Freddie Stevenson (born 9 March 1980 in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

, England) is a Scottish singer-songwriter from Edinburgh.

Biography

Early life

Stevenson is the eldest of three children born to Scottish artist and

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US * Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska * Potters, New Je ...

Charles Stevenson and children's television writer and producer Jocelyn Stevenson, co-creator of the popular programme '' Fraggle Rock''. Stevenson was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

in north-west London from 1993-1998 during which time he taught himself to play guitar before moving to RADA to study drama.

Acting

Upon graduating from RADA in 2002, he appeared in a number of television and stage roles including ''

Cambridge Spies ''Cambridge Spies'' is a four-part British drama miniseries written by Peter Moffat and directed by Tim Fywell, that was first broadcast on BBC Two in May 2003 and is based on the true story of four brilliant young men at the University of Cambr ...

'', in which he appeared briefly, and '' State of Play'', in which he was on-screen for just under thirty seconds. Latterly he toured both the UK and USA in Sir Peter Hall's 2003 & 2004 production of ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...

'', which included significant runs at both

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

and the

Los Angeles Music Center The Music Center (officially named the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County) is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Located in downtown Los Angeles, The Music Center is composed of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ...

, during which time he became involved in a long term relationship with co-star actress Rebecca Hall.Cripps, C
"My art belongs to Daddy"
'' The Independent'', 13 July 2004

Early song writing

Having always enjoyed writing songs and playing them to his friends, Stevenson eventually started collaborating with John Perry of

The Only Ones The Only Ones were an English rock band formed in London in 1976, whose original band members are Peter Perrett, Alan Mair, John Perry and Mike Kellie, they first disbanded in 1982. They were associated with punk rock, yet straddled the music ...

in the middle of 2004. Culminating in a set of four well received acoustic demos, they began with a series of low key gigs around London and Edinburgh before embarking on a recording an acoustic EP that saw a limited release and was sold at live concerts, before being made available via the

iTunes Music Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 ...

''Body on the Line''

In the summer of 2005, Perry introduced Stevenson to a group of Stockholm-based musicians comprising Brady Blade (

Dave Matthews & Friends Dave Matthews & Friends is an American jam band that was put together for a tour to support Dave Matthews' solo debut, ''Some Devil''. Most of the musicians participated in the album's production. The band consists of: * Dave Matthews � ...

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...

, Bob Dylan) on drums, Surjo Benigh ( Ulf Lundell) on bass, and Jan Petersson ( Eric Bibb, Odetta) on keyboards. Recording sessions took place in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and London, and were mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Nashville sessions

Throughout the period of completing Body on the Line, Stevenson continued writing feverishly and new songs were regularly aired whilst touring in support of the first record. Shortly after the first LP's release in December 2006, Stevenson and Perry took residence in Nashville, Tennessee at Ocean Way Studios without a particular aim other than to record some new music. Re-joining Stevenson was drummer Brady Blade who suggested bass player Chris Donohue and multi-instrumentalist Phil Madeira be included in the band. The sessions were recorded and mixed by Prince's engineer and producer

David Z David Z may refer to: * David Z (producer) David Rivkin (born 1953), professionally known as David Z, is an American music producer, engineer, and songwriter from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is best known for his long-standing work with Prince, a ...

. 19 songs were recorded by the group, with 15 of these ultimately being mixed at a second session in February 2007.

Discography

* ''EP'' (2004) * ''Body on The Line'' (2006) * ''All My Strange Companions'' (2008) * ''Blongs'' (2010) * ''The City Is King'' (2011) * ''Love Machine'' (2014)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Freddie 1980 births Alumni of RADA Living people People educated at Harrow School 21st-century Scottish male singers People from Hereford Musicians from Edinburgh