Nikki Sudden was born in London on July 19, 1956. He began playing guitar after hearing T.Rex near the end of 1971. Together with his brother, Epic Soundtracks, he formed what was to become Swell Maps. The Maps released 4 singles and 2 albums between 1977 and their break up in 1980. All of these releases hit the top slot in the Independent Charts.

Following the demise of the Maps, Sudden began his solo career. He made two albums —Waiting On Egypt and The Bible Belt— before joining up with Birmingham guitarist, Dave Kusworth. The pair formed the Jacobites in 1983, going on to make two albums, Jacobites and Robespierre’s Velvet Basement, the latter reaching No. 1 in the German Independent Charts. This tied in with their first German tour, and a semi-impermanent move to the country for Sudden.

1990 found Nikki Sudden traveling round the World. He eventually ended up in Athens, Georgia, where Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry from R.E.M. coerced him into the studio. Together, they ended up making the album, The Jewel Thief— later reissued as Liquor, Guns & Ammo.

1993 saw Kusworth and Sudden reuniting the Jacobites, with a new backing group. Over the following years, they released three albums, Howling Good Times, Old Scarlett and God Save Us Poor Sinners. In addition, their two original albums were reissued, as was a further compilation of rare tracks, Hawks Get Religion. The band also released a limited edition, vinyl-only album, Kiss Of Life, in Germany, and a Spanish CD, Heart Of Hearts.

Late in 1995, Sudden once again found himself in America and ended up in a Chicago studio with members of the Chamber Strings and The Rosehips.  This led to him beginning work on his seventh solo release. The album featured musicians from The Jet Boys, The True Spirit, The Fatal Shore, Band Of Outsiders, Once Upon A Time, Vermooste Vløten, The Flaming Stars, Sonic Youth, Voodoo Witch, and the Jacobites.

Following on from the release of Seven Lives Later, Sudden continued touring and recording with the Jacobites. Before the album was even released, he had gone in the studio with Hamburg band, DM Bob & The Deficits. Together they recorded an as-yet unreleased album in just 9½ hours. He also toured with Freddy Lynxx and Jeff Dahl on the Lost Acoustic Tour. During early 1998 he went in a Berlin studio with Phil Shöenfelt, Carl Eugene Picôt (ex-Jacobites), and Berlin drummer, Robby Schmidt, to record another so-far unreleased album, entitled Golden Vanity.  

In March, 1998, Sudden flew to Chicago to record what has turned out as one of his best albums thus far. This project, which was recorded with various members of the Chamber Strings and other assorted luminaries from the Chicago music scene, was released in early 1999 under the title Red Brocade. Amongst others, the album features Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who sings a duet with Sudden on the song, Farewell, My Darling. The album was re-mixed during November 1998 in Woodbine St Studio, Leamington Spa, England.

Nikki Sudden is currently based in Berlin where he is working on a book about Ronnie Wood. He is also 95% of the way to completing a book of his lyrics. “It’ll be finished as soon as I stop writing new songs!” He also contributes to various magazines including MOJO, Superstar, It’s Only Rock’n Roll, Rockmusic.Ru and Bucketful Of Brains.

Nikki Sudden’s last album was a retrospective, The Last Bandit (The Best Of Nikki Sudden). The set, released by Glitterhouse Records in Europe, Wagging Dog Records in England, and Bomp Records in America, featured remastered and edited versions of some of Nikki's best / most popular solo work.