Steve Gibbons (born 13 July 1941) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and bandleader. His music career spans more than 50 years.
Career
The Dominettes
Steve Gibbons started his professional life as a plumber's apprentice in
Harborne. He joined the Dominettes in 1958,
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
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
fan, Gibbons' first performance with The Dominettes was at The California
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
near
Weoley Castle
Weoley Castle is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The area is part of the Weoley local authority electoral ward, and also comes under the Northfield local council constituency. The suburb of Weoley Castle is ...
.
Regular
music venue
A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...
s 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".
The Ugly's
By 1963, The Dominettes were renamed The Ugly's.
Eventually, the Ugly's were able to secure a
recording contract
A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...
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
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
did not sell well in the United Kingdom, but was a big hit on the national Australian
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
, reaching No. 14. 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
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
, as played by O'Neill. The record fell short of the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, 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
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
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
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 (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...
. Dave Morgan also composed the song "Something" which ended up as the
b-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
of the Move's chart-topping "
Blackberry Way
"Blackberry Way" is a 1968 single by British band The Move. Written by the band's guitarist/vocalist Roy Wood and produced by Jimmy Miller, "Blackberry Way" was a bleak counterpoint to the sunny psychedelia of earlier recordings. It nevertheless b ...
" single. Jimmy O'Neill left the Ugly's in 1968 to join
The Mindbenders and founding member Jim Holden also departed later that year.
[Birmingham Beatsters, Peter Frame's Rock Family Trees, ]Omnibus Press
Omnibus Press is a publisher of music-related books. It publishes around 30 new titles a year to add to a backlist of over 250 titles currently in print.
History
Omnibus Press was launched in 1972 as a general non-fiction publisher to complem ...
, 1980
Former Brumbeats guitarist Roger Hill (1 January 1945,
Erdington
Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Warwickshire and located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. It was also a council constituency, managed by its o ...
, Birmingham – 8 November 2011,
Good Hope Hospital,
Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...
) 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
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical a ...
.
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.
Balls
Gibbons teamed up with guitarist
Trevor Burton
Trevor Burton (born Trevor Ireson; 9 March 1949 in Aston, Birmingham, England) is an English guitarist and is a founding member of The Move.
Career
Burton started playing guitar at a young age and was leading his own group called The Everglad ...
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
Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...
(formerly of the
Moody Blues
Moody may refer to:
Places
* Moody, Alabama, U.S.
* Moody, Indiana, U.S.
* Moody, Missouri, U.S.
* Moody, Texas, U.S.
* Moody County, South Dakota, U.S.
* Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada
* Hundred of Moody, a cadastral division in South A ...
), and Ugly's' drummer Keith Smart.
The project was relatively short lived and after recording a solo album, Gibbons left the band in February 1971.
Idle Race
After the breakup of Balls, Gibbons returned to Birmingham from London to join
The Idle Race for three months in 1971.
This band rapidly evolved into the Steve Gibbons Band.
Steve Gibbons Band
![Gibbons Bardentreffen 15 7021](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Gibbons_Bardentreffen_15_7021.jpg)
The first line-up comprised Gibbons together with Dave Carroll and Bob Wilson on guitars,
Trevor Burton
Trevor Burton (born Trevor Ireson; 9 March 1949 in Aston, Birmingham, England) is an English guitarist and is a founding member of The Move.
Career
Burton started playing guitar at a young age and was leading his own group called The Everglad ...
on bass and Bob Lamb on drums.
The new band worked the pub and club circuits until 1975 when they were spotted by
Peter Meaden
Peter Alexander Edwin Meaden (11 November 1941 – 29 July 1978) was an English publicist for various musicians and the first manager for the Who. He was a prominent figure in the English Mod subculture of the early 1960s. He is sometimes referr ...
, former manager of
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
. This led to the Steve Gibbons Band joining
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
's management stable and recording their first
Polydor
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
album ''
Any Road Up
''Any Road Up'' is the debut studio album by The Steve Gibbons Band. The band were under The Who's management stable and recording this album was released by Polydor in 1976. This was followed by a tour with The Who in the UK, Europe and the Un ...
