‘On the Record’ with Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse

It's no secret Raptors coach Nick Nurse loves music. Lindsay Dunn caught up with the coach at his favourite record store in Memphis, Tennessee where he talked about his massive album collection and improving the lives of children through music.

By Lindsay Dunn

For the average tourist, it looked like business as usual on November 24th in a record store in downtown Memphis. What they didn’t know is that Memphis Music was staying open a little later for a special customer who was going to walk through the front door at any moment.

The store sits in the heart of Beale Street and is a popular location for touring musicians including Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant who is just one of dozens of artists featured on the stores’ Wall of Fame.

On this brisk night, just after 9 p.m. local time, dressed in a dark grey sweatsuit with his signature ‘NN’ logo hat, in walks Raptors head coach Nick Nurse.

He is greeted with a hug and a huge smile by Demetria Ragsdale who has worked at the store for more than 20 years.

“He is one of my favourite customers. His music tastes are all over the place though, he buys just whatever he is feeling. But he loves B.B. King,” Ragsdale told CityNews.

Nurse has been going to the store for almost nine years and often texts Ragsdale about music including the legendary blues musician B.B. King who called Memphis home for many years. Knowing Nurse’s appreciation for the King of the Blues, Demetrius had one of King’s relatives meet him at the store during one of his many visits.

“He was talking about B.B. King and he’s looking at some of his music, and I asked if he wanted to meet his granddaughter who I know. So I called her up and she came in and that was a big deal. She was happy to meet him, and he was happy to meet her.”

On Nurse’s visit to the shop earlier this year, he brought his 2019 NBA Champion ring for her to see.

“That was awesome! He said, ‘You got to see this!’ and pulled out a big box from behind his back with the ring in it. I got a chance to put it on my finger, it’s pretty heavy.”

Nurse makes it a priority to stop in the store every time the team is in town. He calls it his favourite record shop on the road.

“This is the original spot that I kind of started looking for records,” Nurse told CityNews.

You wouldn’t know the coach was near the end of a grueling six games in 13-day road trip if you saw him looking for records. He was at ease going through the different sections of music, even belting out a little of Tom Petty’s You Don’t Know How It Feels while his pile of future purchases grew bigger.

 

How big is his record collection? It stood just over the number of defensive rebounds former Raptor Kyle Lowry has (as of the end of November.)

“Ballpark, it’s probably about 3,500.”

His collection got a big influx recently.

Not one to name names, Nurse would only say the well-known Torontonian was a noted Jazz photographer. He’ll be adding a number of records to that collection after visiting record stores on one of the team’s longest road trips of the year. The haul includes: two Thelonious Monk albums, Earth Wind, and Fire, Muddy Waters & The Rolling Stones Live at the Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago, John Prine, and a couple of Prince records.

“Pretty good addition to the collection,” he says with a huge smile.

THE ‘HOLY GRAIL’

If you think you have seen the 2019-2020 NBA Coach of The Year excited after a bad call on the court, you should’ve seen his reaction when he saw the reprint of the infamous ‘The Black Album’ by Prince in front of him at the store.

“Why do you have this?” Nurse’s voice raised an octave out of excitement. “This album was one of his last or maybe his last with Warner Brothers. Right before it was getting ready to come out he had them all destroyed. It’s a long story but I didn’t know they produced a version of it. I mean, I saw some on eBay and how one of the originals that weren’t destroyed went for $35,000. This is just, wow.”

Of course, he bought the reprint of the album. One of the original copies of ‘The Black Album’ is the ‘holy grail’ record he is trying to track down.

“Supposedly there’s a few that the Warner Brothers execs saved, like maybe three of them in existence. I don’t even know what I would do, it’s kind of weird, I probably wouldn’t be able to open it.”

The youngest of nine siblings says his family, especially his five older brothers, greatly impacted his taste in music.

“My brothers had a downstairs stereo in our house and they would have Earth, Wind and Fire, Neil Young, CCR, and Grand Funk Railroad always playing. I always would sneak down there when I wasn’t supposed to and put on Earth, Wind, and Fire.”

The Iowa native’s journey to becoming a head coach in the NBA was unique and he continues to play by the beat of his own drum (or guitar, in his case). He is laid back, thoughtful, and when on the road, can be seen doing something most coaches in major league sports don’t do, carry around a guitar or keyboard on road games.

When asked about what songs he is working on now between drawing up plays for his team? “A bunch of stuff,” he says.

“On guitar, I’m working on Wonderful Tonight by Clapton, Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd and also have a couple of Blues songs that I’m working on as well, Sweet Home Chicago, and John Lee Hooker’s Boom, Boom.

Pretty impressive songs to tackle considering he only picked up the guitar a few years ago. As for his piano skills, when he was younger his mother ‘forced’ him to take lessons, but he was too busy playing sports and couldn’t be bothered going to them. Something the 54-year-old now admits he regrets.

“I play about every day now and I’m learning the new Arkells song A Little More.

The coach is a huge Prince fan so of course, he is also trying to tackle one of the High Priest of Pop’s songs on the ivories.

“I’m working on my seven thousandth version of Purple Rain on the piano. I found another little obscure recording of it. It’s like a 1983 recording before it was even out of Prince messing around on the piano and singing it. I had somebody at the University of Toronto transcribe the notes for me so I’m working on that.”

Seeing Prince play until 2:30 a.m. in Minneapolis when Nurse was a teenager was just one of the most memorable music moments in the junior guitar player’s life. He also was in London, England, and saw one of Eric Clapton’s 24-night shows in the early ’90s at the Royal Albert Hall.

SETTING THE FOUNDATION

Nurse, who preaches fundamentals in basketball, understands just how important it is to make sure kids have access to instruments in their youth and it’s why he created the Nick Nurse Foundation in 2020.

“I want to get an instrument in kid’s hands, get them some lessons, get them a teacher, get them playing, whether it’s a guitar or a piano or the drums or a DJ thing or vocal lessons or whatever it is, so they can be involved and have the joy of music and have fun.”

The foundation has three pillars: Music, Sport, and Literary. Just shy of celebrating its two-year anniversary, the foundation has held basketball camps, donated meals, and made sizeable donations to local music programs.

“I just really strongly believe that music should be a big part of everybody’s life. And if we can help them get started, who knows what amazing things can happen?”

“Five years from now, I want some of these kids that we’ve put musical instruments in their hands, I want them to come back with their band and I want to take them out to Budweiser Stage, and I want to let them play in front of a sold-out crowd. You know, things like that. And I want to give scholarships so they can see a track through education and music through university. Hopefully, some of those people will become teachers and give back again and just makes the whole circle go round.”

Maybe one day one of the recipients will get their photo on the wall of fame at the Memphis Music store beside Nurse’s.

The Nick Nurse Foundation will have several events coming up for youth in the community. To read more about the foundation go to nicknursefoundation.org

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