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The boys have been playing and writing country music together for years, although it wasn’t until the year 1999 that Steve
Eales and the brothers Steve and Andy Hartley actually formed Sovereign.
Big guitar riffs and catchy tunes feature
prominently in Sovereign’s sound but the main focus is in their unique vocal harmony blend.
The first album ‘Too Hot
to Handle’ was released in 2000. It had a total of four top thirty songs including the title track, which made the top twenty.
The biggest hit from that record though was ‘See Them Ride’ which enjoyed a few months in the charts and rode all the way
into the top ten.
APRA nominated ‘See Them Ride’ in the top twenty songs of the year for 2000.
Also in that
year Sovereign released their first video, which was aired by CMT, the featured song was again ‘See Them Ride’.
2001
saw the boys pick up their first major award, ‘Country Band of the Year’ for the song ‘King of the Murray’ in the Victorian
Country Music Awards.
In 2002 Sovereign signed a management agreement with Echidna Music.
With Guenther
Goetz heading up the management team the band were brought to the attention of Australia’s leading country music producer,
Garth Porter. What followed was a merger of talent and inspiration culminating in the brand new album ‘Wild One’.
The
first single from the new album was ‘Company Man’ written by Garth and Steve Eales. It had been over twelve months since the
last single release, so ‘Company Man’ was welcomed by the Australian Country Music fans and soon found its place in the top
twenty on the country charts.
The next release was ‘Tooraweenah Cowgirl’; it was the first time all three members of
Sovereign had co-written a song, Garth also co-wrote on this single. ‘Tooraweenah Cowgirl’ spent 12 weeks in the top ten including
four weeks at number three.
Sovereign were nominated in two categories for the Golden Guitar Awards in 2004 making
the final five for the ‘Tooraweenah Cowgirl’.
The success of the new single was further extended when the boys
picked up three awards at the Victorian Country Music Awards in February 2004.
Australian Country Band of the Year
Victorian
Country Band of the Year.
Victorian Male Vocalist of the Year (for Steve Eales)
Sovereign and Garth
wanted to feature outback-Aussie stories on the ‘Wild One’ album and have a stronger, more traditional country style than
the previous record.
With original songs like ‘Waiting on the Rain’, ‘Stomp” and ‘Long Haul’ and a borrowed Lee Kernaghan
song ‘Handful of Dust’, the new record has achieved that goal.
‘Ring of Fire’ is one of the boys all time favorites
and one which has been included in their live set for years. It’s become a tribute now with the passing of the original "Man
in Black", Johnny Cash.
Dubbed by the media as the Men In Black,
Sovereign
are now the Australian Country Band of the Year 2004
Favorite Band Member: Steve Eales,BrothersStephen and Andy Hartley
Favorite CD: Wild One
Favorite song: STOMP
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