The FND is the artist identity of Nic, a 54-year-old independent songwriter and
digital musician from Norfolk whose music is rooted in personal experience of
living with Functional Neurological Disorder.
Diagnosed with FND in 2014, Nic has experienced first-hand how dramatically the
condition can affect everyday life. Today, alongside FND, he lives with
fibromyalgia and the many associated challenges that come with both conditions.
He is now practically housebound, with his world significantly different from the
life he once knew.
Before illness changed his life, Nic was a pub landlord — a job built around
people, conversation and community. Music has since become his way of reconnecting
with those things and, more importantly, communicating experiences that can be
extremely difficult to explain to people who have never lived them.
Under the name The FND, Nic creates songs about the reality behind the diagnosis:
the symptoms people cannot see, the uncertainty, loss of independence, isolation,
misunderstanding, relationships, resilience, and the determination to keep going.
His music is deliberately personal. It is not written from a textbook or from the
perspective of an outside observer. It comes from lived experience. Through
songwriting, Nic has found a way to turn some of the hardest parts of living with
FND into something people can hear, feel and hopefully understand.
Music with a purpose
The FND project was created with awareness — rather than celebrity or commercial
influence — at its heart. Nic uses his music and growing online audience to help
raise awareness of FND and encourage people to learn more about a neurological
condition that remains poorly understood by much of the wider public.
“I have a story, I have a voice, and I’m going to use both to make people understand FND.”
Rather than presenting himself as a conventional influencer, Nic sees himself
primarily as a person with a story to tell. The audience around The FND has grown
because people living with FND, their families, carers and supporters recognise
something of their own experiences in the songs.
That work has developed into collaborations with organisations supporting the FND
community, including FND Connect.
The person behind the music
Away from the artist name, Nic is simply someone trying to make sense of a life
that changed dramatically because of neurological illness. He does not perform
live and is largely confined to his home, but modern technology has allowed him
to keep creating music from there.
The FND gives him a platform to speak when his own circumstances make being
physically present difficult. His story is one of adaptation, resilience and
finding a new purpose. A former pub landlord who once spent his days surrounded
by people is now using a microphone, a computer and songwriting to reach people
across the world.
FND changed what Nic is physically able to do. It did not take away his voice.
The FND is that voice.
