Nicholas Bracegirdle (born 28 February 1971), known professionally as Chicane, is an English musician, DJ, composer, songwriter, and record producer.

Among his works are singles "Offshore", an Ibiza trance anthem included in many compilations in both chill-out and dance versions; "Saltwater", which featured vocals by Clannad member Máire Brennan, and the UK number-one hit "Don't Give Up", featuring vocals by Bryan Adams, which also became a top ten hit on singles charts across Europe and Australia.

In addition, Bracegirdle also worked with Leo Elstob under the alias Disco Citizens, producing a handful of less radio-friendly, vocal-less tracks with a stronger progressive house sound.

While having trained in classical guitar and piano at an early age, Bracegirdle's earliest influences in electronic music came from melodic composers such as Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis, and synthpop pioneer Vince Clarke;[3] a further influence was the dance hit "Anthem" by the house music group N-Joi.

Additional singles that followed were "Lost You Somewhere", the Benelux release "Red Skies", and the non-album single "Strong in Love", for which Bracegirdle used vocals by British singer Sylvia Mason-James (after discovering that she was the vocalist on the Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne remix of "Lemon" by U2)[7] and first collaborated on production with Ray "Madman" Hedges (producer for B*Witched and Boyzone).

1999 saw the release of "Saltwater", a song based on Máire Brennan's vocals from "Theme from Harry's Game" by the Celtic band Clannad.

The vocal credit was initially not publicised when the single was sent to Pete Tong's BBC Radio 1 program Essential Selection.

The 2001 Edition of the EA Sports Formula One Video Game Series included the songs "Sunstroke", "The Drive Home", and a remix of "Nagasaki Badger".

Eventually, under the new management of John Cavanagh, April 2006 saw the release of a new single, "Stoned in Love", on Globe Records through Universal Music Group, featuring singer Tom Jones on vocals.

Promotional copies of the track were made available, with remixes from Mischa Daniels and Adam K. Following the leak of his 2003 album, Chicane now employs the international internet policing company, Web Sheriff to prevent links to unlicensed material, such as this single and other tracks from his upcoming album, from being posted on various blogs and websites.

"No Ordinary Morning", "Don't Give Up" and "Saltwater" were re-recorded for the album as the original sound recordings were still owned by Xtravaganza and were unable to be licensed due to the dispute between Chicane and Alex Gold in 2002.

Bracegirdle worked with producers James Hockley and Richard Searle on the Re-Work EP for a targeted summer 2009 release, along with a new and fourth Chicane album and mixes of forthcoming productions by BT and William Orbit.

The follow-up to this single was revealed as "Hiding All the Stars", which contains a sample of Gary Numan's "Cars", which had its first full play on Radio 1's Floorfillers on 21 August 2009.

"Going Deep", featuring British producer and rapper Aggi Dukes, had its first airplay on Steve Smart's radio show Friday Night Kiss on 8 April.

On 29 July 2011, Chicane revealed a preview of the title track for the then forthcoming artist album Thousand Mile Stare on YouTube.

In the July 2014 issue of the Sun:Sets radio show, Chicane named the title of the upcoming album The Sum of Its Parts.

On 29 July 2016, Chicane released a compilation album titled Twenty as a celebration of his twentieth anniversary in the music industry.

The album was preceded by the lead single "Carry Me Home" (a rework of the song of the same name by Gloworm) featuring the vocals of Steve Edwards; released on 3 June 2016.

Twenty features Chicane's greatest hits, plus brand new remixes by Philip George, Kryder, Grum, Jody Wisternoff, Thomas Datt, and himself.

[26] As with the 2008 best of album, "No Ordinary Morning", "Don't Give Up" and "Saltwater" are re-recordings as the original sound recordings were still owned by Xtravaganza and were unable to be licensed for this compilation due to a dispute between Chicane and Xtaravagnza boss Alex Gold, dated back to 2002.

It includes the singles "Gorecki" (originally written & performed by Lou Rhodes and the band Lamb) and "Serendipity" featuring Tracy Ackerman.

[35] In an interview in 2012, Bracegirdle stated that he does not draw inspiration from dance music; but from film soundtracks and musicians like Brian Eno and Trevor Horn.

[37] Bracegirdle's career took a turn following the release of Behind the Sun, at which point he stated desires to focus on being a recording artist and producer, starting with planned work on Bryan Adams' then-upcoming studio album.

Bracegirdle also put remix work on hold at this point, reportedly turning down Jean Michel Jarre, Moby, and both Kylie and Dannii Minogue.

As early as 1997, The Mirror called him a "top DJ" in an article,[41] while the Portland Press Herald published a 2000 review in which both Chicane and BT were referred to as DJs.

[4] Co-producers who worked on these albums are Leo Elstob, Salt Tank, Ray "Madman" Hedges, and Martin Brannigan.

[4] Recently, references to a studio called "Modena 2" have appeared in liner notes since the April 2006 release of the "Stoned in Love" single.

[44] With the April 2011 premiere of the Chicane single "Going Deep" Bracegirdle stressed his own statement, that 'Chicane music is not bound by a certain genre'.

[citation needed] Chicane also performs live shows as a full-fledged band, which has included a rotating line-up of singers, guitarists, drummers, and flautists, as well as Bracegirdle himself on keyboards.

[45] English electronic producer Tom Jankiewicz (Tomski) was a frequent musical collaborator with Chicane from 1995 to 2006, and he also played keyboards and engineered in the band during that period.