Babybird are an English rock band formed by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Jones, who has been releasing music since 1995. While Jones' early solo work was released under the "Baby Bird" name, the altered "Babybird" was first used to distinguish the full band line-up that has changed often over the years. However, in recent years, Jones has recorded many of the Babybird albums himself, in addition to recording as a solo artist, and under various aliases including Death of the Neighbourhood, Trucker, Black Reindeer, Deluder, Arthritis Kid and others.
Stephen Jones started writing and recording songs at home and his first collection of these demos, I Was Born a Man, was released in July 1995 using the name Baby Bird. He formed a band in order to tour and promote this work. In 1996, Babybird signed to Echo Records and their first single was released in July 1996. Babybird were dropped from their record label in 2000 after their third album, Bugged, had poor sales. The band then split. Jones continued on his own, writing fiction, releasing solo work and created the score for the film Blessed (2004). In October 2005, the band reformed with three members and created the album Between My Ears There Is Nothing But Music, released in September 2006. They went on tour in November 2009 and then split again in 2013. After a number of Babybird releases on Bandcamp from 2015, Jones took the band back out on tour in late 2017 with a new line up. A compilation album Happy Stupid Nothing was released in 2019, featuring a selection of Babybird tracks from 2015 onwards.
Career Stephen Jones was born in Telford, Shropshire and spent most of his childhood living in New Zealand. He studied acting at Nottingham Trent University, where he began writing songs and recording home demos as part of an experimental theatre group called Dogs in Honey. By 1994, Jones was based in Sheffield, where he had amassed up to 400 songs on 200 cassette tapes. At the urging of friends, he signed a publishing deal with Chrysalis Music, but efforts to release his music were turned down by several labels and A&R representatives, including Nick Beggs of Kajagoogoo. In July 1995, Jones self-released the first collection of these demos, I Was Born a Man, under the name Baby Bird. He recruited a band made up of Huw Chadbourn (keyboards), Robert Gregory (drums), John Pedder (bass) and Luke Scott (guitar), under the slightly tweaked moniker of Babybird, in order to tour and promote his work.
Commercial release During 1995, two further albums of demo recordings were released under the name Baby Bird (Bad Shave and Fatherhood) and two in 1996 (The Happiest Man Alive and Dying Happy). Babybird were signed to Echo Records (a division of the Chrysalis Group), and the first authentic single, a full-band recording of "Goodnight", which had appeared in demo form on Fatherhood, was released in July 1996, becoming a minor hit in the UK Singles Chart.
The group's second single, "You're Gorgeous", reached number 3 in the UK in October 1996, and was one of the biggest selling singles of the year, going on to chart around the world. Jones has declared it is a feminist song. However, for its message, it presented a more commercial face to the public in comparison to Jones's earlier work, as well as in comparison to the rest of the material on the Ugly Beautiful album. The album produced two more hit singles in "Candy Girl" and "Cornershop".
In 1997 the band returned to the studio, with producer Darren Allison. They recorded two new tracks - a brand new version of "Bad Shave", and a re-working of "CFC". These new tracks were included on the 1997 U.S. release of Ugly Beautiful.
Babybird returned, minus keyboardist Huw Chadbourn, in 1998 with There's Something Going On, preceded by a single, "Bad Old Man". The album was a modest success and was followed by further minor hits, "If You'll Be Mine" and "Back Together".
In 2000, a line-up of Babybird comprising Jones, Scott and Matt Hay created a third album. Bugged. Sales were poor and the two singles from it, "The F-Word" (later the theme tune to Gordon Ramsay's UK TV cookery show of the same name) and "Out of Sight" barely dented the charts. Babybird were dropped by their record label soon after. A third single from the album, "Fireflies" / "Getaway" was released on Animal Noise Records, but sold few copies. The band subsequently split.
Jones went on to write fiction, release solo work and score a film, Blessed, in 2004. In October 2005, a posting on the Babybird website announced that the band had reformed as a three-piece featuring Jones, Scott and Robert Gregory. An album, Between My Ears There Is Nothing But Music was released on 25 September 2006.
