Steve Balsamo
Encyclopedia
Steve Balsamo is a Welsh singer and songwriter, famous for his lead role on the London version of Jesus Christ Superstar
during the mid 1990s.
on 19 May 1971, his father a chef from Venice
, his mother Welsh
. At school, he was dismissed from the choir, being told he could not sing. He channelled his creative leanings into art and attended art school to specialise in painting
. At the age of 17, he resumed singing and songwriting, forming several bands which toured pubs and clubs performing renditions of classic rock songs.
He had jobs that included a stint as a piano remover and working at Port Talbot
steelworks—in between bouts on the dole
—taken to support himself while gigging. He secured a place at Bristol University to study Graphic Art, but turned it down to accept a place at a local music college, where he played the role of Jesus
in a production of "Superstar
". In the meantime, he taught himself to play guitar
and continued to write songs.
Around this time, Balsamo attended a workshop in Cardiff
run by The Prince's Trust
for unemployed musicians. So successful was Balsamo's performance, that he was asked to open The Prince's Trust Masters of Music Concert at Hyde Park
in 1996. The Who
, Alanis Morissette
, Eric Clapton
and Bob Dylan
were among those who entertained the 150,000 fans that day.
After a friend mentioned to Steve that Andrew Lloyd Webber
was looking for a performer to play the part of Jesus, Balsamo seized the opportunity to showcase his 3½ octave range voice, determined to get the part. Despite his lack of West End experience, he won the role of Jesus from the thousands who auditioned, leading to a memorable headline: "The Son of God is Welsh". On one television performance from the show he not only had Andrew Lloyd Webber
weeping, but also managed to sell £160,000 worth of tickets to the show in half an hour. He won a Variety Club award for the role in 1997.
Balsamo signed to Columbia Records
and started writing and recording his first album, “All I Am”, which was released in September 2002. The debut single from the album, “Sugar for the Soul” entered the UK Top 40, and was a frequently-requested favourite on The Box music channel and led to a TOTP2
appearance. The second single from the album, “All I Am is You”, was Ken Bruce
’s single of the week on Radio 2
.
Balsamo returned to the stage in the French musical "Notre Dame de Paris". He then worked on Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination
, a new musical and an album by Alan Parsons Project writer Eric Woolfson
, based on the life of poet Edgar Alan Poe. It premiered at Abbey Road Studios in 2003.
In 2004, Balsamo formed The Storys
, a West Coast influenced country rock band consisting of Andy Collins (bass/vocals/songwriting), Dai Smith (guitar/vocals/songwriting), Alan Thomas (keyboards), Brian Thomas (drums/percussion) and Rob Thompson (guitar/vocals/songwriting). Dai Smith left in 2008 and was replaced by Rosalie Deighton.
Balsamo, along with Storys bandmate Rob and Rob Reed of prog rock band Magenta, also worked on a progrock project called ChimpanA.
Balsamo is a prolific songwriter and has had hits in Europe and Australia with artists such as Meat Loaf
, Anthony Callea
, Jonatan Cerrada
, and Slash
of Guns N' Roses
. He has also sung on stage with the likes of Mario Frangoulis
, Justin Hayward
, Lara Fabian
, Madeleine Peyroux
, Joe Walsh
, Glenn Hughes, Steve Harley
and Jon Lord
.
Venue: Abbey Road Studios, London (6 to 8 November 2003)
Venue: Dominion Theatre
, London (May to October 2000)
Venue: Lyceum Theatre, London (November 1996 to September 1997)
Venue: The Point, Dublin and Edinburgh Playhouse (1993)
Singles:
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
during the mid 1990s.
Biography
Steve Balsamo was born in WalesWales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
on 19 May 1971, his father a chef from Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, his mother Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. At school, he was dismissed from the choir, being told he could not sing. He channelled his creative leanings into art and attended art school to specialise in painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. At the age of 17, he resumed singing and songwriting, forming several bands which toured pubs and clubs performing renditions of classic rock songs.
He had jobs that included a stint as a piano remover and working at Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...
steelworks—in between bouts on the dole
Jobseeker's Allowance
Jobseeker's Allowance is a United Kingdom benefit, colloquially known as the dole . It is a form of unemployment benefit paid by the government to people who are unemployed and seeking work. It is part of the social security benefits system and is intended to cover living expenses while the...
—taken to support himself while gigging. He secured a place at Bristol University to study Graphic Art, but turned it down to accept a place at a local music college, where he played the role of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
in a production of "Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
". In the meantime, he taught himself to play guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and continued to write songs.
Around this time, Balsamo attended a workshop in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
run by The Prince's Trust
The Prince's Trust
The Prince's Trust is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by Charles, Prince of Wales to help young people. They run a range of training programmes, provide mentoring support and offer financial grants to build the confidence and motivation of disadvantaged young people...
for unemployed musicians. So successful was Balsamo's performance, that he was asked to open The Prince's Trust Masters of Music Concert at Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
in 1996. The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
were among those who entertained the 150,000 fans that day.
