Record

Code	DS/UK/583
Person Name	Nicols; Maggie (24 Feb 1948-); Musician, dancer
Dates	24 Feb 1948-
Dates and Places	Born 24 Feb 1948 in Edinburgh, Scotland as Margaret Nicolson. Her parents had Scottish, French and Berber heritage Age 11 the family moves from Scotland to London, England Age 15 danced at the Windmill Theatre, London Age 16 sang in Arthur Fox's Revuebar, Manchester During the 1960s Nicols started singing jazz music with Dennis Rose and they played ballads and standards in pubs 1968-1970 was part of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble 1968 first heard Mike Westbrook, John Surman and others performing at the Old Place on Frith Street, London 1970 meets Lindsay Cooper at the Ovahouse when Nicols was running workshops. Cooper and Nicols became friends and Nicols suggested they should form a womens group together 1971-1972 Joined the Workers' Revolutionary Party Mid 1970s Nicols performs with Keith Tippett's group Centipede Early 1970s Nicols was running workshops at a community centre at Oval House, Kennington 1977 co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group with Lindsay Cooper. The group was originally named the Womens Improvising Group but due to a misprint on the flyer for their first performance they became known as the Feminist Improvising Group Oct 1977 first performance of the Feminist Improvising Group with Lindsay Cooper, Georgie Born, Cathy Williams, Corinne Liensol the Music for Socialism Festival 1977 Nicols left the Workers' Revolutionary Party as she found the ideology too fixed 1978 Lindsay Cooper and Georgie Born invited Irene Schweizer to join the Feminist Improvising Group Apr 1978 Sally Potter joins the Feminist Improvising Group 1980 Nicols left the Feminist Improvising Group to begin Contradictions, a womens workshop performance group with Corinne Liensol. Liensol and Nicols had collaborated together on the Feminist Improvising Group, They worked with many other musicians as part of Contradictions 1989 at a meeting of the London Musicians Collective, Nicols devised the idea of The Gathering due to tensions and frustrations within the Collective as a way to meet outside of the Collective's meetings 1991 The Gathering, a informal, musical workshop became more regular occurence and continue to today 2000s Nicols presented on voice and interpretation for Her Noise. Nicols presentation involved singing and vocalisation
Published Works	Solo releases: 2020 Creative Contradiction: Poetry, Story, Song & Sound 2022 Are You Ready? Group releases: 1977 Voice with Julie Tippetts, Phil Minton and Brian Eley 1981 The Other Room with Jon Rose and John Russell 1982 Sweet and S'ours with Julie Tippetts 1982 Live at the Bastille with Lindsay Cooper, Joelle Leandre 1985 Nicols 'N' Nu with Peter Nu 1986 Are You Ready? with Peter Nu 1987 Don't Assume with Peter Nu 1988 The Storming Of The Winter Palace with Irene Schweizer, George Lewis, Joelle Leandre and Gunter Sommer 1989 Mr. Invisible And The Drunken Sheilas (Supported By Mr. & Mrs. Disgraceful - Presented By Honest Spiv Faber And Eric Wetherall With The Kind Permission Of The Sheila Duncan Trio) with Julie Tippett and Keith Tippett 1994 Les Diaboliques with Irene Schweizer and Joelle Leandre 1998 Nevergreens with Joe Sachse and Pinguin Moschner 2000 Live at the Rhinefalls with Les Diaboliques 2002 Transitions with Caroline Kraabel and Charlotte Hug 2005 Which Way Did He Go? with The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra 2009 Jubilee Concert with Les Diaboliques 2012 Human with Phil Hargreaves 2013 Trio Blurb with John Russell and Mia Zablenka 2014 Live At Kesselhaus Berlin with Denis Charolles and David Chevallier 2017 18.3.15 with Joelle Leandre and Roger Turner 2017 Other Worlds with Peter Urpeth 2019 Energy Being with Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra 2022 Alukah In Avalon with New Noveta, Crystabel Riley, Sue Lynch, Vindicatrix and Sophie Sleigh-Johnson 2023 And John with Mark Wastell 2023 Semiotic Drift with Matilda Rolfsson and Mark Wastell 2023 On Dizziness with Caroline Kraabel and Charlotte Hug 2025 Beautiful Love with Geoff Eales 2026 Immersion with Robert Mitchell and Al Sultani 2026 Madli's Mums 30-03-87 with Susanna Ferrar, Sylvia Hallett and Julie Tippett
Relationships	Nicols has worked with many including: Lindsay Cooper (collaborator) Phil Minton (collaborator) Sally Potter (collaborator) John Stevens (collaborator) Julie Tippett (collaborator) John Russell (collaborator) Mia Zablenka (collaborator)
Source	https://artsandculture.google.com/story/female-musicians-on-the-london-improv-scene-sound-and-music/hQVxUfGPq0lXLg?hl=en [accessed 09/09/2026] https://www.bloomsburylondon.com/events/maggie-nicols-the-gathering-xiv [accessed 09/09/2026] https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/archive/2022/07/15/maggie-nicols-cassette-archive-1981-85/ [accessed 11/09/2026] https://georgemckay.org/interviews/maggie-nicols/ [accessed 11/09/2026]