Nash was born in Toronto, Ontario. He performed with surgical bandages covering his face starting in 1979. "During a gig at The Edge in the late 1970s to raise awareness of the threat from the Three Mile Island disaster, he walked on stage wearing bandages dipped in phosphorus paint and exclaimed: 'Look, this is what happens to you.' The bandages became his trademark." Prior to 1979, Nash performed three times on TV Ontario's "Nightmusic Concert", first as a solo artist (a live broadcast which was never re-aired), then with FM (Nash and Cameron Hawkins), and again as a solo artist. In all of these appearances Nash wore his typical black tuxedo, top hat, and dark sunglasses, but not his signature bandages. He was also photographed in this attire for a profile in the "Toronto Star", published April 28, 1978.