Nick Tipping

Adjudicator, Jazz

Nick Tipping was born and raised in Wellington in a household full of classical music. Not only were his parents both classical musicians, but his grandfather Peter Godfrey was a well-known choral conductor.

Nick grew up singing in choirs and playing in orchestras, and he is a former Barbershop national champion. Nick went on to turn his passion for music into a career – he played bass professionally across Aotearoa with everyone from the Rodger Fox Big Band to the NZSO and has performed on stages the length and breadth of NZ as a jazz musician.

Nick played bass on the first five seasons of TV show Dancing with the Stars and he lived, studied and worked in Las Vegas for two years. He currently plays with composer Ross Harris’s klezmer band The Kugels. Nick has a PhD in Musicology, looking at the NZ jazz scene and his band The Jac won Best Jazz Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards in 2021.