selling UK single. They also performed on his album In Case You Didn't Know, which was BPI certified triple platinum and is this artist's second biggest selling UK album. This album is the only one by this artist to have been IFPI certified platinum in Europe for over a million sales. 2012 saw Nik Carter playing on Higher by the Overtones and Given to the Wild by the Maccabees, among others. Other artists and producers Carter has worked with include Alexandra Burke, James Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Beverly Knight, Scouting For Girls, Mark Ronson, Boy George, Ed Sheeran, Duffy, Future Cut, Pixie Lott, Juan Zelada, Lemar, Katie Melua, Alesha Dixon, Jocelyn Brown, Samuel L Jackson, Wretch 32 and Lorde. Carter's West End and touring musical theatre credits include: 'Dance 'til Dawn' featuring Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace from Strictly Come Dancing, Bat Out of Hell The Musical, The Rocky Horror Show and in 2015, on the Cutting Crew album Add To Favourites plus on their single 'Till The Money Runs Out'. Also in 2014 Nik Carter and Jack Birchwood contributed the horn parts to three songs on the Modern Life album by Si Cranstoun - 'Gods Of Love', 'Being With You' and 'Like It Like That', all of which were co-written and co-produced by Roy Stride of Scouting for Girls fame. In 2015 Nik Carter, along with fellow Blackjack Horns member Jack Birchwood, recorded the brass parts for Jamie Lawson's debut album Jamie Lawson . Released on Ed Sheeran's new label Gingerbread Man Records - it entered the UK charts at No. 1 and was BPI certified gold. In 2016 and 2017, Carter worked with writer/producer Simon Law on his first solo album Look To The Sky on Dome Records. That year he also played on the double album 'Bat Out Of Hell - The Musical - Original Cast Recording'. Also in 2017, Nik Carter contributed to the recording of the single Misbehaving by Labrinth In October 2017 at The Royal Albert Hall for 'Michael Giacchino At 50' with The Cinematic Sinfonia. In 2017, Carter accompanied Gloria Gaynor at the Library Of Congress in Washington DC on the recognition of "I Will Survive" in the National Recording Registry.
