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Luke Steele | |
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 Steele performing in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Luke James Steele |
| Born | 13 December 1979 Auckland, New Zealand |
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| Years active | 1998–present |
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Luke James Steele (born 13 December 1979) is a New Zealand born musician, singer and songwriter. Steele is the vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band the Sleepy Jackson and is a member of the electronic music duo Empire of the Sun.
Steele was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 13 December 1979.[ citation needed ] His family then moved to Perth, Western Australia. Luke attended Yokine Primary School and Mount Lawley Senior High School. [1] Luke grew up in Jandakot with his sister Katy. [ citation needed ]
Steele is a member of a musical family. His father, Rick, is a blues guitarist and harmonica player. Steele's sister, Katy, was the vocalist of Perth indie rock band Little Birdy. His brother Jake, also joined the Sleepy Jackson in 2008 playing computer samples, and has played keyboards for the now defunct Perth band Injured Ninja. [2] [3] Steele's other brother Jesse was an original member of the Sleepy Jackson.
In 2006, Steele became engaged to a magazine editor, Jodi (aka "Snappy Dolphin"), [4] who also joined the Sleepy Jackson for the band's 2008 national tour. In October 2008, the couple had their first child, a daughter. [5] [6] In 2014, the couple welcomed a son.[ citation needed ] Steele is a devout Christian. [7] [8]
The Sleepy Jackson were established in 1998, featuring Steele on vocals and guitar, his brother Jesse on drums and Matthew O'Connor on bass. Both their self-titled debut EP and a subsequent single, "Miniskirt," were independently released. Jesse left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Paul Keenan.
In late 2000, the Sleepy Jackson began a national tour with Jebediah. In March 2001, on the eve of the band's deal with EMI Records, the band toured with Magic Dirt and Motor Ace, adding Ronan Charles on keyboard. Steele eventually completed the tour as a solo performer after the other band members left the tour and returned home. [9]
In 2001, EMI released Caffeine in the Morning Sun, [10] which Steele recorded in Sydney with session musicians. In addition to playing solo shows, Steele recruited Malcolm Clark (drums), Justin Burford (guitar) and Rodney Aravena (bass). The Sleepy Jackson relocated to Sydney, where they recorded another EP, Let Your Love Be Love (2002). Songs from this EP, and Caffeine in the Morning Sun, were compiled into a self-titled mini-album for release in the UK market in February 2003. The band toured extensively in 2003, playing in Australia, the United States and Europe. Between live appearances, the band worked on recordings for their debut album Lovers. By the end of 2003, Burford and Aravena left the band.
The band released its second album Personality – One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird in Australia on 1 July 2006. It debuted at Number 10 on the ARIA Albums Charts the following week. The album was nominated for a J Award by Australian radio station Triple J. Joining Steele and Clark on this album were Dave Symes and Felix Bloxsom, as well as Lee Jones (formerly in the Perth band Spencer Tracy). Bloxsom has since been replaced by Luke's brother Jake and wife Jodi, a.k.a. "Snappy Dolphin."
In 2007, the Sleepy Jackson performed at the 2007 Big Day Out, the Southbound festival, the Falls Festival and the St. Jerome's Laneway festival in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Also in 2007, Luke provided slide guitar on the song "Waiting All Day" by Silverchair on their fifth album Young Modern . Luke also appeared on the Pnau single "With You Forever", leading Nick Littlemore to state on Pnau's website "... working with Luke Steele ... it was amazing; that inspired [me] to work on a separate project with him all together. It's another album we're doing." Steele and Littlemore subsequently formed the electroacoustic pop outfit Empire of the Sun in 2008.
Steele and Littlemore met in 2000 when introduced by Steele's A&R executive Simon Moor, [11] in a bar in Sydney, Australia. [12] At the time, both were signed with EMI and had been working on independent projects. [13] The two became instant friends and shortly afterwards decided to begin a collaborative music project together. [12] Their first collaboration was "Tell the Girls That I'm Not Hangin' Out", which appeared on the Sleepy Jackson's 2003 debut album, Lovers . [11] The pair only decided to get serious about making an album in 2004 when Steele went to Littlemore's studio north of Sydney and they began writing material together.
