A multi-instrumentalist, he was known primarily for playing the electric violin and mandolin, as well as the harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments (sometimes described as "devices" on album notes).

[citation needed] Nash worked as a solo artist beginning in 1975; founding the progressive rock band FM in 1976.

Another venue for his music was in performances to accompany the viewing of paintings by surrealist painter Robert Vanderhorst, an audiovisual collaboration,[4] which took place in 1978 and again in 2004.

He turned down Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's offer to lay down a guitar track on his album Children of the Night.

"During a gig at The Edge in the late 1970s to raise awareness of the threat from the Three Mile Island disaster, he walked on stage wearing bandages dipped in phosphorus paint and exclaimed: 'Look, this is what happens to you.'

[7] Nevertheless, in a 1981 interview with the UK magazine Smash Hits, Nash was questioned about his real name, and replied with "Nashville Thebodiah Slasher".

[citation needed] As a result of his coyness about his name, some fans came to believe that the Nash persona was an alter-ego of Ben Mink, who replaced him as FM's violinist in 1978.

[citation needed] There was an urban legend that Nash the Slash was actually Canadian country artist Anne Murray in disguise.

His other movie score and soundtrack work included the short film "A Trip Around Lake Ontario (1985), The Kidnapping of the President (1980), Black Pearls (1989), and Blood and Donuts (1995).

[citation needed] After working as a solo artist for a year, Nash formed the group FM in 1976, initially as a duo with Cameron Hawkins; drummer Martin Deller was added later.

By the end of 1977, Nash had left FM, and resumed his solo career starting with another television appearance on Nightmusic Concert on February 28, 1978.

[citation needed] Nash had intended to restart his solo career in 1978 with a new album featuring all the music from his Nightmusic Concert TV special, plus his soundtrack for Un chien andalou, but found the sound quality of a test pressing to be unsatisfactory, so he issued a four-song 12-inch EP titled Bedside Companion instead, on his own label, Cut-throat Records, which he continued to operate for the rest of his life.

[citation needed] Nash's solo career up to this point had only a small cult following, due to his working exclusively as an instrumentalist.

His next record, a 1980 single featuring a cover version of Jan and Dean's "Dead Man's Curve" with vocals, propelled him to greater public recognition.

The B-side, "Swing Shift (Souixante-Neuf)" also featured vocals, and was co-composed with lyricist Toby Dammit, with whom Nash further collaborated over the next few years.

[citation needed] Returning to Toronto in spring 1981, Nash released an instrumental "mini-album" Decomposing (1981), which purported to be playable at any speed, with song timings on the label quoting three lengths, depending on whether the record is played at 33, 45, or 78 RPM.

The single became a surprise club and radio hit in Poland, which was then still behind the iron curtain, where curfews and restrictions on western culture were imposed by the government of the time.

[15] After the break-up of FM in 1989, Nash embarked on a series of film soundtrack projects, and revived his Cut-throat label in 1991 to issue these on CD, and has also used it to re-issue his earlier records.

[citation needed] During 1992-3 Nash the Slash collaborated with the electronic music artist Plexus to create a series of visually intense live shows called Psychedelitron.

[6] During 2004 and 2005, he was again working with Robert Vanderhorst, under the name Two Artists, on the project View From the Gallery,[4] a live multimedia event presenting a fusion of surrealistic visuals with classic stylings in music.

[citation needed] Nash appeared as a character in several comic books by Matt Howarth,[16] including issues #2–7 of Savage Henry.

[1] He thanked his loyal fans for their support during his 40 years as an independent artist, but stated that live gigs no longer excited him and that his "eccentric style/genre finds no place into today's scene."

His white tuxedo and top hat will be on display to the public and are being loaned to the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC for a 2018 exhibit about popular music in Canada from the 1960s to 1980s.

[citation needed] The 2001 recording Lost in Space is credited to Nash the Slash, Cameron Hawkins and Martin Deller; it is actually a CD by FM, but avoids using the name for legal reasons.