User:Torgo/SteveBellamy

Not to be confused with Steven Bellamy.

Steve Bellamy is a former rock musician, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Bellamy is the founder of several businesses, including The Tennis Channel television network, which he ran for over seven years, The Ski Channel television network, the Palisades Tennis Center, LA Golf Academy and many others. During the late 1980’s and early 90s, he experienced some success in the L.A. music scene, eventually seeing commercial radio play, releasing five albums, and playing with national acts such as Bruce Springsteen, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Brian Wilson and David Crosby. His video for “Time Takes Away” was seen on MTV and his songs can still be frequently heard in television and film.

Tennis Career

While pursuing his musical career, Bellamy spent his days coaching tennis and eventually became the most sought after tennis pro in Los Angeles. His clientele included several celebrities, among them Arnold Schwarzenegger, Goldie Hawn, Sally Field, Hilary Swank, Kate Hudson and others. His concert performances benefited as they were well-attended by his tennis clients and associates.

In 1996, Bellamy took over a failing public tennis facility in Pacific Palisades near Los Angeles and turned it into one of the most innovative tennis training facilities in the world. The Palisades Tennis Center was named "Business of the Year" by the Palisadian-Post newspaper and became known for its cutting-edge teaching methodologies. It was dubbed the "Crown Jewel of American Tennis” by Independent Business Magazine. W Magazine called it "the nexus for tennis and mecca for celebrities in Los Angeles.” Shortly thereafter, Bellamy started acquiring other tennis facilities, including the Santa Monica Tennis Center and Westchester Tennis Academy, and launched numerous other tennis businesses.

Fed up with the antiquated way that the sport was being taught and presented, Bellamy sought more fun and interactive methods of teaching. “Ninety-five percent of the tennis lessons in America are about as fun as going to a clarinet lesson,” Bellamy said. So he began teaching “Live Ball,” an on-court methodology of his own invention.

In 1999 Bellamy set his sights on curing the sports’ lack of tournaments on television by starting a cable network devoted to tennis. He launched The Tennis Channel in 2003. Although debuting to just a handful of cities across the United States, The Tennis Channel quickly became the most powerful media vehicle in the sport and is now available in every community in the country. It holds television rights to Davis Cup, Fed Cup, the Masters Series, the U.S. Open Series, the Australian Open and the French Open.

During his tenure as President at the channel, Bellamy rose to the top of the tennis world as one of its most provocative, knowledgeable, connected and charismatic figures and one of the most influential facilitators of melding the sport to mainstream media and pop culture. He appeared almost daily on radio and was a frequent analyst on television networks such as ESPN, Fox, Sporting News and CNN. He also hosted a show on The Tennis Channel. In 2005, he was named to Sports Business Journal's "Top 10 most Influential People" list and Tennis News named him “Person of the Year.” The award was subsequently renamed after him and “The Bellamy” will go to the most influential person in tennis each year. He sat on the boards of the ATP Foundation, the Tennis Industry Association, the International Tennis Federation's Joint Media Commission and the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He lectured to thousands and was a frequent personality at celebrity events. “Steve deserves a lot of credit for the popularity of the sport today," said Andre Agassi.

Bellamy has had a velvet touch at integrating celebrity into the game. Over the years, he has organized special events that have included Dustin Hoffman, Dr. Phil, David Spade, Sheryl Crow and scores of the biggest names in Hollywood. In 2006, he created one of the most distinctive sporting events in the world--The Tennis Channel Open in [[Las Vegas. “Tennispalooza” melded men’s, women’s, college and junior tennis with a myriad of other interesting sports, entertainment and cultural events that included the best from the worlds of paddle tennis, table tennis, air hockey, art, cooking, Motocross, dance, music and much more in a 14-day festival. The event featured one of the most revolutionary tennis broadcasts and made headlines across the globe. James Blake beat Lleyton Hewitt to win the men’s singles title and brothers Mike and Bob Bryan won the men’s doubles title while Motocross riders were simultaneously jumping 75 feet in the air off of ramps and doing flips. For his efforts, Bellamy received the key to the city from Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

As an entrepreneur, Bellamy is frequently spotlighted in mainstream media and has been featured on the covers of popular publications both in and out of tennis. The Kelley School of Business, the No. 1-ranked public university entrepreneurial program in the country, awarded him its most esteemed honor, the “Distinguished Entrepreneur Award.” An eclectic student who didn’t buy books for three years of college and didn’t make the Entrepreneur Club while in school, Bellamy was chosen from a field filled with Presidents and CEOs of companies with billions of dollars in revenues.

Bellamy is currently managing a portfolio of businesses that includes several tennis centers, a film company, the LA Golf Academy, and the Palisades Sound Recording Studio. His Atonal Films is focused on documentaries shot in hi-def. He has always been extremely charitable with his time and resources and recently formed the “Make a Racket Foundation,” the mission of which is to get unused tennis racquets out of closets and into the hands of underprivileged youth. The foundations’ first fundraiser was a free tennis exhibition called "Racquets, Stars & Guitars" which featured the Bryan Brothers, musician Gavin Rossdale, comedian Jon Lovitz, actresses Elizabeth Shue, Donna Mills, Melissa Rivers and Camryn Manheim and a myriad of other athletes and celebrities. The event was featured in US Weekly. Bellamy also sits on the board of “Head To Hollywood” with Carmen Electra and US Magazine West Coast Editor Ken Baker.

Bellamy’s wife Beth Herr was a NCAA singles champion at USC, a No. 1 world-ranked junior tennis player, a top 20 professional tennis player and is currently the top-ranked female paddle tennis player in the world. They have four children who are all tennis players. Steve is also an avid skier and documentary film buff.

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A native of Indiana, Bellamy fronted the rock band Johnny Major and the Minors while attending Indiana University, then moved to Los Angeles in 1986 to pursue a music career.

After frequently having to sell his cars and guitars to pay rent in the early years, Bellamy soon became a large draw on the Los Angeles Club circuit that lasted for a decade