Steve Cobby is a British producer,

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and DJ, based in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. He is best known for being part of

Fila Brazillia Fila Brazillia is an English electronica duo from Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, formed in 1990 by Steve Cobby and David McSherry. History Their early albums were released on Pork Recordings, also based in Hull: '' Old Codes New Chao ...

Career

After disbanding his first commercially released band Ashley & Jackson on Big Life records, he co-founded

with David McSherry in 1990. Together they released 10 critically acclaimed LPs and produced over 70 remixes for artists as diverse as

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

Black Uhuru Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae group formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru ( Swahili for 'freedom'). The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years, with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the mainstay. They had their most successful per ...

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977. They have released a string of hit singles, becoming best known internationally for "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the '' Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United St ...

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...

and

Moloko Moloko () were an Irish-English electronic music duo formed in Sheffield, England, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of electronica and dance music, they are best known for their UK top 10 sin ...

. He formed

Pork Recordings Pork Recordings is a record label based in Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, England, that specialises in electronica, mostly in the downtempo or chill-out styles. Formed in the early 1990s by David "Porky" Brennand and Steve Cobby, its mo ...

with David Brennand in 1990 then 23 Records in 1999 with Sim Lister and David McSherry and finally Steel Tiger Records in 2006 with Lister. More of an umbrella for his various projects than a label per se. His other writing and production collaborations include Heights of Abraham; J*S*T*A*R*S and The Cutler. He has released three solo albums as The Solid Doctor: ''How About Some Ether'' and ''Beats Means Highs''. A third, entitled ''Saudade'' was released on his own imprint Déclassé in March 2014. Numerous remixes, from

Harold Budd Harold Montgomory Budd (May 24, 1936December 8, 2020) was an American composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, he became a respected composer in the minimalist and avant-garde scene of Southern California in the ...

and Theoretics to

Jon Kennedy Jon Kennedy is a drummer and electronic musician who was born in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, England. He was discovered in 2000 when he passed a demo CD to Ninja Tune artist Mr Scruff. Scruff played tracks from the CD soon after on his "U ...

and Yesking have been undertaken in a solo capacity. Fabric nightclub has played host to many Cobby DJ sets, and this was rewarded with an appearance on Fabric 18 alongside fellow Hull alumni Bobby Beige and Bliss. He co-produced Afghan Whigs front man

Greg Dulli Greg Dulli (born May 11, 1965) is an American musician from Hamilton, Ohio. Debuting as a member of the rock band the Afghan Whigs in 1986, Dulli has been a member of the Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, and in 2020 released his debut solo albu ...

's debut solo album, ''

The Twilight Singers The Twilight Singers are an United States, American indie rock musical group, band. The group was formed in 1997 by Greg Dulli as a side project during a hiatus from his group The Afghan Whigs. After the Afghan Whigs disbanded, Dulli used The Twi ...

'' in 2000 and co-wrote and produced ''Three White Roses and a Budd'' EP with

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flor ...

and avant garde American composer

. Cobby has worked with

Darren Emerson Darren Paul Emerson (born 30 April 1971) is an English musician, DJ and producer best known as a former member of the British electronic music group Underworld. Career Early life Emerson began mixing hip hop records at the age of 14, and by ...

on his solo album, in an engineering and writing capacity. His collaboration with Cabaret Voltaire’s

Stephen Mallinder Stephen William Mallinder (born 1 January 1955) is an English artist and musician who was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and went on to work as Sassi & Loco, the Ku-Ling Bros., Hey, Rube!, Wrangler, and Creep Show. Biography Mallinder ...

is under the guise of Hey Rube. Adam Regan from Different Drummer Records and Leftfoot promotions in Birmingham is also a regular collaborator. Cobby has DJ'd in many places around the world including Croatia, Sydney, San Francisco, New York and Tokyo. He has performed live in Europe, Japan and the United States.

Work

Production

Production, co-production and

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

projects include

; Afghan Whigs and

Film and advertising

(with David McSherry) his music has been used in films, including '' Riding Giants'' directed by Stacy Peralta - and adverts, including for

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

. As

J*S*T*A*R*S J*S*T*A*R*S is an electronic musical collaboration formed by Steve Cobby and Sim Lister in 2002, from Kingston upon Hull and Sheffield in Yorkshire. Their debut release was a 12" vinyl, "Tripping the Light Fantastic" / "Ickey Plush" on th ...

(with Sim Lister) his music has been used for adverts including for

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

and the

John Lewis Partnership The John Lewis Partnership plc (JLP) is a British company which operates John Lewis & Partners department stores, Waitrose & Partners supermarkets, its banking and financial services, and other retail-related activities. The privately-held publ ...

