Born of Australian parents who moved to the UK, Nigel learned pipe organ and developed an interest in composition during his school years in England during the 1960s. In 1970, he began a music degree at Edinburgh University, where the highly-regarded composer Kenneth Leighton was Reid Professor. When the Music Faculty organised a composition competition, Nigel duly neglected his formal studies and composed a Jazz Concertino for the competition. This piece was highly commended by Kenneth Leighton for its feeling of spontaneity!

Having neglected his studies in favour of composing, Nigel failed to complete his BMus in Edinburgh, electing instead to spend much of the 1970s and 1980s playing keyboards on cruise ships and holiday resorts. But in the 1990s, having returned to Australia, he finally completed an arts degree through the University of New England (UNE), in which he studied an interesting mix of musicology, German, and computer science.

He then moved to Canberra to work in ICT. He also resumed composing, beginning with some choral settings for liturgical use, which have been sung in several Canberra churches. The Royal School of Church Music's ACT Branch held an annual composition competition between 2008 and 2016: Nigel submitted an entry every year and was a runner-up on a several occasions.

In 2014, Nigel gained his Colleague of the Royal College of Organists (CRCO) diploma, and, in 2022, finally completed his Bachelor of Music through UNE, with a with a major focus on composition.

In recent times, Nigel's organ and church music has been heard in Australian churches and overseas. Several of his organ and choral compositions were performed at the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music (LFCCM) in 2024 and 2025.

Nigel's compositional style aims to be melodic and accessible for the most part, but coloured with a few modern rhythmic and harmonic characteristics. His music is now being published by the Australian music publisher Wirripang.