Stephen Cummings

Stephen Donald Cummings (born 13 September 1954) is an Australian rock singer and songwriter.

Stephen Cummings was born in 1954 in Melbourne and grew up in the suburb of Camberwell.

He was the vocalist for Ewe and the Merinos.

The Pelaco Brothers formed in 1974, 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 "rock-a-billy, country swing and R&B which 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".

The Pelaco Brothers disbanded in late 1975.

Camilleri went on to form Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Lillie formed Relaxed Mechanics and Topper formed the Fabulous Nudes.

Lillie, Topper and Wolfe were all in the Autodrifters.

He was the lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from 1976 to 1981, followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but has had limited commercial success.

Meanwhile, Steve Cummings and Bates formed the Sports in 1976

The Sports were a new wave band formed in 1976 by Cummings and former Pelaco Brothers bandmate Ed Bates, with Robert Glover (former Myriad) on bass guitar, Jim Niven on piano (former the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band) with 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.

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 Extended Play on the Ralph imprint (a completely different entity from the San Francisco label) in June 1977 and three studio tracks for a 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 Sports' debut recording was the EP Fair Game in early 1977.

A friend in London posted the record to 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.

"Who Listens to the Radio?", co-written by Cummings and Pendlebury, peaked at No. 35 on the Australian singles charts in 1978, and was their only hit on the United States Billboard pop singles chart, peaking at No. 45 in November 1979.

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 (No. 13, 1980) and Sondra (1981).

After the Sports had disbanded in late 1981, Cummings formed a "part-time" band, A Ring of Truth, with Robert Glover (also the Sports), Peter Luscombe (Tinsley Waterhouse), Wilbur Wilde (Ol '55, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons) and Les Stackpool (In-Focus).

Stackpool was soon replaced by Peter Laffy (Mondo Rock).

According to Tharunka's Diane Livesey, "[they were Cummings] way of relieving boredom for a while and inflicting 'the modern face of cabaret' upon an unsuspecting public ... The only way to describe them is 'truly wonderful'."

By late March 1982, Cummings had left that group.

He spent the rest of 1982 co-writing tracks with Ian Stephen and waiting out his contract.

He released his debut solo single, "We all Make Mistakes" on Phantom Records, in December 1982 and followed with "Stuck on Love" in May 1983.

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" in July 1984 and "Another Kick in the Head" in October.

His second studio album, This Wonderful Life, was released in August 1986.

It was a more personal and less busy recording which was produced by Cummings and provided two singles, "Speak with Frankness" and "Love is Crucial".

In September 1987, Cummings dueted with Pendlebury on "She Set Fire to the House".

before releasing his third album, Lovetown in January 1988.

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 further singles, "Some Prayers Are Answered" in February and "My Willingness" in May.

It spawned three singles, "A Life is a Life" in October 1988, "Your House is Falling" in February 1989 and "When the Day is Done" in July.

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.

The album provided Cummings with his only Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Award, winning "Best Adult Contemporary Album" in 1990.

He has written two novels, Wonderboy (1996) and Stay Away from Lightning Girl (1999), and a memoir, Will It Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy (2009).

In 2014 a documentary film, Don't Throw Stones, based on his memoir premiered as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival.