| Luke Steele | |
|---|---|
Steele fronts Empire of the Sun's performance at Wellington Square in 2008. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Luke James Steele |
| Born | 13 November 1979 Perth, Western Australia |
| Origin | Australia |
| Genres | Rock, pop |
| Occupations | musician, singer, songwriter, guitarist |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, slide guitar, saxophone, synthesiser, bass, mandolin, lute, percussion |
| Years active | 1998-present |
| Labels | Capitol Virgin Astralwerks EMI |
| Associated acts | The Sleepy Jackson Empire of the Sun Hathaway/Palmer PNAU Jay-Z, Kanye West |
Luke James Steele (born 13 December 1979 in Perth, Western Australia), is the vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band The Sleepy Jackson. Steele is also a member of the pop duo Empire of the Sun.
Contents |
The Sleepy Jackson formed in 1998 with the original lineup featuring Luke Steele (vocals and guitars), Jesse Steele (drums), and Matthew O'Connor (bass). This lineup recorded a self-titled debut EP and a subsequent single titled "Miniskirt." Both recordings were independently released. In 2000, as a result of non-musical commitments, Luke suggested that his brother should redirect his attentions and concentrate on other happenings in his life which ultimately resulted in Jesse following his advice and departing the band.
The void created by Jesse Steele's departure was filled by Paul Keenan (who later drummed with Eskimo Joe at their live performances). Along with numerous shows in their hometown of Perth, in late 2000 The Sleepy Jackson toured nationally with Jebediah. In March 2001, on the eve of the band's signing with EMI Records, the band toured with Magic Dirt and Motor Ace with Ronan Charles on keyboards joining Steele, O'Connor and Keenan. Five weeks into the tour, with the band broke, exhausted, and sleeping in caravan parks rather than enjoying the luxuries their touring partners were enjoying, O'Connor, Keenan and Charles quit, leaving Luke Steele to complete the tour solo.
Upon signing to EMI, pressure was soon placed on Steele to produce a recording. The result was the 2001 EP titled Caffeine in the Morning Sun, which Steele recorded in Sydney with a collection of session musicians. In addition to playing solo, Steele recruited drummer Malcolm Clark into The Sleepy Jackson fold and, when some serious touring was required in support of the release, the services of Justin Burford (guitar) and Rodney Aravena (bass) were enlisted. In addition to The Sleepy Jackson, Steele's three colleagues were also playing around their hometown with Jonathon Dudman under the name End of Fashion.
The Sleepy Jackson relocated to Sydney where they recorded another EP, Let Your Love Be Love, in late 2002. Songs from this EP and Caffeine in the Morning Sun were compiled together to form a self-titled mini-album for release in the UK market in February 2003. A period of extensive touring quickly followed, which saw the band playing in Australia, the United States, and Europe. The latter brought the band some very enthusiastic attention from UK music magazine NME. In between live appearances, The Sleepy Jackson worked on recordings that were to become their debut album Lovers. During a series of UK appearances in 2003, Burford and Aravena left the band. With a support slot for Silverchair's Diorama tour looming back in Australia, replacements were quickly sought. Clarke ironically called upon the only other End of Fashion member not previously part of The Sleepy Jackson, Jonathon Dudman.
The Sleepy Jackson released their second full-length album Personality - One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird in Australia on 1 July 2006, where it debuted at #10 on the ARIA Albums Charts the following week. Later that July, the album was nominated for a J Award by Australian radio station Triple J. With Personality's predecessor Lovers also receiving generous support from both critics and radio alike, the band supported the new album's worldwide release with a series of live appearances in select markets. Joining Steele and Clark were Dave Symes and Felix Bloxsom, who both worked on the album, and Lee Jones who was formerly in the Perth band Spencer Tracy. Bloxsom has since been replaced by Luke's brother Jake and Luke's wife Jodi, a.k.a. "Snappy Dolphin," which also brought a change from organic percussion instruments to computer samples backing the band.
