Stephen Donald Cummings (born 13 September 1954) is an Australian rock singer and songwriter. 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. 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.
Early years
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. 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". with Paul Hitchins on drums. 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. and top 20 albums with Don't Throw Stones (#9, 1979), Suddenly (No. 13, 1980) and Sondra (1981). peaked at No. 35 on the Australian singles charts in 1978,
Solo career
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).
For his fifth solo album, Good Humour, Cummings returned to his earlier dance and funk sound from his Senso album, 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, The Very Best of Toni Childs in 1996.
Steve Kilbey also produced Cummings' eighth studio album Escapist, released in September 1996, 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. 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 was 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.
Personal life
In March 2020, Cummings had a stroke, but partially recovered and began releasing work in 2023.|Bernard Zuel, The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 November 2001
Bibliography
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Singles
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Single
! col| Peak chart positions
! rowspan="2"| Album
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
! style="width:35px;"| <small>AUS</small><br>
|-
|| 1989
|| "A Life Is a Life"
| Best Male Artist
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 1990
| rowspan="3"| A New Kind of Blue
| Best Male Artist
|
|-
| Album of the Year
|
|-
| Best Adult Contemporary Album
|
|-
|| 1991
|| "Hell (You've Put Me Through)"
| Best Male Artist
|
|-
|| 1996
|| Escapist
| Best Adult Contemporary Album
|
|-
Countdown Australian Music Awards
Countdown was an Australian pop music TV series on national broadcaster ABC-TV from 1974–1987, it presented music awards from 1979–1987, initially in conjunction with magazine TV Week. The TV Week / Countdown Awards were a combination of popular-voted and peer-voted awards.
|-
| 1984
| himself ("Gymnasium")
| Best Male Performance in a Video
|
|-
References
External links
- Stephen Cummings fan site
- Stephen Cummings Filmography @ IMDb
- Stephen cummings Discography @ MusicBrainz
- @ Australian Rock Database
- Don't Throw Stones film