Stephen Fretwell (born 10 November 1981) is an English singer-songwriter.
Biography
Fretwell attended St. Augustine Webster Primary School in Scunthorpe and St. Bede's Catholic School in Ashby before furthering his study at
John Leggott College
John Leggott College is a sixth form college on West Common Lane, in Old Brumby, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England.
History
Technical school
The earliest predecessor to the college was known as Scunthorpe Technical High School oCole Str ...
. It was in his teenage years that he started his first band, named Label.
After moving to
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
to attend
Salford University
, caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford
, mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things"
, established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...
(to study English, but dropping out within a few days), he started to earn notices in ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' and ''
Q''. During this period songs such as "Emily" and "What’s That You Say Little Girl?" were first written.
Fretwell decided to stay in Manchester permanently, later releasing ''8 Songs'' which he released on Northern Ambition, a label owned by a friend.
He left university after one year, and started to perform at local acoustic nights in the Manchester area. The first of these was at The Roadhouse, a venue in the centre of Manchester's Northern Quarter.
He later released the ''Something's Got to Give''
EP and ''The Lines'', both
self-financed. He then supported
Travis,
Elbow
The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the me ...
,
Athlete,
Keane and
KT Tunstall. Signed to
Fiction Records
Fiction Records is a British record label founded by Chris Parry in 1978, owned by Universal Music Group and based in the United Kingdom. It is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. It was originally a part of Polydor, ...
, and while under management by
Colin Lester's and Ian McAndrew's Wildlife entertainment, his debut album ''Magpie'' was released in November 2004. It was recorded at the
Abbey Road Studios.
It peaked at No. 27 in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
in August 2005.
The first single taken from the album was "Run" and was subsequently followed by "Emily" (2005) and the ''Four Letter Words'' EP. "Emily" reached No. 42 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in August 2005.
He had previously supported
Oasis at Marlay Park in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
on 16 July 2005.
He was described by ''Q'' as "Scunthorpe's finest export... ever". Fretwell described this as flattering but not something he actively encouraged.
His version of
Jeff Buckley
Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...
's "Morning Theft" appeared on the 2005 tribute album ''
Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley''.
His song Play featured in the 2005
Dominic Savage film ''
Love + Hate''.
His song "Bad Bad You, Bad Bad Me" was featured in an episode of the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
family drama ''
Brothers & Sisters'' called "
The Missionary Imposition".
He released a single called "Scar" on 3 September 2007, which was included on his album ''Man on the Roof''. This album was recorded in New York City, released by Fiction Records on 10 September 2007, and featured
James Iha
(born March 26, 1968) is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent years ...
.
In the UK Albums Chart the album would peak at number 44, becoming his second Top 75 hit.
Fretwell also played bass on tour with the
Last Shadow Puppets
The Last Shadow Puppets are an English supergroup consisting of Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Miles Kane ( The Rascals, solo artist), James Ford (Simian, Simian Mobile Disco, music producer), and Zach Dawes (Mini Mansions). The band released ...
, the side project of
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, ...
'
Alex Turner
Alexander David Turner (born 6 January 1986) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is well known as the frontman and principal songwriter of the rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has released seven albums. He ...
.
His song "Run" is the
theme tune
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at som ...
to the situation comedy ''
Gavin & Stacey
''Gavin & Stacey'' is a British sitcom written by James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one in Billericay, Essex; one in Barry, South Wales. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the titular characters Gavin and Stacey and the writers ...
'' and his song "Darling Don't" appeared on the third series of the teen drama ''
Skins''.
His song "Play" from the album ''Magpie'' was featured in the 2009 movie ''
The Joneses
''The Joneses'' is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Derrick Borte, in his directorial debut. It stars Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Amber Heard, and Ben Hollingsworth. It premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film F ...
''.
On 1 March 2021, Fretwell released a new single, "Oval" after a 13 year hiatus
and announced a new album, called ''Busy Guy'', to be released on cult indie record label
Speedy Wunderground
Daniel De Mussenden Carey (born 24 December 1969) is an English record producer, songwriter, mixer and remixer. He owns his own studio in South London and runs the record label Speedy Wunderground.
In 2014, Carey received two Mercury Prize no ...
.
Discography
Albums
*''8 Songs'' (Mini-album 2002)
*''Magpie'' (Fiction Records 2004) UK No. 27
*''Man on the Roof'' (Fiction Records 2007) UK No. 44
*''Busy Guy'' (Speedy Wunderground/PIAS 2021)
EPs
*''Something's Got to Give'' (EP)
*''The Lines''
*''Four Letter Words'' (EP) (2007)
Singles
*"Run" (2005) UK No. 79
*"Emily" (2005) UK No. 42
*"Scar" (2007)
*"Oval" (2021)
Other contributions
*''
Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley'' (2006, Full Time Hobby) – "Morning Theft"
References
External links
Stephen Fretwell's official websiteOfficial Profileon
InstagramOfficial Profileon
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
Interviewon musicOMH.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fretwell, Stephen
1981 births
Living people
English male singer-songwriters
People from Scunthorpe
Fiction Records artists
21st-century English singers
21st-century British male singers