Bands 1968–75 Hillage was born in
Chingford, which was then in
Essex but is now part of
Greater London. Whilst still at school, he joined his first band, a blues rock band called
Uriel, with
Dave Stewart,
Mont Campbell and
Clive Brooks. The BBC performance is available on Oldfield's
Elements DVD. From August 1974 to February 1975 Hillage worked on his debut solo album
Fish Rising at
Manor Studios with the group, less Allen and Smyth, and contributions from others such former as Khan bandmate Dave Stewart. After a Marquee gig on 21 December, he left to set-up his own band, although he did contribute to the sessions of their next album
Shamal.
Solo 1976–79 For his first post-Gong solo work, Hillage and Giraudy relocated to
Woodstock, New York in May and June 1976 to record with
Todd Rundgren and his band Utopia on
L, which included covers of "
Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "
It's All Too Much" that became integral to his live set. The album was released on 24 September and spent 12 weeks on the
UK album chart peaking at #10. Needing to tour to promote the album, he put together a band with Christian Boulé (guitar),
Clive Bunker (drums),
Colin Bass (bass), Phil Hodge (keyboards) and Basil Brooks (synthesiser, flute). They debuted supporting
Queen at a free
Hyde Park, London concert on 18 September, He participated in the
Gong re-union concert in Paris as part of the trilogy band, a solo set and also accompanied Blake. He had met
Malcolm Cecil of
Tonto's Expanding Head Band who he felt may help in his pursuit of a new style and in July they entered the
Record Plant studio in
Los Angeles to record
Motivation Radio. A new band was put together with
Reggie McBride on bass and Joe Blocker on drums, although
Curtis Robertson Jr. took over bass duties for the live dates. The album was issued in September and the band toured through to November visiting Germany, France and the UK. Retaining his touring band, from December into February 1978 he recorded the album
Green co-produced with
Nick Mason at
Ridge Farm Studio and
Britannia Row Studios. For the supporting tour, he refreshed his band with Anderson (who had made an appearance on the album) being joined by
John McKenzie on bass and Boulé rejoining from the
L touring band. On 25 August, Hillage guested with
Sham 69 during their performance at the
Reading Festival, Hillage felt he was nearing exhaustion by mid-1978 so chose to reflect on the live shows that had been recorded and compile the album
Live Herald. With Anderson and McKenzie from the
Green tour, he recorded some studio sessions at the end of the year to be included on one side of the album, then promoted its February 1979 release with live dates including an appearance on
Rock Goes to College and a BBC Radio 1
In Concert broadcast. In January 1979, Hillage and Giraudy recorded the commissioned album
Rainbow Dome Musick at Om Studios, consisting of two side-long beatless instrumentals described as "a relaxing and pleasantly divergent journey through a sorted spectrum of instruments". The album was issued on 13 April and performed for the
Festival for Mind Body and Spirit at
Olympia London that month. Rainbow Dome was a concept created by Rupert Atwill. Stewart and Paul Francis joined, replacing Boulé and McKenzie respectively, and this line-up played the 1979
Glastonbury Festival. The group recorded
Open at Ridge Farm Studio in August with a guest contribution from
Jean-Philippe Rykiel. The album was released on 12 October followed by a tour of the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands through to December.
Producer 1980–89 During the 1980s, Hillage worked as a record producer, working for artists such as
Simple Minds,
It Bites,
Murray Head,
Nash the Slash,
Real Life,
Cock Robin,
Tony Banks,
Ken Lockie and
Robyn Hitchcock. Hillage also produced in the 1990s a
raï musical show called '
1, 2, 3 Soleils', featuring Algerian singers
Faudel,
Rachid Taha and
Khaled. He also arranged many songs of
Latifa. In November 2006, he made a surprise return to the Gong fold when he and Giraudy performed with (most of) the "classic era" lineup of Gong performing a set consisting almost entirely of material from the Radio Gnome Trilogy and
Camembert Electrique at the Gong Unconvention at the
Melkweg in Amsterdam. In January 2007, four of his albums –
Fish Rising,
L,
Motivation Radio and
Rainbow Dome Musick – were released in the UK remastered on CD, each, except the latter, with previously unreleased bonus tracks. In February 2007,
Green,
Live Herald,
Open and
For To Next/And Not Or followed, similarly remastered with bonus content. Hillage and Giraudy's participation in the Gong Unconvention was reprised in a small number of concerts held by Gong in London in June 2008, where Hillage and Giraudy were among the line-up which also included Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, and Mike Howlett. At these concerts, Hillage would often open the show performing "Steve Hillage Band" material, as he had at the Uncon. Hillage and Giraudy worked most recently on their 2009 album
2032 (which Hillage also produced), and has continued to tour with the band throughout 2009 and 2010. After the 2010 tour, citing musical differences, Steve & Miquette again parted ways with Gong. His next association with Gong was a guest guitar solo on the title track of their 2016 album "Rejoice! I'm Dead", their first album recorded after the death of Daevid Allen. Though no longer featuring any original members, the current lineup of
Kavus Torabi (guitar/vocals),
Fabio Golfetti (guitar/vocals),
Dave Sturt (bass),
Ian East (saxophone/flute) and Cheb Nettles (drums/vocals) had the blessing of Allen (along with the blessing of other surviving members) to continue using the Gong name. Soon after, Hillage made a few guest appearances at Gong gigs (sometimes being billed as
Gong featuring Steve Hillage), culminating in late 2018 with the announcement that Hillage & Giraudy had tapped the current lineup of Gong to be their backing band/opening act for a series of Steve Hillage Band shows in 2019. Continued touring plans for 2020, however, were halted in the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Hillage also collaborated with
Ozric Tentacles on the 2004 album
Spirals in Hyperspace. Hillage played live with
Hawkwind in December 2015 at The Coronet, London, and also played a one-hour set with
Dave Brock and
Tim Blake of the band at Hawkwind's Hawkeaster festival in
Morecambe, Lancashire at Easter, 2018. "Light in the Sky", from his 1977 album
Motivation Radio, was used as the theme for
The Sunday Night Project on
Channel 4. Hillage played on a cover of
Elton John's "Rocket Man" on
William Shatner's 2011 release
Seeking Major Tom. Hillage won the "Visionary" award at the 2013 Progressive Music Awards. ==Discography==