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Steve Lovett first played guitar when he was nine, joining his father’s band, The Convoys, in 1978 when he was 11. In 1983 the lead singer left the band and Steve stepped up front as lead vocalist and, at the same time, the band’s name was changed to The Ramblers.
After the demise of The Ramblers Steve and his father Michael formed Southern Comfort duo. Although he loved playing Country and rock ‘n’ roll he also had a passion for rockabilly so while still working with his father he formed a rockabilly band, The Niteshift Trio with a couple of school mates;
Steve was lead singer and guitarist. They became very popular around the clubs and one evening after a gig they met Dell Richardson from Fury Records who asked them to do some recordings for a couple of compilation albums. This was followed by their own vinyl album, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, in 1989. The line-up was Steve Lovett (vocals and lead guitar), Gary Venn (double bass) and Keith Bailey (drums). The album gave them the opportunity to work abroad, especially in Germany where they toured with other top Rockabilly bands.
Despite this success, Steve had been married since 1986 and he decided to quit the band to become a solo artist and spend more time with his family. He was soon playing the major holiday venues all over the country and performing various types of music, although his love of Country music never went away and he eventually settled down as a Country singer.
With the advent of CMT (Country Music Television) and the increasing popularity of line dancing he was running three line dance clubs in the Berkshire area by the mid-1990s. Steve was a line dance dj and singer and his wife Debbie was a dance instructor.
John Hallett first met Steve at one of his line dance clubs while he was on stage doing his solo act for the dancers. John too has had a lifetime in music and has played bass and guitar since he was a child. In fact he can turn his hand to virtually any instrument. His house is like every musicians’ dream and is full of all kinds of instruments, including a drumkit, saxophone, clarinet, mandolin and even a ukulele!
He has been in numerous bands, one of which was called White Lines but none of them played Country music. Steve and John quickly became good friends and found they had much in common when it came to music. So, with the popularity of line dance acts like the Dean Brothers and the Cheap Seats, they decided to form Rancher in 2002 but initially they only played around their local area of Berkshire. Since then, they have become increasingly popular and due to such high demand they are now going further afield and are quite often travelling up and down the country for a gig.
They received their first CCN nomination for Duo of the Year 2018, 2019 and again in 2021. In 2024 the award finally came their way.
Steve Lovett, who has now been in the business for 43 years, is also still available as a solo artist.
During lockdown, Steve Lovett has been has been streaming every Thursday evening from 8 – 10pm and this has been proving very popular. Sometimes it was a family affair with Steve being joined by his son Craig Lovett and his daughter Kerry Knight.