Steve Gibbons (musician)

Steve Gibbons
Gibbons at the "Bardentreffen" Festival in 2009 at Nuremberg, Germany
Background information
Born	(1941-07-13) 13 July 1941 (age 76) Harborne, Birmingham, England
Genres	Rock
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter composer musician record producer
Instruments	Vocals guitar harmonica
Years active	1960s–present
Labels	Polydor MCA Road goes on forever.
Associated acts	Balls The Idle Race The Who
Website	stevegibbonsband.com

Steve Gibbons (born 13 July 1941) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, composer, and record producer.

Gibbons' music career spans more than 50 years.

Steve Gibbons started his professional life as a plumber's apprentice in Harborne. He joined the Dominettes by 1960 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 Bromsgove 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. 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. 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.