In 2007, The Sleepy Jackson performed at the 2007 Big Day Out, the Southbound festival, the Falls Festival and the St. Jerome's Laneway festivals in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. Also in 2007, Luke provided slide guitar to the song "Waiting All Day" by Silverchair on their fifth album Young Modern. Luke also appeared on the Pnau single "With You Forever," leading Nick Littlemore to state on Pnau's website "...working with Luke Steele... it was amazing, that inspired [me] to work on a separate project with him all together. It's another album we're doing." Steele and Littlemore subsequently formed the electroacoustic pop outfit Empire of the Sun in 2008.
The Sleepy Jackson are heading back into the studio to record their 3rd Album, due out in 2012.
Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore met in 2000 after being introduced by Steele's A&R executive, Simon Moor,[1] in a bar in Sydney.[2] Both were at the time signed to EMI and had already been working on their own independent projects,[3] however they instantly became friends and almost immediately decided to begin a collaborative music project together.[2] Their first collaboration was "Tell the Girls That I'm Not Hangin' Out", which appeared on The Sleepy Jackson's 2003 debut album, Lovers.[1] The pair only decided to get serious about making an album in 2004 when Steele went to Littlemore's studio north of Sydney and began writing material together.
As Steele was living in Perth at the time and Littlemore was in Sydney for the next few months the pair independently continued to write songs for the project and organised meetings in Sydney where they decided on the album's musical direction and style.[2] Eventually the pair went into the studio with Peter Mayes to record the final material, all of which was entirely produced by themselves.[3]
After several months of consulting on the material for the album, Littlemore and Steele went into the studio to record their debut album. Titled Walking on a Dream, the album was released on 4 October 2008. Prior to its release six tracks were put up on the social networking site MySpace for fans to see.[4]
The album debuted at number eight on the ARIA charts and eventually peaked at number six.[5] Their first single titled "Walking on a Dream" was released digitally on 30 August 2008.[6] The single received airtime from many Australian radio stations and has since reached #10 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, breaking the record for the longest time taken for a single to reach the top 10.[7] It has also been released as a free single on 21 April 2009. The second single released off the album, entitled "We Are the People", peaked at number twenty-four on the ARIA Charts. In September 2009 this song was used in an American advertising campaign for Vizio televisions. The third single, "Standing on the Shore" was released on iTunes on 12 June and for general release on 23 June. The video was filmed in Lancelin in April 2009.[8] After an article released lately, it was announced that "Without You" will be the 4th single for Empire of the Sun. The video was filmed in FOX Studios in Sydney, Australia and has gained positive responses due to its changed tempo and amazing emotion. The single was released in late September.
Critical response to the album has been mixed, generating a score of 60 on the review aggregator Metacritic.[9] Martin Robinson in his review for NME described their debut as "silly but their songs demand to be taken seriously, just like Prince, Ultravox and Bowie. And yes, they're like MGMT – in that they're great."[10] Under the Radar also rated it favourably describing it as "a highly visual experience".[11]
However some critics were less satisfied with the pair's debut. Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian rated it 3 out of 5 stars, applauding the duo's unpredictability, but wished "they would calm down a bit".[12] Popmatters were also underwhelmed by the album, claiming "Unfortunately, despite the well developed '80s image, the music emulated is not anything worth reviving."[13]
In 2011 Beyonce released her fourth #1 album "4" where Steele contributed as background vocalist.
Steele is a member of a musical family. Steele's father, Rick, is a blues guitarist and harmonica player, Steele's sister, Katy, is the vocalist of Perth indie rock band Little Birdy and Steele's brother Jake, who joined The Sleepy Jackson in 2008 playing computer samples, and now plays keyboards for another Perth band, Injured Ninja.[14][15] Steele's other brother Jesse was an original member of The Sleepy Jackson.
In 2006 Steele became engaged to a magazine editor, Jodi (aka "Snappy Dolphin"),[16] who also joined The Sleepy Jackson for the band's 2008 national tour. In October 2008, the couple had their first child, a daughter named Sunny Tiger.[17]
Steele cites his musical influences as including The Cure, Elliott Smith, Paul McCartney, Michael Dempsey, John Lennon, Robert Smith, Brian Wilson, Carole King, James Taylor, The Four Freshmen, Kool And The Gang, Roger O'Donnell and Cole Porter.[18]
Luke has collaborated in a number of projects and with other bands. The first notable collaboration was the band Nations by the River which he formed with Ohad Rein (Old Man River), Edo Kahn and Dove Kahn (both from Gelbison) during a Gelbison/Sleepy Jackson tour in 2003. They released an album, Holes in the Valley, on 7 June 2004 on EMI.
