PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The DRUMMER
Stix Nickson spends his waking hours practicing or
performing percussion when he is not passing his 50
years of experience on to young people.
“Many fathers hand down a trade or a craft to their
sons,” says Nickson. “I was a jazz-rock drummer. It is rare for
a son to pass the craft up to his father. Through taking my son
George to music practices, I began to learn classical drumming
at age 50.”
Nickson can hardly contain himself when he talks about
his son’s meteoric rise in the music world at age 28, and for
good reason. George Nickson is principal percussionist for the
Sarasota Symphony while his father is principal percussionist
for the Treasure Coast Symphony. George has performed in
Sydney, Australia; Budapest, Hungary; London; Cleveland and
Boston. Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal
have described him as virtuosic marambist. He has also
worked as a conductor and plays 50 different instruments.
The reason for George’s success can be traced to Garden
City on Long Island, N.Y., when Stix was 8 years old and
told his parents he wanted to play the drums. “Buddy Rich
was my idol and my parents hated him,” he says. “My uncle
was a drummer and a drunk. My parents did not want me
to be a musician or play in the school band. I had to play
piano and the accordion at the age of 8. They would not let
me play drums until I was 15. I studied a lot (music) when I
was young. I went to the Manhattan School of Music for two
years, but never graduated. I couldn’t go to college to save
my life. I was a working sideman in New York and I also did
a lot of studio work. I was called to sessions because I could
read music. My other expertise was when a drummer got sick
I could come in as the cleanup guy, take a few cues and play
the set like I was the regular drummer and no one would
notice the difference.”
When George asked his father at age 8 if he could play the
drums, the answer was no. “He learned to play the piano,”
the elder Nickson says. The first day he walked into the Lin-
38 Port St. Lucie Magazine
GREG GARDNER
Stix Nickson says the beat goes on at his Drummersonly Drum Shop in Port St. Lucie. For the past eight years, Nickson has taught hundreds of students
and served as a retailer for the percussion industry.
>>
BY GREG GARDNER