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Information About

Steve Hillage





HISTORY


Hillage was born Stephen Simpson Hillage in Walthamstow , London on 2 August 1951 . While still at school, he joined his first band, a Progressive Rock band called Uriel, with Dave Stewart , Mont Campbell and Clive Brooks . The band split up in 1968 with the other members going on to form Egg , but they briefly re-united to record an album under the name Arzachel in 1969 .

In 1971 , Hillage formed a new band, Khan , who released the album Space Shanty in 1972 before splitting. He went on to join Kevin Ayers ' live line-up, and in 1973 he became Guitar ist 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 Guitar ist 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 . They soon became part of the underground dance scene in London. Hillage also produced in the 1990s a Raï musical show called ' 1, 2, 3 Soleils ', 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''