Steve Travis


Steve Travis is a British singer-songwriter, musician, recording artist and author. He was born and raised in Colchester, Essex. His biggest selling albums are in the easy listening country style.

Musical career

Rock and Pop 1964–1979

Travis began his music career in the mid 60s as a drummer in Colchester bands performing progressive rock. In 1970, he made a switch to guitar and vocals and formed the glam-rock band Plod. As a pop singer throughout the seventies, he made many appearances alongside top acts including ELO, Genesis, Slade, Thin Lizzy and Showaddywaddy. He then went on to form the hard driven Rock band The Perishers. They attracted the interest of London-based management company Deville promotions and quickly booked time in the prestigious Polydor studios in London and recorded four demo tracks. These were original rock songs written by Travis. At that time Travis bore a likeness to Marc Bolan and his photograph appeared next to the late T. Rex frontman in national newspapers in 1979.

Country 1981–2004

Travis moved on to country music issuing a single in 1982 entitled Ghost riders in the Sky / Moonlight on the Trail. This received excellent reviews in many of the music papers. For some years Travis retreated completely from the music business to concentrate on family life.
In 1991, Travis returned to performing country music and toured in the UK and Europe topping the bill at many CMC clubs, festivals and theatres. In 1994, he released his first CD album on the MJMusic record label, later signing a record deal with the Irish label Foam Records in 1997. His first album "50 Country & Favourite Songs", a sing-along album in the style of Max Bygraves, sold over 100,000 copies and achieved a silver disc for sales. Travis released a further 14 albums on the Foam label then continued his career with London-based Prism Leisure in 2003.

Contemporary 2004-2010

In 2004, Travis composed and played keyboards on an album of relaxation music titled Healing Shores released on the Aquavision label. Following this an album of his narrated poetry set to music entitled Fragments of desire was released on the Blue Water music label, taken from the book of the same name.

Sea Shanties 2010-present

With an increasing enthusiasm for sea shanties and inspiration from his longtime home by the sea in west mersea there came a change of musical style. In 2012, H&H Music released Travis' first shanty album. Shanties and other songs of the sea and a music video for his song The Black Water Smuggler reflects the history of the Blackwater Estuary.
Followed in 2016 by Sea Shanties and Pirate songs.

Album discography