Reformation 2006–2012, 2015–present In August 2009, it was announced that the band would be doing a tour of four gigs in November 2009 to promote the album Ex-Maniac, which was released in February 2010. The line-up consisted of Jones, Scott and Gregory, with a cameo appearance from long-term fan Johnny Depp on the track "Unloveable". Depp also directed the music video. The following year, Babybird released the album The Pleasures of Self Destruction.
In 2013, Stephen Jones announced via his Twitter feed that Babybird was no more. He launched his own site at Bandcamp, and released a number of albums under aliases such as "Black Reindeer", "Deluder", "Arthritis Kid", "The Great Sadness" and "Trucker".
In 2015, Jones started trading under the Babybird name again, reforming the band as a live unit in 2017 and in early 2019, toured as support to Dodgy with his new line-up. A number of Babybird tracks from 2015 onwards were released on 1 March 2019 as a compilation album Happy Stupid Nothing. Just a few months later, it was announced that another album Photosynthesis would be released in July 2019. As well as these, Jones has been releasing a prolific amount of new Babybird albums via Bandcamp, often selling them as unique limited edition CDs.
Discography Studio albums YearAlbum detailsChart positionsCertifications(sales thresholds)UKNZ 1995 I Was Born a Man (as Baby Bird) Released: July 1995 Labels: Baby Bird Recordings — — Bad Shave (as Baby Bird) Released: 5 October 1995 Labels: Baby Bird Recordings — — Fatherhood (as Baby Bird) Released: December 1995 Labels: Baby Bird Recordings — — 1996 The Happiest Man Alive (as Baby Bird) Released: 1 April 1996 Labels: Baby Bird Recordings 127 — Dying Happy (as Baby Bird) Released: 27 May 1996 Labels: Baby Bird Recordings — — Ugly Beautiful Released: 21 October 1996 Labels: Echo 9 15 BPI: Gold 1998 There's Something Going On Released: 24 August 1998 Labels: Echo 28 — 2000 Bugged Released: 12 June 2000 Labels: Echo 104 — 2006 Between My Ears There Is Nothing But Music Released: 25 September 2006 Labels: Baby Bird Recordings — — 2010 Ex-Maniac Released: 1 March 2010 Labels: Unison Music 186 — 2011 The Pleasures of Self Destruction Released: 31 October 2011 Labels: Unison Music — — 2015The Last Album Released: 8 May 2015 Labels: Self-released — —Back to the Womb Released: 3 July 2015 Labels: Self-released — — 2016Life After Death Released: 8 June 2016 Labels: Self-released — —Take My Air Released: 22 November 2016 Labels: Self-released — — 2017The Wrong Words Released: 25 January 2017 Labels: Self-released — —I Miss Myself Released: 17 March 2017 Labels: Self-released — —I Miss Myself 2 Released: 17 March 2017 Labels: Self-released — —People Do Stupid Things Released: 18 June 2017 Labels: Self-released — —King of Nothing Part One Released: November 2017 Labels: Self-released — — 2018King of Nothing Part Two Released: 4 January 2018 Labels: Self-released — — 2018Selfies Inside The Coffin Released: October 2018 Labels: Self-released — — 2019NOTPOP/Toothpaste For The Soul Released: February 2019 Labels: Self-released — — 2019Photosynthesis Released: 19 July 2019 Labels: RW/FF Recordings — —
Compilation albums
