Steve Free (born September 16, 1950) is an American musician.
Early career
Steve Free was born near Portsmouth, Ohio, on September 16, 1950, When he was 3, he moved to Tucson, Arizona for a short time and before returning to Ohio at age 9 where he graduated from Northwest High School, Scioto County, Ohio in 1968. He served in Air Force 1969-1973, where he took up the guitar and began writing songs.
Around this time he met Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native John Starkey and formed a folk trio in Philadelphia. There, they recorded and released songs on two small record labels. In 1990, Free signed with
Fraternity Records
Fraternity Records is a small record label based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was started by Harry Carlson and silent partner Dr. Ashton Welsh in 1954. The first recording to be released on Fraternity was Jerri Winters' "Winter's Here".
The first hit ...
, which is his current label. He shot to national attention in 1993 with his song about the
Ohio Prison riot entitled "Siege at Lucasville", which was used by the television series ''
48 Hours'' when they covered the story about the prison riot on their program.
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Today
Free is a known recording artist who has been called the "Appalachian
Jimmy Buffett." Additionally,
Cashbox Records has labeled him one of the most diverse artists known in music today. Free won eight
ASCAP Award
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
s, received a
Platinum Award, and Charted 14 songs on the national and international charts, including his "number one" song "
Just a Baby Boy", which is becoming a worldwide
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
song. In 2008, he was awarded The State of Ohio's Governor's Award as "Individual Artist." He received an arts award from the Kentucky State Senate in 2009 for his musical contributions to Appalachia. He has charted over 40 songs on the National and International Charts and has 3 Americana Music Award nominations.
Steve Free is an internationally acclaimed award-winning singer/songwriter/recording artist. The winner of numerous Music Industry Awards including 9 ASCAP Awards, a Platinum Record and a Grammy nomination he has charted over 30 songs on the National & International, Americana, Country & Billboard Charts, including 15 #1 songs, while remaining one of Music's Top Folk Artist both in the U.S and in Europe.
In 1996 he was named International Independent Recording Artist of the Year, in 2008 he won the Governor's Award as the #1 Artist in his home state of Ohio and in 2009 was honored by The Kentucky State Senate for his musical contributions to Appalachia. He is an Ohio Arts Council and Midwest Arts Council "Ohio Artist On Tour ".
In 2000 he received a lifetime achievement award from Airplay International in Nashville for his decades of international airplay. His song "Siege at Lucasville", about the 1993 Ohio prison riot was filmed by CBS TV's ''48 Hours'' in 1996 and his song "Our Hometown" is featured in the PBS documentary ''Beyond These Walls''.
In 2009 he was honored by being named an Official "Ohio Treasure".
In 2014 he has performed on PBS, NPR, and The Nashville Network and been featured in the ''AFM International'' Magazine, ''GTE Music'' Magazine in Nashville and numerous other music industry magazines and newspaper articles.
Song history
In 2012 he began writing a song titled "A Million Years" before his mother Florence Elizabeth (Thompson) LeBrun Free Wagner died on December 19, 2012. He recorded it in 2014 in memory of his mother. She never got to hear the song but she did get to see the lyrics of it.
Venues
Steve Free and his band are dedicated to performing throughout the Tri-State area at diverse locations such as
Camden Park and smaller venues such as Moyer's Winery and the Ye Olde Lantern in
Portsmouth, Ohio
Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...
They also perform at various festivals in the southern Ohio area.
References
External links
Steve Free's HomepageSteve Free's Facebook PageScioto County Storm Chaser Center's Online Radio StationPowersource MagazineOhio State UniversityGTE Music MagazineASCAP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Free, Steve
Living people
People from Portsmouth, Ohio
Musicians from Tucson, Arizona
1950 births
Guitarists from Arizona
20th-century American guitarists
Guitarists from Ohio