Steve Hillage

Steve Hillage
Hillage in concert, in about 1978
Background information
Birth name	Stephen Simpson Hillage
Born	(1951-08-02) 2 August 1951 (age 65) Chingford, London, England
Genres	Progressive rock, jazz fusion, psychedelic rock, electronica
Instruments	Guitar, keyboards, vocals
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Virgin/EMI Records
Associated acts	Uriel (also known as Arzachel), Khan, Gong, The Orb, System 7, Clearlight

Stephen Simpson "Steve" Hillage (born 2 August 1951) is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo recordings he has been a member of Gong, Khan and System 7.

Hillage was born in Chingford, London. Whilst still at school, he joined his first band, a blues rock band called Uriel, with Dave Stewart (the keyboardist), 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 under assumed names to record the album Arzachel in 1969. Hillage also guested on Egg's 1974 album The Civil Surface.

In 1969, Hillage began studies at the University of Kent in Canterbury, befriending local bands Caravan and Spirogyra and occasionally jamming with them. Meanwhile, he wrote songs and, by late 1970, had accumulated enough material for an album. Caravan put him in touch with their manager Terry King, who got Hillage signed with Deram on the basis of a demo of his material recorded with the help of Dave Stewart of Egg. In early 1971, Hillage formed Khan with bassist/vocalist Nick Greenwood, formerly of Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Although future Gong and Hatfield and the North drummer Pip Pyle was involved in the early stages, the line-up finally settled with the inclusion of organist Dick Heninghem and drummer Eric Peachey, both of whom had recently collaborated on Greenwood's solo project Cold Cuts, recorded in California in 1970 but belatedly released in 1972.