Former Wiltshire College & University Centre student Nia Nicholls has landed a record deal.
Nia, who completed the Level 3 Music course at the Salisbury campus in 2018, a two-year contract with Uniq Recording Artists which prides itself on discovering outstanding talent.
The country and western singer and songwriter, who regularly performed in events while at College, and made a special appearance at the annual staff awards, said: “This has been a dream of mine since I was 11-years-old. The music industry has changed so much and there’s so much competition now, it can be really hard to secure a record deal, so I really am happy and excited for this next chapter.”
Nia, aged 20, started performing a decade ago, captivating her audiences whether in the school talent show, at a retirement home or church group, or even at pubs and music venues when she was older. She took her first trip to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was 13 and has been back every year performing at different well-known locations.
She said: “My parents spent a lot of weekends driving me to gigs and radio stations across the country, so now it feels like their hard work is starting to really pay off.”
In her final year at Bath Spa University where she progressed to study Commercial Music, Nia is excited about recording and releasing new music and playing more gigs.
She said: “I think my signing is going to be a little different to other Uniq signings because of Covid-19 and that makes travelling around a bit more difficult. But will be recording new music and learning about marketing, publishing deals and social media. I’m going to work as hard as I can because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
During lockdown Nia, from Fordingbridge but home from university regularly, spent a lot of time keeping busy to try and get noticed, hosting weekly live streams, releasing singles and taking part in radio interviews.
She added: “This has been an incredibly tough time for us musicians and it will be for quite a while, so I really wanted to make the time count.
“To have secured a record deal after gaining more followers really does feel like the cherry on top!”