Luke Steele

Luke James Steele (born 13 December 1979) is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter.

Steele is the vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band the Sleepy Jackson and is a member of the electronic music duo Empire of the Sun.

Steele was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 13 December 1979.

His family then moved to Perth, Western Australia.

Luke attended Yokine Primary School and Mount Lawley Senior High School.

Luke grew up in Jandakot with his sister Katy.

Steele is a member of a musical family.

His father, Rick, is a blues guitarist and harmonica player.

Steele's sister, Katy, was the vocalist of Perth indie rock band Little Birdy.

The Sleepy Jackson were established in 1998, featuring Steele on vocals and guitar, his brother Jesse on drums and Matthew O'Connor on bass.

Both their self-titled debut EP and a subsequent single, "Miniskirt," were independently released.

Jesse left the band in 2000 and was replaced by Paul Keenan.

In late 2000, the Sleepy Jackson began a national tour with Jebediah.

Steele and Littlemore met in 2000 when introduced by Steele's A&R executive Simon Moor, in a bar in Sydney, Australia.

At the time, both were signed with EMI and had been working on independent projects.

The two became instant friends and shortly afterwards decided to begin a collaborative music project together.

In March 2001, on the eve of the band's deal with EMI Records, the band toured with Magic Dirt and Motor Ace, adding Ronan Charles on keyboard.

Steele eventually completed the tour as a solo performer after the other band members left the tour and returned home.

In 2001, EMI released Caffeine in the Morning Sun, which Steele recorded in Sydney with session musicians.

In addition to playing solo shows, Steele recruited Malcolm Clark (drums), Justin Burford (guitar) and Rodney Aravena (bass).

The Sleepy Jackson relocated to Sydney, where they recorded another EP, Let Your Love Be Love (2002).

Songs from this EP, and Caffeine in the Morning Sun, were compiled into a self-titled mini-album for release in the UK market in February 2003.

The band toured extensively in 2003, playing in Australia, the United States and Europe.

Between live appearances, the band worked on recordings for their debut album Lovers. By the end of 2003, Burford and Aravena left the band.

Their first collaboration was "Tell the Girls That I'm Not Hangin' Out", which appeared on the Sleepy Jackson's 2003 debut album, Lovers.

The pair only decided to get serious about making an album in 2004 when Steele went to Littlemore's studio north of Sydney and they began writing material together.

In 2006, Steele became engaged to a magazine editor, Jodi (aka "Snappy Dolphin"), who also joined the Sleepy Jackson for the band's 2008 national tour.

The band released its second album Personality – One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird in Australia on 1 July 2006.

It debuted at Number 10 on the ARIA Albums Charts the following week.

The album was nominated for a J Award by Australian radio station Triple J.

Joining Steele and Clark on this album were Dave Symes and Felix Bloxsom, as well as Lee Jones (formerly in the Perth band Spencer Tracy).

Bloxsom has since been replaced by Luke's brother Jake and wife Jodi, a.k.a. "Snappy Dolphin."

In 2007, the Sleepy Jackson performed at the 2007 Big Day Out, the Southbound festival, the Falls Festival and the St. Jerome's Laneway festival in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Also in 2007, Luke provided slide guitar on the song "Waiting All Day" by Silverchair on their fifth album Young Modern.

Luke also appeared on the Pnau single "With You Forever", leading Nick Littlemore to state on Pnau's website "... working with Luke Steele ... it was amazing; that inspired [me] to work on a separate project with him all together. It's another album we're doing."

His brother Jake, also joined the Sleepy Jackson in 2008 playing computer samples, and has played keyboards for the now defunct Perth band Injured Ninja.

Steele's other brother Jesse was an original member of the Sleepy Jackson.

In October 2008, the couple had their first child, a daughter named Sunny Tiger.

Steele and Littlemore subsequently formed the electroacoustic pop outfit Empire of the Sun in 2008.

In 2014, the couple welcomed a son named Cruz.