The last time Jon Stevens toured extensively with Kate Ceberano Paul Keating was Prime Minister. Stevens was Judas and she was Mary Magdalene in the arena spectacular Jesus Christ Superstar.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“We’ve been talking about doing stuff together for years and years,” Stevens said ahead of their Thirroul show on August 4.
“I just love that woman, she’s an amazing entertainer and a wonderful person and really looking forward to performing with her.”
I was ... chilling out having a beer and in through the door, crikey it’s Ringo!
- Jon Stevens
Stevens is promoting his new album Starlight which brings together some of the masters of music like Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and Ringo Starr.
“What a crazy thing to think I’ve got a Beatle on my album,” he said.
Stevens explained he was having dinner at Stewart’s house when the star walked in.
“I was just at Dave’s house relaxing, chilling out having a beer and in through the door, crikey it’s Ringo so I said ‘G’day mate how’s it going’,” he said.
The next thing they had the guitars out singing songs, telling stories and having a laugh.
The “Hot Chilli Woman” vocalist is cemented in Australia as a music icon. Taking the lead in INXS and Dead Daisies is slowly cementing his name overseas.
“It’s a big world out there and I’ve played in a lot of it and the way music is today it’s so transient I guess. For me and for a lot of older artists that are still in there doing it is unreal because young artists come and go so quickly, careers are so few and far between these days,” he said.
“I’m always writing songs and I’m alwasy creating and working with like minded musicians, because it’s really exciting to do that, it keeps you interested in the game.”
Launching his career in his home of New Zealand as a teenager, Stevens already had two #1 hits by the age of 16.
During the 1980s he and five mates created Noiseworks and smashed onto the Australian airwaves with singles such as “No Lies”, “Love Somebody”, “Take Me Back” and “Touch”.
“I’m always thinking about those old bluesmen who are still playing when they’re 80-years-old and singing better than ever,” he said.
“That’s what I aspire to be actually: that 80-year-old sitting on the stool playing guitar singing songs and they go ‘God, he’s still alive’.”
Before hanging up the phone Stevens’ last words to round out the interview ring true for anyone of any walk of life: “find what you want to to do in life and do that, be happy, life’s too short”.
The tour announcement comes as fellow cast member of the original Jesus Christ Superstar, John Farnham, announced a second show in Wollongong this December.