While in New York in 2006, Steele contributed a track, "I'm Moving On," to Yoko Ono's 2007 remix album, Yes, I'm a Witch.[18]
Pnau feature Steele in their track "With You Forever", from their third album 'PNAU' released in October 2007.
Steele's father, Rick, is also a musician and father and son collaborated on an album released in February 2008, titled Through My Eyes.[15]
In 2008, Steele and Pnau's Nick Littlemore collaborated on a side project, Empire of the Sun, releasing the collobration's first single, "Walking on a Dream" digitally on 30 August 2008.[6] The album, Walking on a Dream was released on 4 October 2008.[19] Two further singles, "We are the People" and "Standing on the Shore" were released in September 2008 and June 2009. The B-side of the later, "The Art of Driving" features Steele's wife Jodi on vocals.
Steele also spent time in 2008 recording with Daniel Johns of Silverchair at Johns' home studio in Newcastle. Although no plans have been made to release the recordings as yet, it has been revealed that the collaboration has been named 'Hathaway/Palmer'.[20]
It kind of started out a White Album thing because we don't have a band, it was acoustics. And from there it kind of went a bit haywire. It's pretty pop. I guess it's quite low down, there's country songs...—Luke Steele[21]
In August 2008, Steele embarked on his first national solo tour, performing (in an intimate acoustic guitar mode) songs from both The Sleepy Jackson albums Lovers and Personality - One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird, as well as a selection of new songs from his current projects.[22]
Steele is featured on the first track, "What We Talkin' About", of Jay-Z's most recent album The Blueprint 3 released 8 September 2009.
In an interview with Sunday Times Steele describes his plans for the future.
I've definitely got a lot of recording planned for this year [2010]. I've got about 75 sketches of songs which I think are pretty cool. I need to get more serious with recording. A Sleepies within the year and an Empire record after that. At 60, I want to look back at a solid body of work. You want to be remembered as an inspirational artist rather than someone who pumps out pop things to get on the next magazine cover.—Luke Steele[23]
Steele co-wrote and co-produced the track "Rather Die Young" on American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles' 2011 album 4.[24]
The ARIA Music Awards of 2009 nominations were announced on 8 October 2009.[25] Empire of the Sun received the most nominations of any artist,[26] with a total of eleven. The winners were announced on 26 November 2009.
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Walking on a Dream | Album of the Year | Won |
| Highest Selling Album | Nominated | ||
| "Walking on a Dream" | Single of the Year | Won | |
| Highest Selling Single | Nominated | ||
| Best Video (directed by Josh Logue) | Won | ||
| "We Are the People" | Nominated | ||
| Empire of the Sun | Best Group | Won | |
| Best Pop Release | Won | ||
| Empire of the Sun and Donnie Sloan with Peter Mayes | Producer of the Year | Won | |
| Aaron Hayward & David Homer from Debaser | Best Cover Art | Won | |
| Peter Mayes | Engineer of the Year | Nominated |
ARIA AWARDS 2010 The Aria Awards 2010 nominations were announced on 28 September 2010. The winners are announced on November Sunday 7 November 2010.[27]
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Half Mast | Best Pop Release | Nominated |
| "Walking on a Dream" | Most Popular Australian Album (Fan Voted) | Nominated | |
| Accidents Happen Soundtrack - Luke Steele, Empire of the Sun and The Middle East | Best Original Soundtrack/cast/show album (Fine Arts Award) | Nominated |
The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).[28]
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "We Are the People" | Song of the Year[29] | Nominated |
| Luke Steele, Jonathon Sloan, Nick Littlemore – Empire of the Sun | Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year[30] | Won | |
| "Walking on a Dream" | Dance Work of the Year[31] | Won |
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