As lead vocalist of the band B-Movie, his singles are regarded as classics of the post-punk era; the band, having been described as ‘far too good for the confines of fashion’; and his rich baritone has being called ‘the quintessential English voice.’

But despite a musical career stretching back over 40 years, Steve Hovington remains a relative unknown to most music fans, a fact cheekily alluded to in the title of his new solo album, Audience with Myself.

Hailing from north Nottinghamshire, England, he began his career as lead singer and main songwriter with B-Movie, best known for their early 80s, Some Bizarre singles, Remembrance Day and Nowhere Girl, which although relative commercial failures at the time, are now regarded as classics of the post-punk / new wave era.

With Hovington’s distinctive baritone voice and introspective lyrics to the fore, B-Movie had more in common with Joy Division than Duran Duran, whom they opened for on their first UK tour. A music critic of the time noted the band were ‘as out of place as plaster ducks on a hi-tech wall, far too good for the confines of fashion.’

The tension between record company and band induced pressure for commercial mainstream success but with a desire to stay true to their edgier, outsider synth-rock, exemplified on their 1981 John Peel radio session, this was ultimately their undoing and B-Movie never achieved the kind of success that their powerful atmospheric music deserved.

Post B-Movie, Hovington embarked on an eclectic range of musical projects from the acoustic flavoured One, whose album ‘Upstream’ released on Chrysalis Records prompted one reviewer to hail Hovington as ‘the quintessential English voice’ to a collaboration with trance/big beat artists Amethyst, on their album ‘Golden Fish Fever’

Disillusioned with the music industry, Hovington moved away in the nineties to develop a new career in his other great passion, wine. His non fiction book, ‘The Grape Escape: One Man’s Journey from Vinyl to Vine,’ a part DIY winemaking adventure in the south of France and part memoir of living the dream as an 80s pop musician and its aftermath, was described by wine-pages.com as ‘a really great feel good read, that I can thoroughly recommend.’

After a hiatus of two decades the original members of B-Movie reformed in 2004 and have gone on to release two studio albums, ‘Age of Illusion’ (No Emb Blanc, 2013) and ‘Climate of Fear’ (Cleopatra, 2016) as well as several EPs. The enduring popularity of their best known songs combined with new material has led to the emergence of a new audience and regular shows across Europe.
2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Nowhere Girl.

In 2013, Hovington released a stripped back solo album ‘Coming of Age’ as Steve Hovington and The Fountain of Youth. Recorded in France with French musicians, it blended heartfelt, reflective ballads such as ‘Days of Our Lives’ and ‘America in the Rain’ with witty, up tempo tracks such as ‘National Pornographic’ and ‘Downstairs.’

At the beginning of 2020 just before the start of the Covid pandemic, Hovington and long time collaborator Keith Phillips began recording Audience with Myself at Half Ton Studios in Cambridge. Over the next few months the album began to take shape, featuring guest appearances from Joshua Lynch on cello and B-Movie drummer Graham Boffey.
The album showcases a songwriter and vocalist at the top of his game. Scott Walker, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Lloyd Cole, Richard Hawley and even Serge Gainsbourg spring to mind on a deeply personal album, rich in soaring melodies and evocative lyrics.

From the sublime opening track ‘Paradise’, a pastoral love poem to a Cambridge beauty spot, to the jaunty folk-rock of ‘Forlorn Hope’ reciting the final letter of a doomed soldier on the front line to his lover, to ‘Soho Lights’, a soaring torch song lamenting a star crossed romance or the blissful insouciance of youth recounted in singalong ‘The Berlin Girl’ to the defiant words of an unrepentant sinner on the epic final track ‘Epitaph’, Audience with Myself encapsulates all that is best about Steve Hovington - the songwriting craftsman, singer and musician.