Nigel Williamson bought his first Neil Young album in 1969 at the age of 15.
A former editor of the political weekly Tribune, he then worked as a political correspondent and columnist on The Times, before becoming that paper's news editor. Now freelance, he continues to write for The Times about music and culture, is a contributing editor to Uncut magazine and has a weekly column in Billboard. He a former judge of the judges of the Technics Mercury Music Prize.