Nigel studied music at Cambridge University, where he was Music Director of the famous Footlights Revue Company. He has since worked extensively as a composer and conductor in television, theatre and film.

Nigel has composed numerous scores for both American and British television productions, including A Woman of Substance, Vanity Fair, Campion, Testament (Ivor Novello Award for Best TV Theme), Summer's Lease (Television & Radio Industries Club Award for Best TV Theme), Titmuss Regained, Maigret, Classic Adventure, Dangerfield, Just William, Wycliffe (Royal Television Society Nomination for Best TV Theme), Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (Ivor Novello Award for Best TV Theme and Royal Television Society Nomination for Best TV Theme), Badger, Ballykissangel, New Tricks and Stick With Me Kid for Disney. His latest feature film is Ladies in Lavender (Classical Brits Nomination for Best Soundtrack Composer) starring Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith. The score was performed by violinist Joshua Bell with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. While Nigel was House Composer for the Royal Shakespeare Company he contributed twenty scores for RSC productions, and highlights from his Shakespeare scores have recently been recorded and performed by the RPO in concert as The Food of Love, hosted by Dame Judi Dench and Patrick Stewart. Nigel was awarded the New York Drama Desk Award for 'Outstanding Music in a Play' for the productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway. His most recent theatre scores have been for Shakespeare's Globe, London, and have included The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet and Henry VIII.

The debut album of Nigel's vocal group Chameleon (recently reissued as Saylon Dola) won the Music Retailers Association Award for Best MOR Vocal Album, with tracks from the album subsequently covered by several artists, including tenor Russell Watson.