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Steve Gibbons | |
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 Gibbons at the "Bardentreffen" Festival in 2009 at Nuremberg, Germany | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 13 July 1941 Harborne, Birmingham, England |
| Genres | Rock |
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| Years active | 1960s–present |
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| Formerly of | |
| Website | stevegibbonsband |
Steve Gibbons (born 13 July 1941) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and bandleader. His music career spans more than 50 years.
Steve Gibbons started his professional life as a plumber's apprentice in Harborne. He joined the Dominettes in 1958, [1] to replace Colin Smith, who had left to join Jimmy Powell's backing group. Colin Smith later changed his name to Carl Barron and became the singer with The Cheetahs. An Elvis Presley fan, Gibbons' first performance with The Dominettes was at The California public house near Weoley Castle.
Regular music venues for The Dominettes in the early 1960s were the Grotto Club on Bromsgrove Street, and The Sicilia Coffee Bar in Edgbaston. The group by this time included many R&B numbers into their set and this style of music suited Gibbons' gritty vocals. Although the Dominettes had a rougher image than most groups at that time, and were sometimes hired to back strippers at some of the more seedy establishments, they attracted quite a following. Another regular venue for the Dominettes was the Firebird Jazz Club on Carrs Lane in central Birmingham and the group posted advertisements which read "anything considered".
By 1963, The Dominettes were renamed The Ugly's. [1] [2] Eventually, the Ugly's were able to secure a recording contract with Pye Records and the first release from the group in 1965 was an original song entitled "Wake Up My Mind", composed by Burnet, Holden and Gibbons. The single was advanced for its time and featured some socially conscious lyrics – very unlike the kind of material produced by most other pop groups of the period. The record did not sell well in the United Kingdom, but was a big hit on the national Australian chart, reaching No. 14. [3] John Gordon left in 1965, and was replaced by Jimmy O'Neill from a local band called The Yamps (he had also spent some time with The Walker Brothers). A second Ugly's single released the same year was "It's Alright". This one featured prominent use of a harpsichord, as played by O'Neill. The record fell short of the UK Singles Chart, despite the group's appearance on the television program, Ready Steady Go! to promote it.
Other Ugly's singles were released between 1965 and 1967 including a cover version of "End of the Season", a song composed by Ray Davies. This represented a departure from the Ugly's' previous records, as they had all been group compositions up to that point.
During this period, there were many personnel changes in the Ugly's line-up which included the departure of Bob Burnett and John Hustwayte. Bass guitarist Dave Pegg joined for a year before leaving to join the Ian Campbell Group. He was replaced by Dave Morgan from a local band called Blaises, and had also been a former member of Danny King's Mayfair Set. Dave Pegg was later in a local group called The Exception and from there, he joined Fairport Convention. Dave Morgan also composed the song "Something" which ended up as the b-side of the Move's chart-topping "Blackberry Way" single. Jimmy O'Neill left the Ugly's in 1968 to join The Mindbenders and founding member Jim Holden also departed later that year. [4]
Former Brumbeats guitarist Roger Hill (1 January 1945, Erdington, Birmingham – 8 November 2011, Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield) joined the Ugly's and stayed for almost a year, before leaving to join previously departed Dave Pegg in forming a new band called The Exception. Roger Hill was replaced by Will Hammond (from The Yamps) who stayed in the Ugly's line-up until the end. Jim Holden was replaced by drummer Keith Smart from Danny King's Mayfair Set. Keyboard player Richard Tandy, who also played on the Move's "Blackberry Way", joined in 1968 and eventually joined the Electric Light Orchestra.
