This is the autobiography of Nick Battle, a man from humble beginnings and a dysfunctional family who becomes a music industry mogul with a six-figure income. But it all disappears when tragedy strikes his family.
Nick’s mum and dad were separated when he was only six years old. He speaks in a very personal way and honestly about his hurt and confusion as his mother and father lived separate lives but came together for 48 hours each weekend. At the age of 11 a psychiatrist described him as ‘an emotionally disturbed child.’
He goes into some detail about his mother’s slide into alcoholism when he was about 11...
‘For most of my teenage years I came home after school to the same scene. She would drink sherry first of all. Later she would ‘progress’ to scotch. She would get me the same tea every night – cheese on toast with marmite. And every night I would sit in front of our coal fire and eat it. On my own.’
There are graphic accounts of his mum going off the rails, he tells of the unspeakable pain he feels as a wee boy when they go for a family holiday with two or three families, except his dad’s not there; his mum is with other men.
And yet in the midst of the mess he found he had what he called a very basic faith. He says, ‘I had no problem believing in heaven, or that Jesus died for the mistakes I made.’ So he decided to get confirmed in the Church of England, but when he went forward for the laying on of hands he said, ‘I felt a warmth and peace flow through me... incredibly serene... my first tangible experience of God.’
Moving on...
At school it was discovered that he had musical talent; he was first violinist in a Youth Orchestra, he also learned to play guitar, so in time he joined a band called; ‘After the Fire’ as a bass player. He says he was desperate for success and stardom, but all he was really concerned with was, ‘Doh, re, me, me, me’ and the next stage in his life saw him reeling from crisis to crisis, drinking too much, crashing out on friends’ sofas and scrounging the best living he could. He took a job as a postman, and then as a steel-worker and in between a few gigs here and a few gigs there.
But eventually his stardom came, and he found himself hanging out with people like Sting, The Spice Girls, Cliff Richard, Simon Cowell, Michael Ball & Engelbert Humperdink – now there’s a name to stir up memories!
Then tragedy number one struck: his mother died, but there’s an opportunity for reconciliation, to forgive her before laying her gently to rest.
Tragedy number two is when Lynn, his wife had a recurrence of cancer. It’s a part of the book I struggled with, it’s just too sore, particularly a chapter he calls, ‘Journey of a hurting heart.’
March 2002: ‘There’s a big man on our roof fixing a leak. I don’t know him well and have only met him recently. He somehow knows about Lynn and I tell him the truth, times are largely good at the moment, but can be bad. He looks deep into my eyes and quietly says, ‘I will pray for you.’ It is shockingly humbling and I run to the cabin to have a cry. The comfort of strangers...’
However, the book has a happy ending, but I won’t spoil it for you...
To summarise;
Nick Battle, a man from humble beginnings who makes it good but who has to give up a six figure salary. In the process he experiences God's love in a powerful and relevant way, and he learns lessons of how to trust God completely when everything else seems to be going wrong.
Published by Authentic
163 pps paperback
Available on his website at a special price of £5.00
www.nickbattle.net
