Steve Balsamo

Steve Balsamo shot to prominence in 1997 after playing Jesus to great critical acclaim in the West End revival of "Jesus Christ Superstar". After winning a Variety Club Award for the role, Steve decided to return to his first love, writing and performing his own music, and signed to Columbia Records soon after. In 2002 he released his debut album "All I Am" which reached the top 40 in the UK.

Steve returned to the stage in the French phenomena "Notre Dame De Paris", and "Poe – More Tales Of Mystery and Imagination", a new musical by Alan Parsons Project writer Eric Woolfson. Based on the life and work of Edgar Alan Poe, the show had it's world premiere at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in 2003, and features the powerful song "Immortal".

In 2004, Steve formed The Storys, a West Coast influenced harmony country-rock band. Their highly acclaimed self-titled debut album, released in 2006, came to the attention of Elton John who, after publicly declaring it "Fantastic!", personally called Steve and invited the band to tour Europe with him – twice! The band have also toured and played with the likes of Joe Cocker, Katie Melua, Celine Dion, Santana, Runrig, Sinead O’Connor, Daniel Lanois, Van Morrison and Tom Jones to name-drop but a few.

Their songs have been featured in the US teen drama "One Tree Hill", and hit Brit-flick "The Bank Job", in which they make a cameo appearance playing two of their own songs. The Storys released their second album "Town Beyond The Trees" in the UK in 2008, again to great reviews.

As a side project, Steve also formed a progressive experimental rock project with Rob Reed (Magenta) and Rob Thompson (The Storys) called ChimpanA. The resulting CD also featured Sam Brown, Tony Dallas, Christina Boothe (Magenta), Margo Buchanan, Bluei, Nigel Hopkins, Andrew Griffiths and Sian Cothie. The musical influences were Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Bjork and Massive Attack!

He has also formed a trio, Oystermouth, with Rob Thompson and Andy Collins of The Storys, creating a sound that is a modern twist along the lines of Simon & Garfunkel in the those hazy, folky, seminal days of the late 60s/early 70s. An EP, 5 Songs For Jen, is available on iTunes.

Aside from this, Steve is a prolific songwriter, having scored hits in Europe and Australia, with artists as diverse as Meatloaf, Anthony Callea, Jonathon Cerrada and Slash of Guns N’ Roses fame. He is currently co-writing and producing an album for a beautiful and angelic voiced Welsh Soprano Annelies, with longtime song writing partner Ben Robbins.

After meeting Jon Lord, founder, writer and ex-keyboard player with Deep Purple at The Sunflower Jam in 2007, Steve went on to tour with him until his death in 2012. During this time they wrote over a dozen 'Classical Crossover' songs which will be released at some point in the future. Steve feels very privileged to have played with such a legend and genuinely nice man.

Steve has also sung on stage with the likes of Mario Frangoulis, Justin Hayward, Lara Fabian, Madeleine Peyroux, Glenn Hughes, Steve Harley, Roger Daltry, Robert Plant, Lulu, a couple of Stones, a couple of Eagles, a couple of Floyds and some of the best players on the planet!