STEPHEN CUMMINGS

Stephen Cummings was born in 1954 in Melbourne and grew up in Camberwell. He was initially the vocalist for Ewe and the Merinos. In 1974 The Pelaco Brothers was formed, with Cummings on vocals, Joe Camilleri on saxophone and vocals, Peter Lillie on guitar and vocals, Johnny Topper on bass guitar, Karl Wolfe on drums and Chris Worrall on guitar. They played rockabilly, country swing and R&B that recalled American outfits like Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen and Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. Yet, the band's delivery presented a fiercely Australian outlook. Only existing for 18 months, they later included Ed Bates on guitar and Peter Martin on slide guitar, their posthumous releases were 'The Notorious Pelaco Brothers Show' a live six-track EP on the Ralph imprint (a completely different entity from the San Francisco label) in June 1977 and three studio tracks for the various artists release, 'The Autodrifters and The Relaxed Mechanics Meet The Fabulous Nudes and The Pelaco Bros', in June 1978 on Missing Link Records.

The Pelaco Brothers disbanded in late 1975, Camilleri went on to form Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Lillie formed Relaxed Mechanics, Topper formed The Fabulous Nudes, Lillie, Topper and Wolfe were all in The Autodrifters. Meanwhile Cummings formed The Sports in 1976 with ex-The Pelaco Brothers bandmate Ed Bates, with Robert Glover (ex-Myriad) on bass guitar, Jim Niven on piano (ex-The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band) and Paul Hitchins on drums. Their early sets contained covers of Chuck Berry, Billy Emerson, Don Covay, Company Caine and Graham Parker. Original songs, mostly written by Cummings and Bates, completed their sets.

The Sports' debut recording was the EP, 'Fair Game' in early 1977. A friend in London posted the record to the New Musical Express which declared it 'Record Of The Week'. Andrew Pendlebury (ex-Myriad) joined on guitar in August 1977 and assisted Cummings with songwriting. Cummings brought in Martin Armiger on guitar, vocals and songwriting to replace Bates in August 1978. The Sports had top 30 hits on the Australian Kent Music Report singles charts with, "Don't Throw Stones" (1979), "Strangers on a Train" (1980) and "How Come" (1981); and top 20 albums with, 'Don't Throw Stones' (#9, 1979), 'Suddenly' (#13, 1980) and 'Sondra' (1981). "Who Listens to the Radio?", co-written by Cummings and Pendlebury, peaked at #35 on the Australian singles charts in 1978, and was their only hit on the United States Billboard Pop Singles chart, peaking at #45 in November 1979.

 After The Sports had disbanded in late 1981, Cummings spent 1982 co-writing tracks with Ian Stephen (The Armchairs) and waiting out his contract. He released his debut solo single, "We all Make Mistakes / Accordion To Mao (Inspired By Ian Robinson's Print)" on Regular Records, in January 1983 and followed with "Stuck on Love / I Won't Give Up On Your Love" in September. Cummings' debut album, 'Senso', released by Regular Records in August 1984, was produced by former bandmate Martin Armiger, and recorded with session musicians including, Armiger, Joe Camilleri and Pendlebury from his earlier bands. 'Senso' spawned two dance pop singles, "Gymnasium" (July 1984) and "Another Kick in the Head" (October), with a non-album single "What am I Going to Do?" following in 1985. His second album, 'This Wonderful Life' released in September 1986, was a more personal and less busy recording, which was produced by Cummings and provided two singles, "Speak with Frankness" (July) and "Love is Crucial" (October).

Cummings dueted with Pendlebury (by then ex-Slaughtermen alongside Ian Stephen) on "She Set Fire to the House" with John McAll on piano released in September 1987. For his third album, 'Lovetown' released in January 1988 on Rampant Releases, Cummings formed Stephen Cummings' Lovetown (aka Stephen Cummings and Lovetown) with Rebecca Barnard on backing vocals, Mick Girasole (also in The Black Sorrows alongside Camilleri) on bass guitar, Peter Luscombe (also The Black Sorrows) on drums, Shane O'Mara on guitar and Pendlebury on guitar. It "was a very subtle, alluring, personal and mostly acoustic album full of conversational, narrative vignettes".

The album, produced by Mark Woods and Cummings, provided two singles, "Some Prayers Are Answered" in February and "My Willingness" in May. Cummings changed labels to True Tone Records for his next album, 'A New Kind of Blue', which was released in March 1989 and produced by Cummings and O'Mara. It spawned three singles, "A Love is a Life" in October 1988, "Your House is Falling" in February 1989 and "When the Day is Done" in July. The album provided Cummings with his only Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Award, winning "Best Adult Contemporary Album" in 1990.

For his fifth solo album, 'Good Humour', Cummings returned to his earlier dance and funk sound from his 'Senso album', using a backing band of Barnard, O'Mara and Nick Smith (ex-Kevins) on backing vocals, with additional session musicians from Sydney jazz outfit The Necks, and Robert Goodge (I'm Talking) on guitar, drum programming and co-production (for two tracks). The album, produced by Cummings and O'Mara, peaked at #40 on the ARIA Album Charts in March 1991. "Hell (You Put Me Through)", which peaked at #33 after its January release, was followed by a cover of Sly Stone's "Family Affair" and then "Stand Up (Love is the Greatest)".

