From early 1996 to the
end of 1999 Steve performed over 500 gigs in the United States, as lead vocalist
with the Little River Band, following in the footsteps of Glen Shorrock and John
Farnham. During those four years the band covered nearly all of the north
American states and included a short tour of New Zealand. The highlight for
Steve was doing the Today Show, with Katie Couric & Bryant Gumble in New
York City.
Here's a brief history of how Steve 'prepared' himself for accepting the
invitation to step into those VERY BIG SHOES!
Born in Liverpool, England,(home of ‘The Beatles’ and the ‘Mersey
sound’) and moving to Australia at a very young age, Steve developed a love
for music at an early stage in life.
When Steve was 10 his father bought him a guitar, (a very nice chunk of wood
with strings on it) from a local market and Steve was determined to learn every
Beatles song on record.
At the age of 13, he became involved in drama at school and started to write
songs for his original school productions.
His early compositions were released on vinyl to accompany the scripts which,
quite regularly, were performed by other schools around the country.
Later, he began performing live in various venues in his home town of Melbourne.
During this time a school friend scored a job as a sound engineer at a city
studio and Steve would record his songs using ‘down time’ sometimes after
gigs or starting Friday night and ‘surfacing’ early Monday mornings.
It was at this stage that a jingle writer (Mike Brady) heard Steve’s voice and
started to hire Steve as a session singer on commercials.
This was the start of Steve’s career as a session singer, which continues to
this day.
Being a songwriter
also meant that Steve had to come to grips with technology to produce his songs
and this led to producing songs for other artists.
As well as receiving numerous local
and international awards, many of his songs have been recorded by local and
international acts, (see CUTS
& RELEASES). They have been recorded/published/sold in the
United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Germany,
Hungary, Austria, Finland and Afghanistan. Many of his other compositions have
been used for everything from T.V. and radio commercials to T.V. themes,
underscores and feature films.
In order to survive in the music industry Steve has touched on every aspect of
the business.
He has honed his vocal ‘chops’ by performing live at thousands of venues
locally and internationally, on television, in the studio, and on radio.
He says, one of his highlights in the studio, was working on the soundtrack for
the Walter Matthau film ‘I.Q’ with Jerry Goldsmith.
Steve continues to work in all of these areas today and hopes to do so until he
cannot.
Over the years, Steve
has worked either in the studio, live or on TV or radio with, HEY……these
folks, Tina Arena, Mark Hunter, David Hirschfelder, Colin Hay, Ross Wilson,
Russell Morris, Jerry Goldsmith, Kylie Minogue, Joe Camilleri, Bert
Newton, Christine Anu, Anthony Warlowe, THE LOVERS, Renee Geyer, Tim Finn,
Archie Roach, Southern Sons, Brian Cadd, , Lisa Edwards, Andrew Strong, Bruce
Woodley, Judith Durham, Colleen Hewett, John Foreman, Bruce
Rowland, Peter Best, Cezary Skubiszewsky, Colin Buchanin, Sara Storer, Venetta
Fields, Lindsay Field, Karen Knowles, Linda George, Graham Lyall, Glen Shorrock,
WJAZ, ADORATION ON THE
GOSPEL TRAIN, 9 STEPS TO HEAVEN, Yothu Yindi, Kenny Loggins, James
Ingram, Olivia Newton- John, Chicago, Michael McDonald, Jon
English, Doug Parkinson, SOUTHERN SONS, Graham Goble, Irwin Thomas and a
very merry many more.
Steve’s television
work over the years has been very interesting and varied, including performing
on variety shows, lending his vocals to themes, to appearing in feature films as
an extra/musician.
Shows Steve has appeared on in some capacity are: Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Daryl Somers show, Good Morning Melbourne, Good
Morning Australia, In Melbourne Today, Ernie & Denise, Vizard, Numerous Good
Friday Appeals, Expo ’87, Numerous AFL Grand finals, Young Talent Time,
Halifax, Police Rescue, Mission Impossible, Sale Of The Century, Ray Martins’
Midday, Denise, G.M.A., Bert Newton Show, Numerous variety shows in Europe, The
Today Show (U.S.) Many variety and morning shows in the U.S (with L.R.B),
Sydney 2000 Olympics Ceremony, The Final ‘Footy Show’ for 2005 and
singing the national anthem at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Closing
ceremony.
More recently, Steve has been teaching Guitar and
singing at Swade Music Studios and is currently Choir Instructor at JMC Music
College in Melbourne.
Steve’s Style has been described as pop/m.o.r/radio friendly. Then again a number of artists have been quoted describing Steve as a ‘singers singer, comfortable in any idiom. Royt Then !