He was the lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from 1976 to 1981,[2] followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but has had limited commercial success.
[6][7] 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.
[6] Only existing for 18 months, they later included Ed Bates on guitar and Peter Martin on slide guitar,[7] their posthumous releases were The Notorious Pelaco Brothers Show a live six-track Extended Play on the Ralph imprint (a completely different entity from the San Francisco label) in June 1977 and three studio tracks for a various artists release, The Autodrifters and The Relaxed Mechanics Meet The Fabulous Nudes and The Pelaco Bros, in June 1978 on Missing Link Records.
[6] Meanwhile, Steve Cummings and Bates formed the Sports in 1976[6] The Sports were a new wave band formed in 1976 by Cummings and former Pelaco Brothers bandmate Ed Bates, with Robert Glover (former Myriad) on bass guitar, Jim Niven on piano (former the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band)[8] with Paul Hitchins on drums.
[2] Their early sets contained covers of Chuck Berry, Billy Emerson, Don Covay, Company Caine and Graham Parker.
[15] According to Tharunka's Diane Livesey, "[they were Cummings] way of relieving boredom for a while and inflicting 'the modern face of cabaret' upon an unsuspecting public ...
[3][4] He released his debut solo single, "We all Make Mistakes" on Phantom Records, in December 1982 and followed with "Stuck on Love" in May 1983.
It was a more personal and less busy recording[3] which was produced by Cummings[7] and provided two singles, "Speak with Frankness" and "Love is Crucial".
[3] The album, produced by Mark Woods and Cummings,[7] provided two further singles, "Some Prayers Are Answered" in February and "My Willingness" in May.
[16][17] For his fifth solo album, Good Humour, Cummings returned to his earlier dance and funk sound from his Senso album,[3] using a backing band of Barnard, O'Mara and Nick Smith (ex-Kevins) on backing vocals, with additional session musicians from Sydney jazz outfit The Necks, and Robert Goodge (I'm Talking) on guitar, drum programming and co-production (for two tracks).
[3] Cummings has supplemented his income by writing advertising jingles: he co-wrote Medibank Private's theme "I Feel Better Now", with Goodge.
Steve Kilbey also produced Cummings' eighth studio album Escapist, released in September 1996,[7] which contained "countrified ballad "Everything Breaks Your Heart" to the psychedelic-tinged mantra "Sometimes".
[3][22][23] 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,[24][25] which his publishers described as a series of anecdotes from his childhood through thirty years of the music business and his family relationships.
He is easily one of our great storytellers, capable of creating lives in miniature[30]Apart from Paul Kelly, no other Australian solo artist has managed to sustain a recording and performing career at such a high level of artistry for as long as Stephen Cummings[31]Debonair, romantic and sensitive, Cummings owns a voice that allows vulnerable yearning qualities as much space as an authoritative voice of experience.