Steve Kipner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steve Kipner is an American-born musician and songwriter who began his career in Australia.
Kipner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to an American father and Australian mother. The couple had met in Brisbane, Australia during World War II and they returned to Brisbane when Kipner was a baby.
His father, Nat Kipner formed a record company, "Spin Records", in Brisbane, Australia. "Spin Records" is notable as the first company to sign The Bee Gees to a recording contract. He also co-produced, with Ossie Byrnes, The Bee Gees first number one single "Spicks and Specks". (In 1979 he achieved his greatest success as a cowriter of "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late", an American number one hit for Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams.)
Influenced by his father, Steve Kipner began his career in music in Australia as a member of the band Steve & The Board who achieved a number one single with the song "Giggle Eyed Goo". Kipner then formed a duo with Steve Groves, and as Tin Tin achieved an American Top 20 single with "Toast and Marmalade for Tea" in 1971. Produced by Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, the song's success led to Tin Tin supporting the Bee Gees on their American tour of 1972.
By this time Kipner was more interested in working as a songwriter and scored his first success when "Catch Me I'm Falling" was recorded by Engelbert Humperdinck in 1974. He recorded a solo album in 1979 during this time met Australian manager Roger Davies. Although Davies' greatest success lay in the future as manager of such artists as Tina Turner and Janet Jackson, he was able to secure contracts for Kipner as a songwriter for CBS Publishing where he worked in various partnerships, writing for Spanish singer Miguel Bose among others.
In the early 1980s he wrote a song titled "Let's Get Physical." When he played the song for Roger Davies, the manager Lee Kramer heard the song from the next room and thought it would be suitable for his client Olivia Newton-John and to promote another client "Mr. Universe" on her album cover. Retitled "Physical" the song spent ten weeks at number one on the American charts and was a worldwide hit. It also marked a controversial moment in Newton-John's career when Kipner's suggestive lyrics caused it to be banned in Utah and South Africa.
Kipner's songwriting career has continued strongly since this major success, and among the other songs he has co-written are "Heart Attack" and "Twist of Fate" (both recorded by Newton-John), "Hard Habit to Break" (Chicago), "Moonlight On Water" (Laura Branigan), "Impulsive" (Wilson Phillips), "Invisible Man" and "The Hardest Thing" (98 Degrees), "Genie in a Bottle" (Christina Aguilera), "I Don't Care" (Angela Vía, Delta Goodrem), "He Loves U Not" (Dream), "Stole" (Kelly Rowland), and "These Words" (Natasha Bedingfield).