By the end of 1968, Gibbons was the only remaining original member of The Ugly's. This final line-up also included Will Hammond, Dave Morgan, Keith Smart, and Richard Tandy. They recorded a projected single "I've Seen The Light" which was never released. [4]
Gibbons teamed up with guitarist Trevor Burton from The Move in 1969 and, by April of that year, they had formed a new group called Balls, along with singer/guitarist Denny Laine (formerly of the Moody Blues), and Ugly's' drummer Keith Smart. [1] The project was relatively short lived and after recording a solo album, Gibbons left the band in February 1971. [5]
After the breakup of Balls, Gibbons returned to Birmingham from London to join The Idle Race for three months in 1971. [1] This band rapidly evolved into the Steve Gibbons Band. [1]
The first line-up comprised Gibbons together with Dave Carroll and Bob Wilson on guitars, Bob Griffin on bass who was replaced in 1972 by Trevor Burton and Bob Lamb on drums. [1] The new band worked the pub and club circuits until 1975 when they were spotted by Peter Meaden, former manager of the Who. This led to the Steve Gibbons Band joining the Who's management stable and recording their first Polydor album Any Road Up in 1975 (With John Entwistle of the Who playing on a few tracks). This was followed in 1976 by a tour with the Who in the UK, Europe and the United States. Playing the concert arenas, they shared the stage with Little Feat, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Electric Light Orchestra, The J. Geils Band, Rufus, and Nils Lofgren. In 1977 their second album, Rollin' On included their biggest hit single, "Tulane", a cover of a Chuck Berry song, produced by Kenny Laguna. [6] [1] The single reached No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart and spent eight weeks in the Top 40. They performed the song live on Show 4, of Marc Bolan's TV series Marc, broadcast on 14 September., 1977. [7] 1977 also saw the release of the live album Caught in the Act. This band lineup made one further studio album with Polydor, Down in the Bunker (1978), produced by Tony Visconti. Steve made his last album with Polydor Street Parade (1980) this had a different band lineup after the breakup of the original band. Only Trevor Burton remained from the original lineup, with Robbie Blunt on guitar and Harry Rix on drums. [8]
In 1981, after a further change in personnel, Trevor Burton now on guitar, PJ Wright guitar, Derek Wood bass and Alan "Sticky" Wickett drums, Steve Gibbons Band recorded Saints & Sinners for RCA, [1] and later responded to an invitation from the German Democratic Republic to become one of the first western rock bands to tour the major cities of East Germany in 1982. Gibbons played at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986 which featured George Harrison. Nine more albums were released in the 1980s and 1990s, and the touring continued.
Gibbons formed the Dylan Project in the late 1990s. The trio covered Bob Dylan songs and played material by Gibbons.
Gibbons continues to tour with his band, and is also a member of the hit UK show 'Brum Rocks Live', along with Bev Bevan (The Move, ELO), Trevor Burton (The Move), Danny King, and writer Laurie Hornsby. The show toured the UK, and was produced and promoted by Brian Yeates Associates.
Gibbons lives with his wife Suzie in Edgbaston, Birmingham. They have two sons and a daughter. [9]
Gibbons played in concert for the Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children in February 2011.
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater. They started out influenced by American folk rock, with a set list dominated by Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell songs and a sound that earned them the nickname "the British Jefferson Airplane". Vocalists Judy Dyble and Iain Matthews joined them before the recording of their self-titled debut in 1968; afterwards, Dyble was replaced by Sandy Denny, and Matthews later left during the recording of their third album.
The Move were a British rock band formed in Birmingham in 1965. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their career the Move were led by guitarist, singer and songwriter Roy Wood. He wrote all the group's UK singles and, from 1968, also sang lead vocals on many songs. Initially, the band had four main vocalists who divided the lead-vocal duties among themselves.
The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham who in the late 1960s and early 1970s had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success. In addition to being the springboard for Jeff Lynne, the band holds a place of significance in British Midlands' pop-rock history as a link between the Move, Electric Light Orchestra, the Steve Gibbons Band and Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders.
Dave Pegg is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, primarily a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of folk and rock groups including the Ian Campbell Folk Group and Jethro Tull.
