Steven Kilbey was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England on the 13th of September 1954.

Five years later the family emigrated to Australia, first living at Billabong Avenue In Dapto NSW, and later moving to Wollongong and then Canberra where Kilbey developed his interest in music, listening to The Beatles, Bowie, The Byrds, T-Rex, Easybeats, Russell Morris and Dylan.

When he was 17 Kilbey joined a Canberra 'cabaret band' called Saga and  then a group called Beyond Beavers. In 1974 he started working with Peter Koppes in a band called Precious Little. By 1975 they were going under the moniker Baby Grande appearing around town in full glam power-chord crunching hard rock mode as a vehicle for Kilbey’s nascent song-writing. They supported ACDC and managed to put down some demos for EMI. These recordings were put out as an album by the US label Hozac in 2018. You may have heard them played on Planet X. Surprisingly or perhaps unsurprisingly to some, they weren’t signed by EMI.   

Married and working in the public service as you do in Canberra Kilbey moved to Sydney by the end of the decade where he met Marty-Wilson Piper. Together with Koppes and Nick Ward on drums they formed The Church Of Man which was soon shortened to The Church.

There’s no doubt Steve Kilbey is a legend. It goes without saying that the respect for his talent is assured as singer, songwriter and bass player with The Church who released their debut album Of Skins and Heart in April 1981. The Church have released 25 albums and counting along with numerous compilations, EPs and singles such as The Unguarded Moment and Under The Milky Way which are rightly regarded as iconic eighties songs. Besides ever-circling Australia they’ve constantly toured internationally.

During that time and in between times Kilbey has remained relentless in recording numerous essential solo albums and side projects including The Slow Crack, Remindlessness and White Magic with Martin Kennedy of ambient instrumentalists All India Radio. The latest is by Steve Kilbey and The Winged Heels titled The Hall Of Counterfeits, a sprawling collection of 23 beautifully lush and melancholy cosmic pieces that require complete attention when listening, to fully appreciate the magnificence of the songs.

Text: Paul Elliott & Michael Helms