Be warned... This is a long biog!

DJ

With a passion for music and a relentless desire to entertain, Steve started a career as a DJ at the age of 17. For the next 20 years he successfully entertained the general public in Nightclubs and Discos, at Weddings, Birthday Parties, and Celebrations nationwide. He built the business, training and developing his own team of DJs, which eventually numbered over 30.

Music Retailer

At the age of 23, with his DJ business firmly established, Steve purchased a Record Shop in South London specifically to satisfy the needs of music buffs and DJs. It instantly became the retailer of choice for such future household DJ names as Carl Cox, Paul Oakenfold and Giles Peterson. If you’ve ever read Nick Hornby’s HIGH FIDELITY you’ll have a good sense of the environment. The shop successfully ran for 18 years until the high street shift towards non-traditional music retailing finally made the Independent Music Store a memory.

Corporate Entertainment

The natural progression for Steve’s DJ business was a company sourcing, organising and supplying the entertainment for Corporate clients… from organising parties for major London hotels and blue chip companies to a specialist programme of events in the Health & Leisure industry. Function Bands, Comedians, Casinos, Magicians, Circus Acts, Limbo Dancers, Kitten Jugglers, Murder Mystery Players, Scalextrix Experts and Hypnotists were just some of the wide array of talent that Steve contrived to employ during this time. From a grand wedding reception to a week long conference, party planning and activity organising became the focus of the business.

Entertainment Innovations

Steve was never satisfied with the standard entertainment options available to the general public and set out to find new ways to make people happy.

In the early 80s he developed a brand of ‘fun nights’ that ran in pubs and clubs across the South of England, bringing in trade to the food and beverage industry and brightening up the Tuesday or Wednesday evening of the locals. He also developed a pub quiz concept that still runs in many hostelries today.

Karaoke

On a trip to New York in the 80s Steve stumbled upon a bar that had just launched the Big Apple’s first karaoke evening. Quickly realising the potential, the following day Steve located the importer of the equipment, purchased what he needed and brought it home. Within a week he had started the first ever karaoke evening in the UK, based in the City Of London. In less than a month he had returned to The States to buy more equipment, more software and now had karaoke events running 7 days a week. Many others jumped on the bandwagon, quite naturally, but Steve is still proud to have run the first ever event in the UK.

Country Music Journalist | Broadcaster

As a country music expert, Steve became a writer and broadcaster in the genre and began to make several trips to Nashville and Texas to interview the stars and report on the events in country music. In the 90s he had his own syndicated radio show on UK Commercial Radio.

Promoter

in the 90s Steve was also responsible for bringing several US based Country artists to the UK for the first time. He is proud to have been the first promoter to book DALE WATSON, the ‘real deal’ Texan country singer / songwriter. He also toured the late KIMBER CLAYTON, a feisty Alabama powerhouse vocalist... and acclaimed fiddle player JOHN PERMENTER.

Line Dancing

Whilst visiting Nashville in 1992 to attend an industry event, the song that Steve couldn’t avoid hearing constantly on the radio was ‘Achy Breaky Heart’, which had inadvertently spawned a resurgence in line dancing across the US. But instead of a bunch of redneck hillbillies chewing tobacco in straw hats and dungarees, this new version of the dance was being performed by young and perfectly ordinary people in night clubs!

Steve realised the potential to import line dancing in this new, accessible form to the UK and along with his partner, ‘Rodeo’ Ruth set up a business which taught, promoted and marketed the new dance craze to the nation. It was a true overnight success and within one short month Steve was running classes and dances every week to over 5,000 people in a small region of Surrey and South London.

Seeing the obvious phenomenon that had arisen, Steve decided to raise the profile of the business to a national level and for the next 10 years line dancing became the main stay of his entertainment portfolio.

‘Rodeo’ Ruth and the Boot Scoot dancers appeared on almost every TV special from Children In Need, The Generation game, The National Lottery, to a host of daytime magazine shows and in 1996, at the height of the line dancing craze, Ruth became the regular instructor of choice on GM:TV.

The Bootscootin’ series of videos, hosted by Ruth and which Steve created and produced became Number 1 sellers on the Supermarket charts.

At the same time, Steve launched the first ever British Line Dancing Championships, holding events that attracted tens of thousands of people around the country. The finals were held at Wembley Arena with a sold out crowd fighting to get tickets.

Steve became the leading spokesperson in the country on line dancing and was courted by almost every record company who were keen to cash in on the craze. As a result Steve compiled and consulted on more than 20 albums that sold over 3 million copies between them.

During this period he also set up a promotions company aimed at marketing music to line dancers, promoted tours by some leading US based country artists including SHANIA TWAIN, THE DIXIE CHICKS and THE MAVERICKS. He co-produced radio and TV documentaries on the subject and most importantly of all, became the proud owner of 3 Stetson hats, 5 pairs of cowboy boots and an especially shiny belt buckle.

Pop Music

It was apparent to Steve that the only thing missing from his line dance success story was a hit record. So, with the help of musician Barry Upton, he decided to write it.

The song was “5,6,7,8” and Steve set about recruiting some young talent to perform it. He placed an ad in The Stage newspaper and auditions were held. He called the new pop band STEPS and they went on to become one of the most successful recording and touring acts ever in the pop genre, breaking box office records at arenas and selling millions of CDs worldwide.

Using the same formula for success, Steve went on to recruit and develop the band SCOOCH with Mike Stock and Matt Aitken. They had several Top 5 hits in the late 90s before re-emerging, again under Steve’s management, in 2007 to represent the UK in Eurovision.

And the relationship with Mike Stock continued in 2003, when Mike was looking for a record to launch his new record  label to capture the imagination of the public. Steve presented him the idea of a song and larger than life act based around a traditional children’s campfire song. Soon after, the FAST FOOD ROCKERS were number 1 in the charts with their Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonalds, sing-along, dance-along hit, created and developed by Steve. The song also became a College hit on US radio.

Song Writer

Steve has written three worldwide Number Ones, along with several other pop hits that have gained him a reputation for clever lyrics and catchy hooks.

Artist Management

Over recent years Steve has been a management and A&R consultant for artist and record companies alike, nurturing new talent and helping to bring it to the fore. On their rise to the top he has worked with such artists as The Dixie Chicks and Heidi Range from the Sugababes. He has also consulted on successful projects for Simon Cowell, Universal, Sony, Warners and EMI.

In 2005 Steve was invited to manage the career of Italian singer PATRIZIO BUANNE. This modern day crooner sold 2 million copies of his first two albums around the globe under Steve’s guidance, with multi Platinum successes in Australia, Asia, South Africa and Finland. He also toured extensively in these territories as well as in the USA where Steve oversaw 3 tours and built a strong relationship with PBS television.

Steve spent the best part of a three year period forging new business relationships internationally and watching out for more new, fun business opportunities. This is when he became more and more aware of the large gap on the world stage for a quality entertainment show, band and brand aimed at the pre-school children’s market...

Theatrical Producer

In 2008, over lunch with Mike Stock, Steve discussed the idea of THE SHOW 4 KIDS, which would bring good quality pop music, catchy dance routines and fun-filled entertainment to a new, young audience.

In the summer of 2010, after a lengthy recruitment campaign and intense period of development, The Go!Go!Go! Show opened in London’s West End and Steve added yet another string to his bow.