Colin David Tooley, better known as Carl Wayne, was an English singer and actor. He is best remembered as the lead singer of The Move, a group that he co-founded in 1965. He sings lead on several of the band's hits, such as "Curly", "Flowers in the Rain", "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", and "Night of Fear".
Band of Joy were an English rock band formed in 1966. Various line-ups of the group performed from 1966 to 1968 and from 1977 to 1983. Frontman Robert Plant revived the band's name in 2010 for a concert tour of North America and Europe.
Richard Tandy was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards was an important ingredient in the group's sound, especially on the albums A New World Record (1976), Out of the Blue (1977), Discovery (1979) and Time (1981). He collaborated musically with ELO frontman Jeff Lynne on many projects, among them songs for the Electric Dreams soundtrack, Lynne's solo album Armchair Theatre and Lynne-produced Dave Edmunds album Information.
Dylan Lee Howe is an English drummer, bandleader, session musician and composer. The son of guitarist Steve Howe with whom he has sometimes collaborated, Dylan is also noted for his work with rock band the Blockheads, in addition to his own work as a jazz bandleader and prolific session work with a variety of musicians. He was also the brother of musician Virgil Howe.
The Flying Hat Band were an early 1970s Birmingham, England rock act that, alongside Judas Priest, ranked as the Midlands' favourites to succeed. Despite not having released an album, the band proved a successful club act and eventually went on to support Deep Purple on one of their European tours.
The Human Instinct are a New Zealand rock band that has been active since the late 1960s. The band currently consists of Maurice Greer, Phil Pritchard (guitar), Joel Haines (guitar) and Tony Baird (bass). The band has had more than 25 members and has changed lineups several times since its formation under the leadership of Maurice Greer.
The Rockin' Berries are a beat group from Birmingham, England, who had several hit records in the UK in the 1960s. A version of the group, emphasising comedy routines as well as music, continues to perform to the present day.
Trevor Burton is an English guitarist and is a founding member of the Move.
David Scott-Morgan, 19 August 1942 is an English songwriter and musician.
Velvett Fogg were a British psychedelic rock band. Tony Iommi was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath. Their lone eponymous album was released in January 1969, and re-released on CD by Sanctuary Records in 2002.
Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band are an England-based soul band.
Richard Gordon Price was an English bassist who played with various Birmingham-based rock bands, most notably Sight and Sound, the Move (1969–1971), and Wizzard (1972–1975).
Jimmy Powell was a British soul and rhythm and blues singer who recorded and performed throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, and is best remembered as the lead singer of Jimmy Powell and the 5 Dimensions, a group that briefly included Rod Stewart.
The Ferris Wheel were a British rock and soul band, who have been described as "one of England's great lost musical treasures of the mid- to late '60s" and as "one of the most popular club acts" of the time. They released two albums, Can't Break the Habit (1967) and Ferris Wheel (1970), the latter featuring singer Linda Lewis.
Any Road Up is the debut studio album by The Steve Gibbons Band. The band were under The Who's management stable and this album was released by Polydor in 1976. This was followed by a tour with The Who in the UK, Europe and the United States. Playing arenas, they shared the stage with Little Feat, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Electric Light Orchestra, The J. Geils Band and Nils Lofgren.
Birmingham's culture of popular music first developed in the mid-1950s. By the early 1960s the city's music scene had emerged as one of the largest and most vibrant in the country; a "seething cauldron of musical activity", with over 500 bands constantly exchanging members and performing regularly across a well-developed network of venues and promoters. By 1963 the city's music was also already becoming recognised for what would become its defining characteristic: the refusal of its musicians to conform to any single style or genre. Birmingham's tradition of combining a highly collaborative culture with an open acceptance of individualism and experimentation dates back as far back as the 18th century, and musically this has expressed itself in the wide variety of music produced within the city, often by closely related groups of musicians, from the "rampant eclecticism" of the Brum beat era, to the city's "infamously fragmented" post-punk scene, to the "astonishing range" of distinctive and radical electronic music produced in the city from the 1980s to the early 21st century.
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