Cummings has supplemented his income by writing advertising jingles: he co-wrote Medibank Private's theme "I Feel Better Now", with Goodge. Cummings' next album, 'Unguided Tour', produced by Cummings and O'Mara for Polygram Records, was issued in 1992 and provided three singles. Steve Kilbey of The Church produced 'Falling Swinger', Cummings' seventh solo album released in August 1994. The single, "September 13" appeared in July and is titled for Cummings' birthday, which he shares with Kilbey. Later in 1994, the Toni Childs and Cummings duet, "Fell from a Great Height", was released as a single, it later appeared on Childs' compilation album, 'Best of Toni Childs' in 1995. Kilbey also produced 'Escapist' in September 1996, which contained "countrified ballad `Everything Breaks Your Heart' to the psychedelic-tinged mantra `Sometimes'".

Also in 1996, Cummings published his first novel, Wonderboy, which deals with relationships especially those between a father and son. On 14 November 1998, Cummings and, a briefly reformed, The Sports performed at the Mushroom Records 25th anniversary concert. His next solo album, 'Spiritual Bum', had Cummings as record producer and was issued in June 1999. He returned to an acoustic, melancholic sound. Cummings also had his second novel, Stay Away from Lightning Girl, published in 1999, which described an aging musician and his band. 

In 2001, he released 'Skeleton Key' followed by 'Firecracker' in 2003, 'Close Ups' in 2004, 'Love-O-Meter' in 2005, 'Space Travel' in 2007, and 'Happiest Man Alive' in 2008. On 1 May 2009, his memoir, Will it Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy? : misadventures in music were printed, which his publishers described as a series of anecdotes from his childhood through thirty years of the music business and his family relationships. In October 2010, his 1988 album 'Lovetown' was listed in the top 40 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. In 2019, Cummings released his 20th studio album, 'Prisoner of Love'. A four-disc anthology album, titled 'A Life is a Life', was also released in 2019. In February 2023, Cummings announced the forthcoming release of '100 Years from Now' for 5 May 2023.

 

SINGLES
''We All Make Mistakes / Accordian To Mao (Inspired By Ian Robinson's Print)'' 1982 Regular 
''Stuck On Love / I Won't Give Up On Your Love'' 1983 Regular 
''Backstabbers / Hardly Working'' 1983 Regular 
''Gymnasium (#27) / Much Too Much'' 1984 Regular 
''Another Kick In The Head / Look Again Lovers'' 1984 Regular 
''What Am I Going To Do (#80) / Not Afraid'' 1985 Regular 
''Speak With Frankness (#83) / Ten Very Sad Songs'' 1986 Centre Records 
''Love Is Crucial But Money, That's Everything / The Things That I Have Done Wrong'' 1986 Centre Records 
''She Set Fire To The House / Country Joy'' [with Andrew Pendlebury] 1987 Cleopatra
''My Willingness / A Time To Kill'' 1988 Rampant 
''Some Prayers Are Answered / The Last Round Up'' 1988 Rampant 
''A Life Is A Life (#89) / Here Is Where The Sky Is Blue'' 1988 True Tone
''Your House Is Falling (#67) / Questions'' 1989 True Tone 
''When The Day Is Done / Who Listens To The Radio'' 1989 True Tone 
''Stand Up (Love Is The Greatest) / She Set Fire To The House'' 1990 True Tone 
''Hell (You Put Me Through) (#33) / I Promise Not To Come'' 1991 True Tone 
''Family Affair / Written In The Wind'' 1991 Polydor
"Stand Up (Love Is the Greatest)" 1991 Polydor
"Keep the Ball Rolling" 1992 Polydor
"Didn't Anybody Ever Say No to You" 1992 
"I've Got a Lot of Faith in You" 1993 Polydor
"Teacher I Need You" 1993 Polydor
"Whatever Love Is" 1993 Polydor
"September 13 / White Noise" 1993 Polydor
"The Big Room" 1993 Polydor

 "Fell from a Great Height" [with Toni Childs] 1995 Polydor

 "Sometimes" 1996 Polydor

"Taken by Surprise" 1996 Polydor
"Don't Talk to Me About Love" 1999 
"Wishing Machine" 1999 
 "When Love Comes Back to Haunt You" (Acoustic version) 2004 Liberation Music
"Carry Your Heart" 2023

ALBUMS
'Senso' (#46) 1984 Regular
'This Wonderful Life' (#69) 1986 Centre Records
'Lovetown' (#61) 1988 Rampant 
'A New Kind of Blue' (#53) 1989 True Tone 
'Good Humour' (#40) 1991 True Tone
'Unguided Tour' (#76)1992 Polydor 
'Falling Swinger' 1994 Polydor 
'Escapist' 1996 Polydor 
'Spiritual Bum' 1999 Festival 
'Skeleton Key' 2001 W. Minc Productions 
'Firecracker' 2003 W. Minc Productions 
'Close Ups' 2004 Liberation Music 
'Love-O-Meter' 2005 Liberation Music 
'Space Travel' 2007 Liberation Music 
'Happiest Man Alive' 2008 Head Records 
'Tickety Boo' 2009 Head Records 
'Good Bones' 2010 Liberation Music
'Reverse Psychology' 2012 Head Records 
'Nothing to Be Frightened Of' 2014 Head Records
'Prisoner of Love' 2019 Bloodlines
'100 Years from Now' 2023 Cheersquad Records & Tapes

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Cummings