Steele was living in Perth and Littlemore in Sydney. For the next few months, the pair continued to write songs for the project independently and organised meetings in Sydney to decide on the album's overall musical direction and style. [12] After several months of consulting on material, Littlemore and Steele went into the studio to record their debut album. Titled Walking on a Dream , the album was released on 4 October 2008. Prior to its release, six tracks were put up on the social networking site MySpace for fans to listen to. [14]
The album opened at number eight on the ARIA Chart and peaked at number six. [15] Their first single, titled "Walking on a Dream", was released digitally on 30 August 2008. [16] The single received airplay from many Australian radio stations and reached No. 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart, breaking the record for the longest time taken for a single to reach the top 10. [17] It was released as a free single on 21 April 2009. The second single released off the album, entitled "We Are the People", peaked at number twenty-four on the ARIA Charts. In September 2009, the song was used in an American advertising campaign for Vizio televisions. The third single, "Standing on the Shore" was released on iTunes on 12 June and then for general release on 23 June. Its music video was filmed in Lancelin in April 2009. [18] Following the making of this video, it was announced that "Without You" would be the 4th single for Empire of the Sun. Remixed for single release, its music video was filmed in FOX Studios in Sydney, Australia. Its changed tempo and emotion earned it an overall positive response. It was released in late September.
Critical response to the album was mixed, generating a score of 60 on the review aggregator Metacritic. [19] In his review for NME , Martin Robinson described their debut as "silly but their songs demand to be taken seriously, just like Prince, Ultravox and Bowie. And yes, they're like MGMT – in that they're great." [20] Under the Radar also rated it favorably, describing it as "a highly visual experience". [21]
However, some critics were less satisfied with the pair's debut. Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian rated it 3 out of 5 stars, applauding the duo's unpredictability, but wishing "they would calm down a bit". [22] Popmatters were also underwhelmed by the album, stating: "Unfortunately, despite the well developed '80s image, the music emulated is not anything worth reviving." [23]
The duo released their second album Ice on the Dune on 17 June 2013. [24] The album's release was preceded by a trailer directed by J. D. Dillard of Kelvin Optical, Inc. (a division of J. J. Abrams's Bad Robot). [25] Lead single "Alive" was released on 16 April 2013. [26]
Steele received global media attention following an interview with music publication NME at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, in August 2013. During the interview, he compared Ice on the Dune to Daft Punk's 2013 Random Access Memories , saying: "They had a great marketing campaign, but we’ve got better songs." [27] Steele was featured on Japanese-American Steve Aoki's album Neon Future I on the song "Neon Future".
In October 2014, Empire of the Sun headlined Sandance at Dubai's Atlantis the Palm [28] and in fall 2015 undertook a brief world tour. [29]
In February 2022, Steele announced his debut solo studio album, Listen to the Water and released its lead single, "Common Man", on 11 February 2022. [30]
Steele cites his musical influences as including The Cure, Elliott Smith, Paul McCartney, Michael Dempsey, John Lennon, Robert Smith, Brian Wilson, Carole King, James Taylor, The Four Freshmen, Kool and the Gang, Roger O'Donnell, and Cole Porter. [31]
Steele's first notable collaboration was the band Nations by the River, formed with Ohad Rein (Old Man River), Edo Kahn, and Dove Kahn (both from Gelbison) during a Gelbison/Sleepy Jackson tour in 2003. They released an album through EMI called Holes in the Valley on 7 June 2004.
The following year Steele provided vocals on a track on Paul Mac's album Panic Room . [32] While in New York City in 2006, Steele contributed a track called "I'm Moving On" to Yoko Ono's 2007 remix album Yes, I'm a Witch . [31] Pnau feature Steele on their track "With You Forever", from their third album Pnau , released in October 2007.
Steele and his father Rick collaborated on an album released in February 2008 entitled Through My Eyes. [3] Steele also spent time in 2008 recording with Daniel Johns of Silverchair at Johns' home studio in Newcastle, Australia. Although no plans were made to release the recordings, it was revealed that the collaboration was named "Hathaway/Palmer". [33] Steele described the project: "It kind of started out a White Album thing because we don't have a band, it was acoustics. And from there it kind of went a bit haywire. It's pretty pop. I guess it's quite low down; there's country songs." [34]
In August 2008, Steele embarked on his first national solo tour and performed—in an intimate acoustic guitar mode—songs from both the Sleepy Jackson albums, as well as a selection of new songs from his other projects. [35] Steele was also featured on "What We Talkin' About", the first track of Jay-Z's album The Blueprint 3 , released on 8 September 2009.
In a 2010 interview with The Sunday Times , Steele described his plans for the future.
