greatest australian singers...

[CRAZY-HORSE]

number 46: STEVE KILBEY



Steven John Kilbey (born 13 September 1954, Welwyn Garden City, England) is the lead singer-songwriter and bass guitarist for The Church, an Australian rock band. He is also a music producer, poet, painter, and co-owns and assists in the running of the record label "Karmic Hit" with his brothers John and Russell Kilbey.

Kilbey began his professional music career at 17 years of age, when he joined a five piece "cabaret band" called 'Saga' in Canberra, Australia. He then joined 'Precious Little', a rock band featuring future Church bandmate Peter Koppes on drums, followed by 'Baby Grande' around 1978 while he lived in Canberra.[SUP][citation needed][/SUP]
[h=3]The Church[/h]Kilbey formed The Church, together with Koppes, Nick Ward, and Marty Willson-Piper, in the late 1970s. After some success in their native Australia in the early 1980s, Kilbey and The Church went on to international fame when "Under the Milky Way", from the 1988 album Starfish, achieved success (Kilbey had co-written the song with Karin Jansson of Pink Champagne and Curious (Yellow)[SUP][3][/SUP]). "Under the Milky Way" appeared in the top-selling singles charts of both Australia and the United States (US) and in late 2011 Kilbey revealed that, at the time of the interview, the song was still used for television programmes and advertisements.[SUP][4][/SUP]
As an act of protest against the conduct of the Church's North American label Second Motion Records, Kilbey announced his resignation from the band in late 2012. The announcement was made on Kilbey's Facebook fan page following the receipt of an insufficient royalty cheque from the record label.[SUP][5][/SUP] Kilbey placed the incident in the broader context of the music industry:
[INDENT]it seems(tho its hard to tell) that the church might have brought in 30 or 40 grand ( i mean starfish alone brought in 6000 on itunes)…but the members of the group got 100 bucks each. i mean he couldnt give us nothing to he came up with 100 bucks each. i am insulted. i have decided to leave the church. this is not a joke. i will complete the current tour and then i’m done. i implore you all not to buy any records from second motion records. as you see none of it will come to us. same as it ever was.[SUP][6][/SUP]
[/INDENT][h=3]Solo work[/h]Kilbey has released 14 solo music albums, one EP and has collaborated on recordings with musical artists such as Martin Kennedy, Stephen Cummings and Ricky Maymi as a vocalist, musician, writer and/or producer.[SUP][7][/SUP][SUP][8][/SUP] One of Kilbey's early solo albums Earthed was released in conjunction with a fictional book of the same name that was also written by Kilbey (published in 1986); the album consists of instrumental electronic music and features another composition that was co-written by Jansson, "The Empire Mourns Her Sun Without Tears". Kilbey's solo albums have been released on various record labels, such as his own Karmic Hit label, North America's Second Motion Records and Melbourne, Australia's Rubber Records.[SUP][8][/SUP]
Alongside Australian artists such as Dan Kelly, The Herd and Archie Roach, Kilbey was one of the contributors to the 2007 Kev Carmody album Cannot Buy My Soul: The Songs Of Kev Carmody. Kilbey recorded a rendition of the song "Images of London" and also performed at the Sydney and Brisbane, Australia concerts for the album.[SUP][1][/SUP]
[h=3]Other projects[/h]Kilbey has founded numerous musical projects in addition to The Church, such as Jack Frost with the late Grant McLennan of Brisbane, Australia band The Go-Betweens—Jack Frost released its debut self-titled album in 1991 and released two full-length albums prior to McLennan's death.[SUP][9][/SUP] Hex, Gilt Trip and Isidore are other examples of Kilbey's musical ventures beyond his primary band


The Church's Discography

• Of Skins and Heart (1981)
  
• The Blurred Crusade (1982)
  
• Seance (1983) Rereleased in 2010 by Second Motion Records as digital download with additional tracks
  
• Remote Luxury (1984)
  
• Heyday (1986)
  
• Starfish (1988) Re-released in 2012 as 2CD version with previously unavailable tracks.
  
• Gold Afternoon Fix (1990)
  
• Priest=Aura (1992) Note: 2-disc version was released to include A Quick Smoke at Spot's: Archives 1986-1990 (collection of otherwise unavailable original tracks).
  
• Sometime Anywhere (1994)
  
• Magician Among the Spirits (1996) (Re-released as Magician Among the Spirits and Some with variant tracks).
  
• Hologram of Baal (1998) Note: 2-disc version includes bonus disc Bastard Universe (1 long jam track)
  
• A Box of Birds (1999) (covers)
  
• After Everything Now This (2002)
  
• Parallel Universe Remixes (Disc 1) and outtakes (Disc 2) from After Everything Now This sessions
  
• Forget Yourself (2003)
  
• Jammed (2004) - Instrumental (2 long jam tracks only)
  
• El Momento Descuidado (2005) - Acoustic versions plus several original songs
  
• Back with Two Beasts (2005)
  
• Uninvited, Like the Clouds (2006)
  
• El Momento Siguiente (2007) - Acoustic versions plus several original songs
  
• Shriek: Excerpts from the Soundtrack (2008)
  
• Untitled No. 23 (2009)
  

Solo Discography

• Unearthed (1986)
  
• Earthed (1987)
  
• The Slow Crack (1989)
  
• Remindlessness (1990)
  
• Narcosis EP (1991)
  
• Narcosis + (1997)
  
• Acoustic & Intimate (2000)
  
• Dabble (2001)
  
• Freaky Conclusions (2003)
  
• Painkiller (2008)
  
• Art, Man + Technology (2009)
  
• Garage Sutra (2012)
  
• Addenda One (2012)
  
• Addenda Two (2012)
  
• The Idyllist (2013)
  

[video=youtube;LSNGejPlTAo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSNGejPlTAo[/video]