Steve Hillage
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Steve Hillage is a British musician, associated with the Canterbury scene, who has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. He is perhaps best known for his solo recordings and work with Gong and System 7.
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History
Born in London on 2 August 1951, he joined his first band, Uriel, while still at school. Later he joined a progressive rock trio, Arzachel, who released an eponymous mini-album in 1969.
In 1971, Hillage formed a new band, Khan, who released an album in 1972 before splitting. He went on to join Kevin Ayers' live line-up, and in 1973 he became guitarist with the eccentric space rock outfit Gong, in time for their "Radio Gnome Trilogy".
After a brief stint in charge of Gong, Hillage went solo in 1975, his work partly continuing the Gong mythology. He made a name for himself as a guitarist and prog-rock / fusion composer and performer in the post Hendrix / pre-punk scene of the 1970s. His L album was recorded using musicians from Todd Rundgren's Utopia, while Green was produced by Pink Floyd's Nick Mason.
These 1970s works (tacitly in collaboration with his longtime girlfriend Miquette Giraudy) blended complex studio production techniques with dreamscape anthems and hooky, progressive passages of new world lydian electric fusion. With lyrics about "electric gypsies", Hillage was seen as something of a hippy figure, and his sales took a fall with the arrival of Punk rock.
Hillage spent time in the Ladbroke Grove area of London, home of the UK Underground and worked with Nik Turner founder member of Hawkwind (one of the original Underground Community Bands).
During the 1980s, Hillage worked as a record producer, working for artists such as Simple Minds and Robyn Hitchcock. He returned to producing in the 90s, working on The Charlatans self-titled disc in 1995.
After hearing the likes of The Orb playing his 1979 ambient record Rainbow Dome Musick, Hillage teamed up with Giraudy again in the early 1990s to form their own ambient dance act: System 7. They soon became part of the underground dance scene in London. Hillage also produced in the 90's an oriental musical show called '123 Soleil', featuring Algerian singers Faudel, Rachid Taha and Khaled.
Since the mid-1990s, Hillage has been an important contributor to Rachid Taha's music, as guitarist and producer.
Discography
Solo albums
- (1975) Fish Rising
- (1976) L
- (1977) Motivation Radio
- (1978) Green
- (1979) Live Herald
- (1979) Rainbow Dome Musick
- (1979) Open
- (1983) For To Next / And Not Or