Babybird are an English rock band formed by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Jones, who has been releasing music since 1995. While Jones' early solo work was released under the "Baby Bird" name, the altered "Babybird" was first used to distinguish the full band line-up that has changed often over the years. However, in recent years, Jones has recorded many of the Babybird albums himself, in addition to recording as a solo artist, and under various aliases including Death of the Neighbourhood, Trucker, Black Reindeer, Deluder, Arthritis Kid and others.

Stephen Jones started writing and recording songs at home and his first collection of these demos, I Was Born a Man, was released in July 1995 using the name Baby Bird. He formed a band in order to tour and promote this work. In 1996, Babybird signed to Echo Records and their first single was released in July 1996. Babybird were dropped from their record label in 2000 after their third album, Bugged, had poor sales. The band then split. Jones continued on his own, writing fiction, releasing solo work and created the score for the film Blessed (2004). In October 2005, the band reformed with three members and created the album Between My Ears There Is Nothing But Music, released in September 2006. They went on tour in November 2009 and then split again in 2013. After a number of Babybird releases on Bandcamp from 2015, Jones took the band back out on tour in late 2017 with a new line up. A compilation album Happy Stupid Nothing was released in 2019, featuring a selection of Babybird tracks from 2015 onwards.

Career

Stephen Jones was born in Telford, Shropshire and spent most of his childhood living in New Zealand. He studied acting at Nottingham Trent University, where he began writing songs and recording home demos as part of an experimental theatre group called Dogs in Honey. By 1994, Jones was based in Sheffield, where he had amassed up to 400 songs on 200 cassette tapes. At the urging of friends, he signed a publishing deal with Chrysalis Music, but efforts to release his music were turned down by several labels and A&R representatives, including Nick Beggs of Kajagoogoo. In July 1995, Jones self-released the first collection of these demos, I Was Born a Man, under the name Baby Bird. He recruited a band made up of Huw Chadbourn (keyboards), Robert Gregory (drums), John Pedder (bass) and Luke Scott (guitar), under the slightly tweaked moniker of Babybird, in order to tour and promote his work.

Commercial release

During 1995, two further albums of demo recordings were released under the name Baby Bird (Bad Shave and Fatherhood) and two in 1996 (The Happiest Man Alive and Dying Happy). Babybird were signed to Echo Records (a division of the Chrysalis Group), and the first authentic single, a full-band recording of "Goodnight", which had appeared in demo form on Fatherhood, was released in July 1996, becoming a minor hit in the UK Singles Chart.

The group's second single, "You're Gorgeous", reached number 3 in the UK in October 1996, and was one of the biggest selling singles of the year, going on to chart around the world. Jones has declared it is a feminist song. However, for its message, it presented a more commercial face to the public in comparison to Jones's earlier work, as well as in comparison to the rest of the material on the Ugly Beautiful album. Depp also directed the music video. The following year, Babybird released the album The Pleasures of Self Destruction.

In 2013, Stephen Jones announced via his Twitter feed that Babybird was no more. He launched his own site at Bandcamp, and released a number of albums under aliases such as "Black Reindeer", "Deluder", "Arthritis Kid", "The Great Sadness" and "Trucker".

In 2015, Jones started trading under the Babybird name again, reforming the band as a live unit in 2017 and in early 2019, toured as support to Dodgy with his new line-up. A number of Babybird tracks from 2015 onwards were released on 1 March 2019 as a compilation album Happy Stupid Nothing. Just a few months later, it was announced that another album Photosynthesis would be released in July 2019. As well as these, Jones has been releasing a prolific amount of new Babybird albums via Bandcamp, often selling them as unique limited edition CDs.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable"

!rowspan=2 |Year

!rowspan=2 |Album details

!colspan=2 |Chart positions

!rowspan=2 |Certifications<br /><small>(sales thresholds)</small>

|-style="font-size:smaller;"

