Nick was born in Volendam, into a musical family which has produced other famous artists, such as Anny Schilder. At the age of 8, he started to learn how to play the guitar. He met Simon Keizer at school when they were 17 years old, at which point they began singing and writing songs together. Their first song was 'Do you know what I mean'.\r \r At New Year's Eve in 2001, Nick was injured during a fire in a pub.[1] He had to stay in the hospital for 23 days with lung problems. Afterward, the doctors advised him to take singing lessons.\r \r After this, he participated in the second season of the Dutch version of American Idol called Idols where he finished in eleventh place. Simon Keizer had been eliminated in the first round. After the show, Nick & Simon were contacted by their current record company: Volendam Music. Together, they have made some huge hits such as 'Rosanne', 'Kijk Omhoog' en 'Pak maar m'n hand', which is also the soundtrack of the film 'De Scheepsjongens van de Bontekoe'