After a friend mentioned to Steve that Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
was looking for a performer to play the part of Jesus, Balsamo seized the opportunity to showcase his 3½ octave range voice, determined to get the part. Despite his lack of West End experience, he won the role of Jesus from the thousands who auditioned, leading to a memorable headline: "The Son of God is Welsh". On one television performance from the show he not only had Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
weeping, but also managed to sell £160,000 worth of tickets to the show in half an hour. He won a Variety Club award for the role in 1997.
Balsamo signed to Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
and started writing and recording his first album, “All I Am”, which was released in September 2002. The debut single from the album, “Sugar for the Soul” entered the UK Top 40, and was a frequently-requested favourite on The Box music channel and led to a TOTP2
TOTP2
Top of the Pops 2 is a British television music show broadcast on BBC Two, showing archive footage from the long-running Top of the Pops show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on British television....
appearance. The second single from the album, “All I Am is You”, was Ken Bruce
Ken Bruce
Kenneth Robertson Bruce is a British broadcaster known for his programme on BBC Radio 2, which is broadcast on weekdays from 9:30am until 12 noon.-Early life and career:...
’s single of the week on Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
.
Balsamo returned to the stage in the French musical "Notre Dame de Paris". He then worked on Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination is an album by Eric Woolfson.-Track listing:# Angel Of The Odd# Wings Of Eagles# Train To Freedom# Somewhere In The Audience# The Bell# The Pit and the Pendulum: Part I...
, a new musical and an album by Alan Parsons Project writer Eric Woolfson
Eric Woolfson
Eric Norman Woolfson was a Scottish songwriter, lyricist, vocalist, executive producer, pianist, and creator of The Alan Parsons Project. He has sold over 50 million albums world-wide....
, based on the life of poet Edgar Alan Poe. It premiered at Abbey Road Studios in 2003.
In 2004, Balsamo formed The Storys
The Storys
The Storys are a Welsh rock band from Swansea, Wales, UK, formed in Spring 2003. Their main influence is 1970s U.S. West Coast bands in the country-rock genre...
, a West Coast influenced country rock band consisting of Andy Collins (bass/vocals/songwriting), Dai Smith (guitar/vocals/songwriting), Alan Thomas (keyboards), Brian Thomas (drums/percussion) and Rob Thompson (guitar/vocals/songwriting). Dai Smith left in 2008 and was replaced by Rosalie Deighton.
Balsamo, along with Storys bandmate Rob and Rob Reed of prog rock band Magenta, also worked on a progrock project called ChimpanA.
Balsamo is a prolific songwriter and has had hits in Europe and Australia with artists such as Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
, Anthony Callea
Anthony Callea
Anthony Cosmo Callea is an Australian singer-songwriter who rose to prominence in the 2004 season of Australian Idol when he became runner up. He was signed to Sony Music Australia until 2009 and is now an independent artist...
, Jonatan Cerrada
Jonatan Cerrada
Jonatan Cerrada is a Belgian-born singer who became the first French Pop Idol. He has had hit singles across Western Europe especially in France, Belgium, and Spain.-Personal life:...
, and Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
of Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
. He has also sung on stage with the likes of Mario Frangoulis
Mario Frangoulis
Mario Frangoulis is a Greek tenor and is best known for his song, "Vincerò, Perderò". He sings in Italian, Spanish, English, French, and Greek; he is fluent in all 5 languages.-Early life:...
, Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward
Justin Hayward is an English musician, best known as singer, songwriter and guitarist in the rock band The Moody Blues.Hayward was born in Dean Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, England...
, Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian is a Belgian-Italian international singer who also holds Canadian citizenship. Multilingual, she sings in French, Italian and English....
, Madeleine Peyroux
Madeleine Peyroux
Madeleine Peyroux is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Peyroux is noted for her vocal style, which has been compared to that of Billie Holiday....
, Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
, Glenn Hughes, Steve Harley
Steve Harley
Steve Harley is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still occasionally tours .-Biography:As a child, Harley suffered from polio, spending four years in hospital up to the...
and Jon Lord
Jon Lord
Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
.
Theatre
- Eric Woolfson's Poe (Concert Performance) - Edgar Allan Poe
Venue: Abbey Road Studios, London (6 to 8 November 2003)
- Notre Dame De ParisNotre Dame de Paris (musical)Notre-Dame de Paris is a sung-through French-Canadian musical which debuted on 16 September 1998 in Paris. It is based upon the novel Notre-Dame de Paris by the French novelist Victor Hugo...
- Phoebus
Venue: Dominion Theatre
Dominion Theatre
The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre on Tottenham Court Road close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point Tower, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:...
, London (May to October 2000)
- Jesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
- Jesus of Nazareth
Venue: Lyceum Theatre, London (November 1996 to September 1997)
- Les MisérablesLes Misérables (musical)Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
- Feuilly and understudied and played Marius
Venue: The Point, Dublin and Edinburgh Playhouse (1993)
Discography
Album:- All I Am (Released: 9 September 2002, Columbia RecordsColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
)
Singles:
- "Sugar for the Soul" (Released: 4 March 2002, Columbia) UK #32
- "All I Am is You" (Released: 2 September 2002, Columbia)
- "Immortal" (Released: 2003, Sony Music)