Steve Roberts
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Biography
Steve Roberts is a singer-songwriter from Liverpool, UK, described by The Guardian as an acoustic troubadour.
His first proper band 16 Tambourines was a sprawling affair that played gigs as a 3 piece (the ‘angry young men’ set) up to an 8 piece with brass, percussion and on occasions a didgeridoo. The band played pubs and basement bars that usually only allowed cover bands. “We practised in the middle of town at a place called The Ministry, were the Bunnymen and Teardrops used to rehearse when they were dead famous and heard loads of great stories about them that just frustrated us. Round the corner from The Ministry was a bar called Rudi’s and we used to drink in there a lot and shout at the bands doing ‘Alright Now’ and all that. Obnoxious we were, but we felt like we were on a mission. We kept saying ‘let us play’ and they did to shut us up. “One day a lad we had seen around came up and said ‘I can get you a record deal in 6 weeks’ and we were like ‘oh go on then’ and within 6 weeks we had a deal with Arista, home of Barry Manilow. It was like a Tommy Steele film or something.” The band released their album ‘How Green is your Valley?’ and set off on tour. “They sent us off with Hue & Cry & playing stadiums with Wet Wet Wet. It was all very weird. A tour with Squeeze was great though”. The band was dropped when Arista decided to concentrate more on dance acts. A couple of weeks later the drummer joined another signed band and that was the end of it.
His first proper band 16 Tambourines was a sprawling affair that played gigs as a 3 piece (the ‘angry young men’ set) up to an 8 piece with brass, percussion and on occasions a didgeridoo. The band played pubs and basement bars that usually only allowed cover bands. “We practised in the middle of town at a place called The Ministry, were the Bunnymen and Teardrops used to rehearse when they were dead famous and heard loads of great stories about them that just frustrated us. Round the corner from The Ministry was a bar called Rudi’s and we used to drink in there a lot and shout at the bands doing ‘Alright Now’ and all that. Obnoxious we were, but we felt like we were on a mission. We kept saying ‘let us play’ and they did to shut us up. “One day a lad we had seen around came up and said ‘I can get you a record deal in 6 weeks’ and we were like ‘oh go on then’ and within 6 weeks we had a deal with Arista, home of Barry Manilow. It was like a Tommy Steele film or something.” The band released their album ‘How Green is your Valley?’ and set off on tour. “They sent us off with Hue & Cry & playing stadiums with Wet Wet Wet. It was all very weird. A tour with Squeeze was great though”. The band was dropped when Arista decided to concentrate more on dance acts. A couple of weeks later the drummer joined another signed band and that was the end of it.
Tracks selected by this artist
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The Trouble with Me
2:49 -
Circus
4:23 -
Sweethearts And Swells
2:17 -
Little Bird
3:33
Tracks selected by this artist
Top Albums
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Shake It, Make It & Don't Fake It
103 listeners10 tracks
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You Have One
1 listener3 tracks
Released:
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A Song A Week
39 listeners5 tracks
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Going Forward In Reverse
2 listeners13 tracks
Released:
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