Stephen Black, better known by his stage name Sweet Baboo, is a Welsh musician. Before becoming a solo artist, he played with the band JT MOuse. Alongside his solo work, he has also played with many other artists, including

Gruff Rhys Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys (; born 18 July 1970) is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He formed ...

Cate Le Bon Cate Le Bon (born Cate Timothy on 4 March 1983) is a Welsh musician and record producer. She sings in both English and Welsh. She has released six solo studio albums, three EPs and a number of singles. Le Bon has toured with artists such as St. ...

Euros Childs Euros Childs (; Welsh: ; born 16 April 1975) is a Welsh musician and songwriter, perhaps best known as the frontman for the band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and—as of January 2019—the keyboardist for Teenage Fanclub. His sister, violinist Megan C ...

, Piney Gir and

Slow Club Slow Club were an English duo formed in Sheffield in 2006. The band consisted of multi-instrumentalists Charles Watson and Rebecca Lucy Taylor, with Watson contributing piano, Taylor contributing drums, and both performing guitar and vocals. ...

. He is bilingual in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

and English but usually sings in English.

Career

Sweet Baboo's earliest musical influences were fellow Welsh musicians such as

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciar ...

and

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were a psychedelic folk and alternative rock band which formed in Carmarthen, Wales, in 1991. The group performed music in both Welsh and English, and they had eight Top 75 singles on the UK Singles Chart during their car ...

. Later influences have included

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

, Dire Straits, Squeeze and Jonathan Richman. His musical style has been described as a mix of

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

and psychedelic – idiosyncratic, with a skill for writing darkly funny to piercingly tender lyrics. Sweet Baboo has performed extensively at festivals such as

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

, Festival N°6 and

Latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

; he's been a regular performer at the

Green Man Festival The Green Man Festival is an independent music, science and arts festival held annually in mid-August in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Green Man has evolved into a 25,000 capacity week long event, showcasing predominantly live music (in particular ...

. He has worked with

and

H. Hawkline Huw Evans (born 15 March 1985), also known as H. Hawkline, is a Welsh singer-songwriter and radio and television presenter based in Cardiff. He also lived and worked in Los Angeles for several years. He performs in both English and Welsh languag ...

, and has also performed with and produced

, The Pictish Trail, The Voluntary Butler Scheme and

Islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanen ...

, and collaborated with

. Sweet Baboo's album ''I'm a Dancer / Songs about Sleepin was nominated for the first

Welsh Music Prize The Welsh Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from Wales, as voted for by members of the music industry. It was founded by music promoter John Rostron and radio presenter Huw Stephens in 2011. It was originally schedul ...

in 2011. Sweet Baboo launched single "Let's Go Swimming Wild" in 2012 as a free download. After winning

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

's "Rebel Playlist" weekly singles competition on the

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. Early life He attended The Ramsey Academ ...

show, it was constantly played on the station, hourly on the hour. "If I Died...", the second single from his upcoming album, was released in March 2013 to much critical acclaim. To celebrate that month's

St. David's Day Saint David's Day ( cy, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant or ; ), or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD. The feast has been regularly celebrat ...

, a Welsh-language version of the song (co-written with H. Hawkline) was released online. The third single from the album, "C'Mon Let's Mosh", was released in July 2013, having also won the 6 Music "Rebel Playlist" competition in June. The album ''Ships'' was released in April 2013 on

Moshi Moshi Records Moshi Moshi Records is a small London-based record label founded in 1998 by Adrian Pike, Michael McClatchey and Stephen Bass. The label has released music by bands including Lykke Li, Fimber Bravo, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, Late of the Pier, H ...

. Sweet Baboo followed the release with his first headlining tour in the UK and also performed solo shows and band shows in several festivals during summer 2013. Another headlining tour followed later in the year. The album was nominated for the

in 2013. On 11 November 2013, Sweet Baboo released an EP titled ''Motorhome Songs''. In July 2014, Moshi Moshi released a limited edition 12" vinyl collection of tracks recorded during sessions on

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...

's show on BBC 6 Music over the previous decade. The release was followed by a short series of performances named ''The Test Pressings Tour'' and a duo tour with The Pictish Trail. The duo returned to that set for a one-off performance at the 2015

, where Black also performed a full-band set (featuring The Mavron Quartet) and as part of the bands accompanying H. Hawkline and Meilyr Jones. In December 2014, Black contributed vocals to Mowbird's ''Lady Lion'' EP on Shape Records. He also played saxophone on the track "Lady Low" from Teleman's 2014 debut album. His following album, ''The Boombox Ballads'', was released in August 2015, again on Moshi Moshi. The track "You Got Me Time Keeping" features Tender Prey (Laura Bryon) on vocals. In March 2016, he released an EP, ''Dennis'', which featured unreleased tracks from the recordings of ''The Boombox Ballads'' and two covers, one of them of a

Dennis Wilson Dennis Carl Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983) was an American musician, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys. He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson. ...

track. Sweet Baboo's next album, ''Wild Imagination'', was released in June 2017 on Moshi Moshi. In October 2017 the album was nominated for the 2016–2017

. Black, collaborating with musician Paul Jones, released two albums under the nam
Group Listening
''Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works Vol.1'' (2018) and ''Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works Vol. 2'' (2022). In October 2022, Black announced a new Sweet Baboo album - the first new music from this project in five years. ''The Wreckage'' was released in January 2023 on Black's own label Amazing Tapes from Canton.

Personal life

Black was born in Bethesda in north Wales, grew up in

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

and

Trefriw Trefriw () is a village and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, Wales. It lies on the river Crafnant in North Wales, a few miles south of the site of the Roman Britain, Roman castra, fort of Canovium, sited at Caerhun. At the l ...

, and has been living in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

since he was 18. He studied music at the

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama , image_name = Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.jpg , image_size = , motto = , established = 1949 , type = Public , staff = , vice_chancellor = , students = 779 (2017/18) , undergrad ...

. His brothe
David
has played on some of his recordings. He is close friends with fellow musicians

and

and often performs in their accompanying bands. The three, along with musician R. Seiliog (Robin Edwards), also briefly played together as post-rock band Means Heinz. Black married his longtime girlfriend Bronwen in October 2013; they live with their son (born 2014) in Cardiff.

Solo discography

Albums

* ''The Mighty Baboo'' (2008) * ''Hello Wave'' (2009) * ''I'm a Dancer / Songs about Sleeping'' (vinyl 2011; CD 2014) * ''Ships'' (2013) * ''The Marc Riley BBC Sessions'' (2014) * ''The Boombox Ballads'' (2015) * ''Wild Imagination'' (2017) * ''The Vending Machine Project'' (vinyl 2018) *''The Wreckage'' (2023)

EPs

* ''C'mon Let's Permoose'' (2004) * ''Girl Under a Tree'' (vinyl 2011; CD 2014) * ''Motorhome Songs'' (vinyl 2013) * ''Dennis'' (vinyl 2016)

Stand-alone singles

* ''Mountain'' (2006) * ''C'mon Beef'' (2007)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Musicians from Cardiff Welsh-language singers Welsh male singers Welsh rock musicians Welsh folk musicians Alumni of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Welsh guitarists Moshi Moshi Records artists