!width=30|UK<br />

!width=30|NZ<br />

|-

|rowspan=3| 1995

| I Was Born a Man <small>(as Baby Bird)</small>

  • Released: July 1995
  • Labels: Baby Bird Recordings

|align=center| —

|align=center| —

|

|-

| Bad Shave <small>(as Baby Bird)</small>

  • Released: 5 October 1995
  • Labels: Baby Bird Recordings

|align=center| —

|align=center| —

|

|-

| Fatherhood <small>(as Baby Bird)</small>

  • Released: December 1995
  • Labels: Baby Bird Recordings

|align=center| —

|align=center| —

|

|-

|rowspan=3| 1996

| The Happiest Man Alive <small>(as Baby Bird)</small>

  • Released: 1 April 1996
  • Labels: Baby Bird Recordings

|align=center| 127

|align=center| —

|

|-

| Dying Happy <small>(as Baby Bird)</small>

  • Released: 27 May 1996
  • Labels: Baby Bird Recordings

|align=center| —

|align=center| —

|

|-

| Ugly Beautiful

  • Released: 21 October 1996
  • Labels: Echo

|align=center| 9

|align=center| 15

|

  • BPI: Gold

! FRA<br>

! GER<br>

! IRE<br>

! NZ<br />

|-

| 1995

! scope="row" | "Snake Caves" / "Baby Lemonade" <small>(as Baby Bird)</small>

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

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|-

|rowspan=2 |1996

! scope="row" | "Goodnight"

| 28

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|rowspan=4 |Ugly Beautiful

|-

! scope="row" | "You're Gorgeous"

| 3

| 28

| 46

| 74

| 16

| 22

| 17

|

  • BPI: Gold

|-

|rowspan=2 |1997

! scope="row" | "Candy Girl"

| 14

| 184

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|-

! scope="row" | "Cornershop"

| 37

| 125

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

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|-

|rowspan=2 |1998

! scope="row" | "Bad Old Man"

| 31

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|rowspan="3"|There's Something Going On

|-

! scope="row" | "If You'll Be Mine"

| 28

| 128

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|-

|rowspan=2 |1999

! scope="row" | "Back Together"

| 22

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

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|-

! scope="row" | Split 1 <small>(split single with East River Pipe)</small> <small>(as Baby Bird)</small>

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|

|-

|rowspan="3"|2000

! scope="row" | "The F-Word"

| 35

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|rowspan="3"|Bugged

|-

! scope="row" | "Out of Sight"

| 58

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|-

! scope="row" | Double A EP <small>("Getaway" / "Fireflies")</small>

| —

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| —

| —

| —

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|-

|rowspan=2 |2006

! scope="row" | "Too Much" / "Dive"

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|rowspan=2 |Between My Ears There's Nothing But Music

|-

! scope="row" | "Lighter 'n' Spoon"

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|-

| 2010

! scope="row" | "Unloveable"

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

| Ex-Maniac

|-

| 2019

! scope="row" | "King of Nothing"

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|rowspan="2"|Happy Stupid Nothing

|-

|2020

! scope="row" | "In Place of Love"

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|

|}

Compilation tracks

  • "Bad Twin" (on The Avengers OST, Atlantic Records, August 1998)

Promotional videos

  • "Goodnight" (1996, directed by Stuart A. Gosling)
  • "You're Gorgeous" (1997, directed by Stuart A. Gosling)
  • "If You'll Be Mine" (1998, directed by David Slade)
  • "The F-Word" (2000, directed by Rob Leggatt & Leigh Marling)
  • "Out of Sight" (2000, directed by Rob Leggatt & Leigh Marling)
  • "Lighter 'n' Spoon" (2008, directed by Philipp Pflüger)
  • "Unloveable" (2010, directed by Johnny Depp)
  • "King Of Nothing" (2019, directed by [RW/FF])
  • "In Place Of Love" (2019, directed by [Stephen Jones])
  • "The Greatest Thing" (2019, directed by [Stephen Jones and RW/FF])
  • "No Cameras" (2019, directed by [RW/FF])

References

  • Babybird on Bandcamp
  • Stephen Jones on Bandcamp