Steve Bent was born in 1952 on the Isle Of Man and trained as an actor
making his stage debut in the early 1970s. One of his first breaks on telly
was in Crossroads as 'Gerry Hurst' and like so many others who appeared in
that show (Paul 'Benny' Henry, Stephanie De Sykes and Kate Robbins) made a
spin off record which was issued on the ATV owned label Bradleys (also home to The Goodies, etc).
He has concentrated on acting in the last 20 years and has appeared in
numerous tv shows including Miss Marple - A Carrabean Mystery, Lovejoy, Down To
Earth (with Richard Briars), Minder, The Professionals, The Sweeney, Juliet
Bravo and more recently in The Royal. He has also appeared as D.S. Ross in "Judas Pair" - an episode
of the British drama series "Lovejoy" (aired 7th February 1986).
Other credits to his name include television appearances in Coronation Street,
Doctors, Final Demand and The Bill.
On the stage, he has done stints with both the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In the cinema he has appeared in Ali G Inda House (as John Nike, sports center manager), Mean Machine and
Before You Go.
Steve Bent was a contestant on New Faces in 1974 (where he may have performed "I'm Going To Spain" so there is - in theory -
footage of him singing this all-time classic!
Written and sung by Bent himself, the song describes in an ungainly fashion how he’s decided to chuck it all in and go off to Spain on the basis that
"Cousin Norman had a real fine time last year" - "Cousin Norman" was a 1971 hit
for the Marmalade, and that was not the only postmodern reference in the song.
Subsequently the song was covered by the Fall on their Infotainment Scan album.
In 1989 Steve appeared on a charity album by the "Showbiz XI" charity football
team (CATSBX102, 1989).
This record was produced by (and includes songs by) Jess Conrad who was also part
of the team.
Steve Bent's song 'Country and Western Cowboy' was also featured on the second
Showbiz XI album (SBX 104 from 1990) but in a truncated version editing out
his acapella intro. Interestingly he is billed as Steve on the first album but
Stephen on the second.
Thanks to David Noades for information and pictures