. In 2013, Cobby provided the soundtrack for the Hull '

UK City of Culture UK City of Culture is a designation given to a city (or a local area from 2025) in the United Kingdom for a period of one calendar year, during which the successful bidder hosts cultural festivities through culture-led regeneration for the ye ...

2017' bid film - ''This City Belongs to Everyone'', produced by Nova Studios. On 20 November that year,

, was announced as the winning.

Solo

Cobby releases mainly work under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s The Solid Doctor and J J Fuchs. In March 2014, Cobby released his first solo album for 17 years entitled ''Saudade'' on his own imprint Déclassé. He then released under his name ''Revolutions soundtrack'' (2015), ''Everliving'' (2015), ''Hemidemisemiquaver'' (2017), and ''Sweet Jesus'' (2019). Sweet Jesus is released digitally on May the 17h, without any marketing or promotion whatsoever, as a

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

exclusive.

Collaborations

* with David Brennand a.k.a. Porky to form

The Cutler The Cutler is an electronica collaboration from Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire. Formed by Steve Cobby, formerly half of Fila Brazillia, and David 'Porky' Brennand, founder of Pork Recordings, they play electronica and Dub music. Formed in 200 ...

; singles released during 2007 and 2008 included "Stiletto", "Pickaxe", and "Cinquedea". Debut album ''Cutler'' was released in July 2008 and the ''Black Flag'' EP in 2009. The second album release (September 2012) was ''The Best Things in Life Aren't Things'' with vocalists Andrew Taylor and Russell Morgan. The most recent release (10 June 2013) from The Cutler is their third album ''Everything Is Touching Everything Else'', with vocalists Isobel Helen, Andrew Taylor, Archie and Sheffield's alt-folk outfit

Little Glitches Little Glitches are a folktronica collective from Sheffield, UK. The group formed in 2004 after collaborating and writing together in previous bands. The founding members of the collective are Andrew Bolam (bass guitar), Gavin Harris ( dr ...

; all on Steel Tiger Records. * with

, a co-founder of Cabaret Voltaire, to form

Hey, Rube! "Hey, Rube!" is a slang phrase most commonly used in the United States by circus and traveling carnival workers ("carny, carnies"), with origins in the middle 19th century. It is a rallying call, or a cry for help, used by carnies in a fight wi ...

; first album release ''Can You Hear me Mutha?'' (October 2012, Steel Tiger Records) * with DJ Adam Regan, of the Different Drummer Soundsystem and Leftfoot, to form Chieftain; debut release ''The War Bonnet EP'' (2012, Steel Tiger Records) * with Sim Lister to form

; released ''Put Me on a Planet'' on Steel Tiger Records in 2006. * with Sim Lister and Jake Harries to form

The Heights of Abraham The Heights of Abraham is an electronica collaboration based in Sheffield and Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire in North-East England. Formed in the mid-1990s by Steve Cobby, Sim Lister and Jake Harries, they play electronica, ambient techno, a ...

; most recent release ''Two Thousand and Six'' on Twentythree Records in 2006. * with classically trained guitarist Rich Arthurs of Orgatronics to form 'Peacecorps'; released ''Bushfarmer'' on Steel Tiger Records in 2007. * with Richard H. Kirk to form Citrus. * with Djinji Brown to form NorthEastSoundSystem. * with David McSherry to form

; most recent releases the album ''Retrospective'' on Twentythree Records in 2006 and ''Neanderthal'' in 2007, also on Twentythree Records.

References

External links

Steel Tiger
– official site * *
Steve Cobby
at

Steve Cobby
performance at Harold Budd's farewell concert,

Brighton Dome The Brighton Dome is an arts venue in Brighton, England, that contains the Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange and the Studio Theatre (formerly the Pavilion Theatre). All three venues are linked to the rest of the Royal Pavilion Estate by a tunnel t ...

, 21 May 2005
Steve Cobby
article at

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was prin ...

Steve Cobby
biography on

Fabric (club) Fabric (stylized as fabric) is a nightclub in Farringdon, London, England. Founded in 1999 on Charterhouse Street opposite Smithfield Market, the club was voted World Number 1 Club in DJ Magazine's "Top 100 Clubs Poll" in 2007 and 2008 and rank ...

, London {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobby, Steve Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English pop guitarists English male guitarists English electronic musicians English record producers English DJs Musicians from Kingston upon Hull Electronic dance music DJs