I've definitely got a lot of recording planned for this year [2010]. I've got about 75 sketches of songs which I think are pretty cool. I need to get more serious with recording. A Sleepies within the year and an Empire record after that. At 60, I want to look back at a solid body of work. You want to be remembered as an inspirational artist rather than someone who pumps out pop things to get on the next magazine cover. [36]
Steele co-wrote and co-produced the track "Rather Die Young" on American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles's 2011 album 4 . [37] He also appears on Usher's song "Looking 4 Myself", from the 2012 album of the same name . [38] His vocals are featured on the Steve Aoki song "Neon Future" from Neon Future I as well, which was uploaded to the latter's SoundCloud profile on 2 October 2014. [39]
Steele teamed up with Daniel Johns of Silverchair to form the band DREAMS, releasing the single "No One Defeats Us" on 16 March 2018. [40] The duo released their debut album No One Defeats Us on 14 September 2018. [41]
Steele was a guest vocalist on Kyle Crane's 2019 release Crane Like the Bird . [42]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| AUS [43] | ||
| Listen to the Water [44] |
| 46 |
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Neon Future" (with Steve Aoki) | 2015 | non album single |
| "When We Were Young" (with M-Phazes) | 2018 | |
| "Common Man" [30] | 2022 | Listen to the Water |
| "Running, Running" [45] |
The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). [46]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "We Are the People" | Song of the Year [47] | Nominated |
| Luke Steele, Jonathon Sloan, Nick Littlemore – Empire of the Sun | Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year [48] | Won | |
| "Walking on a Dream" | Dance Work of the Year [49] | Won | |
| 2014 | "Alive" | Song of the Year [50] | Shortlisted |
| Dance Work of the Year [51] | Nominated |
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Luke Steele, Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes – Ask That God | Best Engineered Release | Nominated | [52] |
| Best Produced Release | Nominated |
Daniel Paul Johns is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociatives with Paul Mac and one half of Dreams with Luke Steele. On March 13, 2015 Johns released his first solo EP Aerial Love and on March 22, 2015, he released his first solo LP Talk in 2015. Johns' second solo album FutureNever was released on 22 April 2022.
Little Birdy was an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia, in 2002 by singer and guitarist Katy Steele, drummer Matt Chequer, guitarist and keyboardist Simon Leach, and bass guitarist Scott O'Donoghue. They gained public attention when their single "Relapse" gained popularity on alternative radio stations such as Triple J, leading them to be signed by the record label Eleven: A Music Company. They released three studio albums, two EPs, and ten singles.
Pnau is an Australian dance music trio originating from Sydney. The trio, a duo before 2016, consists of the musicians Nick Littlemore, Peter Mayes and Sam Littlemore (production), with the latter joining in 2016. Pnau first gained recognition through their 1999 debut album Sambanova, which later won an ARIA Music Awards for Best Dance Release. Their third album, Pnau (2007), brought them further critical acclaim and success. Pnau is also recognised for a heavily publicised apprenticeship under the musician Elton John, who signed the duo after listening to the Pnau album. Several of Pnau's later projects have had John's involvement, such as the album Soft Universe and an album of Pnau recreations of Elton John's hits called Good Morning to the Night.
Nicholas George Littlemore is an Australian musician, record producer, singer, songwriter and tour manager. As a musician, he is the frontman of the electronic project Pnau, an ex-member of the art-rock band Teenager and one part of the electro pop-duo Empire of the Sun. As a record producer, he has worked with Elton John, Lover Lover, Groove Armada and Mika. From late 2009, Littlemore had worked with the Cirque Du Soleil as a composer and musical director for the touring arena show Zarkana, which debuted on 29 June 2011. His older brother Sam La More is also a musician and record producer. In 2019, he and Peter Mayes launched the label Lab78.
The Sleepy Jackson are an Australian alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia. The band's name was inspired by a former drummer who was narcoleptic. The band revolves around the distinctive vocal style of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Luke Steele. Stemming from a musical family, Luke's father Rick Steele is a local blues musician, and two of Luke's siblings are also musicians, with brother Jesse a former member of The Sleepy Jackson, and sister Katy, who fronts another Perth rock band, Little Birdy. While a series of acclaimed EPs brought The Sleepy Jackson to a broader musical attention of Australia, it was the release of their 2003 album Lovers and 2006 second album Personality – One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird that directed significant international focus upon the band.
Suburban Kid is the debut solo album by the Australian singer-songwriter Kevin Mitchell, which was released under his pseudonym, Bob Evans. Mitchell is the lead vocalist of alternative rock group, Jebediah. The album was released on 8 September 2003 on Redline Records and was co-produced by Mitchell and Simon Struthers. YourGigs website described it as "an album of youthful introspection, love and loss". Jason Ankeny (Allmusic) felt the album was "showcasing a more intimate, roots-flavored dimension of his songwriting". All the songs were written by Mitchell, although "The Hermit" was co-written with Luke Steele from The Sleepy Jackson. Luke's sister Katy Steele from Little Birdy provided backing vocals for the album.
