Stephen Vert Balbi (born 3 October 1964) is an Australian musician and record producer. He was the founding bass guitarist in pub rockers,

Noiseworks Noiseworks are an Australian hard rock band formed in Sydney in 1986 with bass guitarist Steve Balbi, guitarist Stuart Fraser, drummer Kevin Nicol, keyboardist Justin Stanley and lead vocalist Jon Stevens. They had four Australian Top 10 ...

in 1986 and formed a psychedelic pop group and production duo, Electric Hippies in 1993 with fellow Noiseworks member,

Justin Stanley Justin Stanley is an Australian musician, producer and songwriter. He has worked with an eclectic range of musicians including Beck, Prince, Jimmy Cliff, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney and Snoop Dogg. Some of the artists Stanley had produced, in ...

. He joined

Mi-Sex Mi-Sex (also styled as MiSex) is a New Zealand new wave band originally active from 1978 to 1986, and led for much of its existence by Steve Gilpin as vocalist, Kevin Stanton as guitarist and songwriter, Murray Burns as keyboardist and songw ...

in 2011. Balbi issued his debut solo album, ''Black Rainbow'', in October 2013.

Biography

1960–1985: Early years

Steve Balbi was born in the mid-1960s and grew up in a

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

family in Newtown, Sydney. He first performed publicly, with his uncle's band, at age 6, on a tambourine. He performed in Rufus Red. During the mid-to-late-1970s he was a bass guitarist for a blues, funk rock band, Rupert B. Other members were Mick Buckley on drums, Rohan Cannon on guitar and vocals, Guillermo Mayer on saxophone and Mick Thornton on slide trombone and trumpet. In 1976, at the age of 12, he was in a band, the Apaches, with his cousins, which performed " Fox on the Run" on a TV talent quest, '' Pot of Gold''. In mid-1982 Balbi, on bass guitar, joined Kevin Borich Express alongside Borich on lead guitar and lead vocals, John Annas on drums and Andy Cowan on keyboards (ex-

Madder Lake Alizarin (also known as 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone, Mordant Red 11, C.I. 58000, and Turkey Red) is an organic compound with formula that has been used throughout history as a red dye, principally for dyeing textile fabrics. Historically it wa ...

Ayers Rock Uluru (; ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone monolith. It crops out near the centre of Australia in the southern part of the Northern Territory, south-west of Alice Springs. Ul ...

). By 1984 the line-up of Balbi and Borich were joined by Adrian Cannon on drums (ex-Full Circle). At the end of that year Balbi also joined hard rockers,

Rose Tattoo Rose Tattoo are an Australian Pub rock (Australia), rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, which formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' R ...

, and left both groups in 1985. While still a member of Kevin Borich Express, Balbi had guested on bass guitar for fellow Sydney-based band, the Change's single, "Forever Young", alongside that group's Stuart Fraser on lead guitar (ex-Feather, Smith), Kevin Nicol on drums (ex-Dial X) and

Jon Stevens Jon Stevens (born 8 October 1961) is a New Zealand singer, best known as the lead singer of the band Noiseworks in 1986–1992, the portrayal of Judas in a 1992 Australian production of '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', and as the lead singer fo ...

on lead vocals.

1986–2008: Noiseworks, Electric Hippies & Universe

Early in 1986 the pub rockers,

, were formed in Sydney with the line-up of Balbi on bass guitar and backing vocals,

on keyboards with the Change's Fraser, Nicol and Stevens. Stanley explained to Simon Moy of ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in 1 ...

'' how the group had formed " albi and Iheard tevens

raser A maser is a device that produces coherence (physics), coherent electromagnetic waves (microwaves), through amplification by stimulated emission. The term is an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Nikolay Ba ...

and icolwere doing a little writing and playing around so we just got together one day down at the pub, got pissed and got on and that's how it went." Noiseworks' debut studio album ''

'' was released in July 1987. Noiseworks released two more studio albums, ''

Touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

'' in November 1988 and '' Love Versus Money'' in July 1991. Balbi described their writing style, "it's a real band thing for us. It's really funny, like the other night, on the way from Mildura to Adelaide, there were three of us in the car and we just wrote these lyrics – we finished three songs in that four-hour drive." The group had provided three multi-platinum albums, as certified by ARIA, before disbanding in March 1992. In 1993 Balbi and Stanley formed a psychedelic pop group and production duo, Electric Hippies, which issued their debut extended play, ''It's Cool'', in October of that year. It included the track, "Jonny Courageous"; according to Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the ''Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, it "was reputedly a swipe at former Noiseworks frontman Jon Stevens." They followed with a top 30 single, "Greedy People" (June 1994), and their debut album, '' The Electric Hippies'' in October. For that album, Balbi provided lead guitar, bass guitar and lead vocals. McFarlane opined that it "mixed ''Revolver''-era Beatles melodies with a Ziggy Stardust-period David Bowie glam rock aesthetic. There was also a limited edition version of the album which featured three-dimensional artwork à la The Rolling Stones' 1967 psychedelic album ''Their Satanic Majesties Request''." As producers, Electric Hippies, worked on material by Pearls & Swine,

Vincent Stone Vincent Stone is an Australian singer. He was signed after impressing Sony Music while playing showcase gigs at Les Girls. His single "Sunshine" saw him nominated at the 1994 ARIA Music Awards for Best New Talent and Breakthrough Artist – S ...

(singles: "Sunshine" and "Best of My Love"; album: ''Vincent Stone'', all in 1993),

Juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

, Jenny Morris and

Nikka Costa Domenica "Nikka" Costa (born June 4, 1972) is an American singer whose music combines elements of pop, soul, and blues. She also had a career as a child singer starting in the early 1980s. She is the daughter of music producer Don Costa. Ear ...

(who was married to Stanley). Costa and Stanley returned to the United States in 1996 and Electric Hippies disbanded. Balbi, on lead vocals, formed a new group, Universe, in 1997 which consisted of Jim Denley on flute, Cathy Green on bass guitar (ex- X), Matt McCormack a.k.a. Big Bird on guitar (ex-Starworld) and Cath Synnerdahl on drums (ex-Wrecking Crew, Mother Hubbard). The band released an EP, ''Above Water'', in September 1997. Balbi, Green and McCormack were joined by Angus Diggs on drums and

Ilan Kidron Ilan Kidron (born 22 April 1976), also known as iKid, is a Sydney-based singer songwriter with over one billion combined streams, best known as the lead singer for Australia's multi-platinum selling dance music act The Potbelleez. As a writer ...

on flute for their single, "Be My Gun" (October 1998), and the related album, ''Present''. Balbi has also worked with

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

, among others. In 2006, Balbi formed a new group, Move Treeswith, with Scott Aplin, Pete Skelton and Doug Aplin. In 2007, Move Trees joined Noiseworks on the road during their tour.

2009–present : Solo work and Mi-Sex

In October 2009, Balbi, released his solo single "I Found You", out on UK label Foundry Records. In 2011 Balbi fronting a newly reformed

, reunited for a fundraising concert following the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

. Mi Sex released '' Not from Here'' in 2016, with Balbi as lead vocalist. In 2013, Balbi released his debut solo album, ''Black Rainbow'', and its subsequent reprise, ''Rainbow Black'' in 2016. In August 2020, Balbi released ''I Think I Know for Sure''. In October 2024, Balbi was seriously injured in an accident, leading to the postponement of

's 45 Years of Graffiti Crimes Tour.

Discography

Studio albums

Awards

Q Song Awards

The

Queensland Music Awards The Queensland Music Awards (commonly known as QMA and known as the Q Song Awards from 2006 to 2010) are annual awards celebrating Queensland's emerging artists. They commenced in 2006. Each year, the QMA Song of the Year is immortalised in ...

(previously known as Q Song Awards) are annual awards celebrating

Queensland, Australia Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, ...

's brightest emerging artists and established legends. They commenced in 2006. (wins only) , - ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, "Dust" (with Mason Rack) , Blues and Roots Song of the Year , , -

References

;General * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. ;Specific

External links

*
Noiseworks Unlimited

Foundry Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balbi, Steve Australian bass guitarists Australian people of Maltese descent Living people 1964 births