Year Album details 1997 The Greatest Hits (as Baby Bird) Released: 30 August 1997 Labels: Baby Bird Recordings 2002 The Original Lo-Fi (boxset) (as Baby Bird) Released: 18 November 2002 Labels: Sanctuary 2004 Best of Babybird Released: 16 February 2004 Labels: Echo 2012 The Original Lo-Fi Greatest Hits Released: 25 October 2012 Labels: Self-released 2013 Outtakes Released: 10 January 2013 Labels: Self-released 2014 A Personal Lo-Fi Mixtape: Part One (as Baby Bird) Released: 1 July 2014 Labels: Self-released A Personal Lo-Fi Mixtape: Part Two (as Baby Bird) Released: 1 July 2014 Labels: Self-released 2015 Roadkiller Released: 17 January 2015 Labels: Self-released Roadtripper Released: 23 January 2015 Labels: Self-released Roadfiller Released: 23 January 2015 Labels: Self-released Road Released: 3 February 2015 Labels: Self-released Missing Lofi Part One Released: 13 February 2015 Labels: Self-released Rehearsal Tapes Released: 15 February 2015 Labels: Self-released Missing Lofi 2 Released: 21 February 2015 Labels: Self-released Missing Lofi 3: Songs Released: 10 April 2015 Labels: Self-released Missing Lofi 3: Soundtracks Released: 10 April 2015 Labels: Self-released Last Album Outtakes Released: 15 May 2015 Labels: Self-released Fatherhood2 (as Baby Bird) Released: 26 June 2015 Labels: Self-released 2016 People Do Stupid Things Released: 1 July 2016 Labels: Self-released 2017 KONpilation Released: 22 December 2017 Labels: Self-released 2019 Happy Stupid Nothing Released: 1 March 2019 Labels: Psycho Mafia Recordings
Live albums Year Album details 2012 Live at the Electric Ballroom Bootleg 1996 Released: 30 October 2012 Labels: Self-released 2015 Live Sessions 1995–8 Volume One Released: 27 February 2015 Labels: Self-released Live Sessions 1995–8 Volume 2 Released: 27 February 2015 Labels: Self-released Cambridge Junction 1998 Released: 29 May 2015 Labels: Self-released Babybird Live in Vienna 2000 Released: 16 October 2015 Labels: Self-released 2018 Babybird Live in Koln at the Luxor Released: 24 January 2018 Labels: Self-released
Singles Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications Album UK AUSAustralian (ARIA Chart) peaks: Top 50 peaks: Top 100 peaks to December 2010: "Goodnight", "Candy Girl", "Cornershop", "Bad Old Man" and "If You'll Be Mine": FRA GER IRE NZ SWE 1995 "Snake Caves" / "Baby Lemonade" (as Baby Bird) — — — — — — — 1996 "Goodnight" 28 — — — — — —Ugly Beautiful "You're Gorgeous" 3 28 46 74 16 22 17 BPI: Gold1997 "Candy Girl" 14 184 — — — — — "Cornershop" 37 125 — — — — —1998 "Bad Old Man" 31 — — — — — —There's Something Going On "If You'll Be Mine" 28 128 — — — — —1999 "Back Together" 22 — — — — — — Split 1 (split single with East River Pipe) (as Baby Bird) — — — — — — — 2000 "The F-Word" 35 — — — — — —Bugged "Out of Sight" 58 — — — — — — Double A EP ("Getaway" / "Fireflies") — — — — — — —2006 "Too Much" / "Dive" — — — — — — —Between My Ears There's Nothing But Music "Lighter 'n' Spoon" — — — — — — — 2010 "Unloveable" — — — — — — — Ex-Maniac 2019 "King of Nothing" — — — — — — —Happy Stupid Nothing2020 "In Place of Love" — — — — — — —
Compilation tracks "Bad Twin" (on The Avengers OST, Atlantic Records, August 1998)
Promotional videos "Goodnight" (1996, directed by Stuart A. Gosling) "You're Gorgeous" (1997, directed by Stuart A. Gosling) "If You'll Be Mine" (1998, directed by David Slade) "The F-Word" (2000, directed by Rob Leggatt & Leigh Marling) "Out of Sight" (2000, directed by Rob Leggatt & Leigh Marling) "Lighter 'n' Spoon" (2008, directed by Philipp Pflüger) "Unloveable" (2010, directed by Johnny Depp) "King Of Nothing" (2019, directed by [RW/FF]) "In Place Of Love" (2019, directed by [Stephen Jones]) "The Greatest Thing" (2019, directed by [Stephen Jones and RW/FF]) "No Cameras" (2019, directed by [RW/FF])
References
External links Babybird on Bandcamp Stephen Jones on Bandcamp