Editing Nicky Wire (section)

===Career===
Wire is a founding member of Manic Street Preachers and was originally rhythm guitarist but changed to playing the bass guitar after original bassist Flicker left the band.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thisisyesterday.com/ints/milesarticle.html|title=Miles Woodward: the man who could've been Richey | publisher=thisisyesterday.com |date=17 June 2005 |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref> He co-wrote the band's lyrics with [[Richey Edwards]] between 1989 and 1995, taking over sole responsibility following Edwards's disappearance.<ref name=Telegraph>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3514147/Richey-Edwards.html |title=Richey Edwards |publisher=[[Telegraph.co.uk]] |access-date=22 June 2009 |date=23 March 2009 }}</ref> Some of Edwards' lyrics were used on 1996's ''[[Everything Must Go (Manic Street Preachers album)|Everything Must Go]]'' album, making 1998's ''[[This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours]]'' the first album with lyrics by Wire alone. Wire remains the primary lyricist for Manic Street Preachers, though lead singer James Dean Bradfield has written a handful of songs, and the 2009 album ''[[Journal for Plague Lovers]]'' contains lyrics by Edwards posthumously used by the rest of the band. Wire usually plays [[Gibson Thunderbird]], [[Rickenbacker]], [[Fender Jazz Bass|Fender Jazz]] and most recently [[ESP Italia|Italia Maranello]] basses, one of which is a custom acoustic model made by request for the band's 2007 acoustic sessions.
[[File:Manic Street Preachers in London2005-7.jpg|thumb|Wire with Manics frontman, James Dean Bradfield in 2005]]
Nicky chose the pseudonym Wire because of his lanky, "wiry" frame (he is 6'3" or 191 cm). He often dons a dress or a skirt for his group's gigs<ref name="BBCR">{{cite news |title=Wire's Six Nations appeal |publisher=BBC |date=1 February 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/7221292.stm |access-date=17 February 2008 }}</ref> but has curtailed his flamboyance in recent years. Wire's cross-dressing dates back to his teens, when he would go to local pubs in [[Blackwood, Wales|Blackwood]] wearing a dress; he has, however, been keen to emphasise that he is not transgender. He partly attributes his attraction to glam and women's clothes to his very close relationship with his mother.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

Wire is notorious for his outspoken attitude and has been known to cause controversy in the press. He once stated during a 1992 gig, "In this season of goodwill, let’s pray that [[Michael Stipe]] goes the same way as [[Freddie Mercury]] pretty soon".<ref name="BBC2">{{cite web |title=Nicky Wire Interview |publisher=BBC |year=2007 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/manicstreetpreachers/pages/interview_070402_b.shtml |access-date=17 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713035421/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/manicstreetpreachers/pages/interview_070402_b.shtml |archive-date=13 July 2007}}</ref> However, he has since expressed regret for the remark; stating that it was misinterpreted and "didn't come out the way [he] wanted it to."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/rem-royal-albert-hall-london-802484.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220620/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/rem-royal-albert-hall-london-802484.html |archive-date=20 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Independent  | location=London | title=R.E.M. Royal Albert Hall, London | first=Simon | last=Price | date=30 March 2008 | access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref> Wire has noted that his band has taken "inspiration from [[Queen (band)|Queen]],"<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/manicstreetpreachers/pages/interview_2005.shtml | title=Interview with Nicky Wire | publisher=[[BBC]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821212504/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/manicstreetpreachers/pages/interview_2005.shtml | archive-date=21 August 2006}}</ref> Mercury's band, as well as being noted fans of [[R.E.M.]]'s earlier albums.

In November 2007, he was recruited as chair of the advisory board for the new commercial [[Xfm South Wales]] Radio Station.<ref>{{cite web|title=XFM South Wales License Application|work=OFCOM UK Regulator|url=http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/ifmapps/southwales/xfm.pdf|access-date=1 December 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080627132548/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/ifmapps/southwales/xfm.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 27 June 2008}}</ref>[[Image: Manic Street Preachers in London2005-6-crop.jpg|thumb|left|Nicky Wire on the Manics' "Past, Present and Future" tour]]