'' in 1975 (With
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician who was the bassist for the rock band The Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band's only member ...
of
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
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
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group because of creative differences shortly before his death in 1979. Surviving ...
,
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...
,
Electric Light Orchestra
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical a ...
,
The J. Geils Band
The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, harmonica and saxophone player Richard "Magic ...
,
Rufus, and
Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a membe ...
. In 1977 their second album, ''
Rollin' On
''Rollin' On'' is the second studio album by the Steve Gibbons Band.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Steve Gibbons; except where indicated
# "Wild Flowers"
# "Light Up Your Face"
# "Now You Know Me"
# "Mr. Jones"
# "Till The Well Runs ...
'' included their biggest hit single, "Tulane", a cover of a
Chuck Berry song, produced by Kenny Laguna.
The single reached No. 12 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and spent eight weeks in the Top 40. They performed the song live on Show 4, of
Marc Bolan's
Marc (TV series)
''Marc'' is a British television series presented by T. Rex's lead singer Marc Bolan. It was produced in Manchester by Granada Television for the ITV network. A second series was planned but Bolan died before it could be produced.
Produced ...
, broadcast on 14 September., 1977. 1977 also saw the release of the live album ''Caught in the Act''. The band made two further studio albums with Polydor, ''
Down in the Bunker
''Down in the Bunker'' is the third studio album by the Steve Gibbons Band. The album was produced by Tony Visconti. The reissue tracks were produced by Bobby Priden, who is best known for working with The Who.
The song "Any Road Up" did not app ...
'' (1978) and ''Street Parade'' (1980).
In 1981, after a change in personnel, The Steve Gibbons Band recorded ''Saints & Sinners'' for RCA,
and later responded to an invitation from the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
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
Heart Beat 86 was a benefit concert staged at the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham, England, on 15 March 1986. It was organised by Bev Bevan to raise money for Birmingham Children's Hospital.
Tickets for the sold-out concert cost £15 ...
which featured
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
. Nine more albums were released in the 1980s and 1990s, and the touring continued.
The Dylan Project
Gibbons formed the Dylan Project in the late 1990s. The trio covered
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
songs and played material by Gibbons.
Brum Rocks
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
Elo or ELO may refer to:
Music
* Electric Light Orchestra, a British rock music group
** ''The Electric Light Orchestra'' (album), the group's debut album
** ''ELO 2'', the group's second album
* ELO Part II, an offshoot band of Electric Light ...
),
Trevor Burton
Trevor Burton (born Trevor Ireson; 9 March 1949 in Aston, Birmingham, England) is an English guitarist and is a founding member of The Move.
Career
Burton started playing guitar at a young age and was leading his own group called The Everglad ...
(
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
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...
, Birmingham. They have two sons and a daughter.
Gibbons played in concert for the Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children in February 2011.
References
Other sources
* Laurie Hornsby: ''Brum Rocked! The story of the people and places that shaped Birmingham's role in the history of rock'' edited by Mike Lavender with foreword by Carl Chinn, Birmingham 1999.
* Laurie Hornsby, ''Brum Rocked On! The people, places and passion that drove 60s Birmingham on through rock 'n' roll's finest decade'' edited by Mike Lavender, Birmingham 2003.
* Stefan Pürner/Michael Vonau:''Steve Gibbons: Türöffner Ost – aus Birmingham'' (Steve Gibbons: Door opener to the East from Birmingham), in the Magazin ''GoodTimes – Music from the 60s to the 80s'', 5/2016 Oktober/November 2016
* Jürgen Wanda: ''Blackberry Way MOVE, ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne und Steve Gibbons'', ISBN 3-92005781, Star Cluster Publications, Berlag U. Zimmermann, Balve 1996,
External links
*
*
Steve Gibbons biography
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve A ...
at
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
website
English subpage of a German website which gives a detailed overview on Steve Gibbons` careerSteve Gibbons Band Gig Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbons, Steve
1941 births
Living people
English male singer-songwriters
People from Harborne
Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands
The Idle Race members