Nikolai Philippe Fraiture (born November 13, 1978) is an American musician best known as the bassist of the American rock band The Strokes. Since co-founding the band in 1998, he has released six studio albums with them. Among other creative projects, Fraiture released a solo record under the name Nickel Eye in 2009 and has been the frontman of the band Summer Moon since 2016.
Fraiture was born in New York City to a Franco-Russian mother and French father. He was raised with his older brother Pierre and younger sister Elizabeth in the Yorkville neighborhood of the Upper East Side. Fraiture met future bandmate Julian Casablancas at the age of six while attending the Friends School[specify] and Lycée Français de New York, from which he graduated in 1997. Through Casablancas, Fraiture met future Strokes members Nick Valensi and Fabrizio Moretti while they were teenagers. Fraiture later attended Hunter College with Valensi.
Fraiture received his first bass at 16 when his grandfather gave it to him as a graduation present, but Fraiture gave it away to Casablancas and did not resume playing until two years later.

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