Wednesday Late – Live Music: with Steve Skaith
Steve Skaith began his life in the music industry in the early 80’s as a contracted songwriter with Chappell Music. Working with writing partner Steve Jeffries the aim was to write songs for the stars of the time – Leo Sayer, Sheena Easton and, if you were very lucky, Michael Jackson. Never quite that lucky but the two did have some good fortune when Japanese superstar, Akina Nakamori, recorded two of their songs ‘No More’ and ‘Goodbye Love’.
In the meantime, Steve Skaith had started writing songs with lyricist Mike Jones. These songs were never destined to be sung by pop idols as they were very political and at times quite controversial. So the question was: what to do with them? The answer came from a third party – wannabe (and now Oasis) band manager Marcus Russell: form a band and sing them yourself. Steve had never had the ambition to be a performer and it took a while to agree but eventually did and the band Latin Quarter was formed.
Latin Quarter had their first rehearsal in 1983 and by late 1984, after a number of gigs, earned a record contract with new independent label ‘Rockin’ Horse’. In 1986, to their surprise, Latin Quarter got a UK top 20 hit with their song ‘Radio Africa’. In the meantime they were receiving a lot of attention on the continent, especially in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden and playing there regularly. The first album ‘Modern Times’ contained a number of cult tracks such as ‘America for Beginners’ and was described by the New York Daily Post as ‘the best electro-pop album ever to come out got the UK.’
Latin Quarter went on to tour extensively and make 5 albums before splitting up in 1997. In 2012 however they reformed with 4 of the original members, including, Steve Jeffries – Steve Skaith’s original writing member and other founder member of the band. Since 2012, the band have produced 7 new albums including most recently ‘I (Together)’, an acoustic quartet reworking of older songs featuring piano, guitar and cello.
At Two Temple Place, Steve will be joined by Latin Quarter bassist Yo Yo Buys to play a selection of Latin Quarter songs including a number of new ones presently being recorded for a new album in 2026.
The Wednesday Late Music series has been curated by Camelle Hinds for Two Temple Place alongside our current exhibition, Lives Less Ordinary.
The evenings are set up as live background music while you explore the exhibition and the building.
Music from 6.30 – 8.30 (including breaks). The building closes at 9pm. A small bar will be available in our shop.
The music evenings are free to attend and no booking required. To plan your visit please see the Visit Us page.