Sam Littlemore, also known as Sam La More,, is an Australian record producer, songwriter and recording artist working in Sydney and Los Angeles. Littlemore, a member of dance music trio Pnau, is best known for the international number one song Cold Heart by Elton John & Dua Lipa (2021) which he and fellow members of Pnau co-wrote and produced. He is also known for his involvement in the production of "What You Waiting For?" (2004) by Gwen Stefani, Pnau songs "Go Bang", "Chameleon" and "Changes" (2013) by Faul & Wad Ad vs. Pnau, "Can't Get Better Than This" (2012) by Parachute Youth, "High" (2013) and "Fire" (2018) by Peking Duk, "Don't Hold Back" (2007) by The Potbelleez and songs with Nellee Hooper, Rick Nowels, Nelly Furtado on Loose (2006), Arthur Baker, Pnau and Tonite Only. He has won multiple ARIA and APRA Awards.
Birds of Tokyo are an Australian alternative rock band from Perth. Their debut album, Day One, gained them domestic success, reaching number three on the AIR Independent Album charts and spending a total of 36 consecutive weeks in the top ten.
Kate Elizabeth Steele is an Australian singer, guitarist and songwriter of the four-piece rock band Little Birdy.
Phillipa Margaret "Pip" Brown, better known by her stage name Ladyhawke, is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She took her stage name from Richard Donner's 1985 film Ladyhawke.
Empire of the Sun is an Australian electronic music duo formed in 2007. The duo is a collaboration between Luke Steele, formerly of alternative rock band The Sleepy Jackson, and Nick Littlemore, of electronic dance band PNAU.
Walking on a Dream is the debut studio album by Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun, released on 3 October 2008 by Capitol Records. The album was produced by band members Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore, along with Peter Mayes and Donnie Sloan. It was recorded and mixed by Peter Mayes at Soundworks Music Studio in Sydney at various times throughout 2007, with additional recording by Chris Vallejo at Linear Recording, also in Sydney. In 2010, the song “Half Mast” was sampled on rapper Mac Miller’s song “The Spins”, which was featured on his breakout mixtape K.I.D.S..
"Walking on a Dream" is a song by Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun, released on 30 August 2008 as the lead single from their debut studio album of the same name (2008). The track was co-written by band members, Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore with Jonathan "Donnie" Sloan. The full Sam La More remix was made available as a free download on the band's official website.
"Standing on the Shore" is a song by Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun and the third single from their debut album Walking on a Dream. The single was released in June 2009, along with a cover of the Black Box Recorder song "The Art of Driving" as a B-side and features Steele's wife Jodi Steele on vocals. The B-side was originally recorded as the music for the advertisement of the new BMW Z4.
Old Man River is the stage name of Australian-Israeli singer-songwriter Ohad Rein, which is also the name of his band. At the APRA Awards of 2009, "Sunshine", co-written by Old Man River, won the Blues & Roots Work of the Year category.
Teenager was an art rock, punk dance band formed in 2004 by Nick Littlemore as a side project from his electronic dance group Pnau, and Phillipa "Pip" Brown on guitar.
"Without You" is a song by Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun, released as the fourth single from their debut album Walking on a Dream. The single was digitally released on the Australian iTunes Store on 25 September 2009. The CD single was released on 28 September 2009. The song was remixed for single release, making it more uptempo and upbeat.
Pnau is the third studio album by Australian dance music duo, Pnau. The album was released on 12 November 2007 on the independent record label etcetc in Australia and on the independent record label Pnau Records and Tapes on LP in the UK in 2009. The album peaked at 31 on the Australian albums chart and was featured at number 89 on the Triple J Hottest 100 Albums of All Time.
"Celebrate" is a song by Australian electronic music duo Empire of the Sun. It was released as the third and final single from their second studio album, Ice on the Dune, on 14 February 2014. It was co-written by the band's members Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore with Daniel Johns, Peter Mayes and Scott Horscroft. It was remixed by various artists and two digital remixes were released in February.
"AEIOU" is a song by Australian electronic trio Pnau and electronic duo Empire of the Sun. It was released as a single from Pnau's album Hyperbolic on 13 October 2023 through Etcetc. The song also appeared on Empire of the Sun's 2024 album Ask That God.
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