BIO
Steve Cooper is a well-established session guitarist who has performed throughout the UK & Europe for over thirty years. His performing and recording experience is vast and covers a wide spectrum of artists and styles.
Live performance and recording credits include international artists such as Robert Plant and Lionel Richie plus Jason Donovan, Journey South, Brenda Edwards, U.S soul legend Marc Broussard and jane mcdonald.
In addition to performing with Jane McDonald over the past 15 years, Steve is the guitarist on Channel 5's prime time TV music show 'Jane and Friends' with the BAFTA winner, which has run for three seasons, averaging over a million viewers per episode and including three Christmas and two NYE specials. Steve also contributed guitar playing to over twenty tracks featured on Channel 5’s ‘Cruising with Jane..’ hit series - featured on the Vol 1 and Vol 2 CD Releases.
Steve also co-wrote two original songs that featured on ‘jane and friends’ and worked with a wide a variety of the featured guests from music, stage and screen including Kerry Ellis, Gwen Dickey, Shayne Ward, Russell Watson, Zoe Burkett, Tony Hadley, Duncan James, Lee Mead, tony christie, carol decker (T’pau), limahl, gareth gates, ray quinn, lee ryan and chesney hawkes.
Steve is a renowned music educator and was Subject Leader for Popular Music at the University of Wolverhampton for 18 years between 2004-2022, where he specialised in teaching guitar, performance, harmony and songwriting. He is currently an acoustic and electric guitar examiner to diploma level with RGT@LCM and is appointed as an external examiner in Popular Music at City of Liverpool College. You can find free lesson content right here on the website for electric and acoustic guitar players.
Steve has worked closely with Roland (UK) as an artist ambassador and has regularly participated in masterclass sessions across the UK giving an insight into the life of a working musician.
Steve's work on the use of the iPod as a music teaching tool is internationally recognised and was published in two peer reviewed academic journals in 2008, The British Journal of Music Education (BJME) and the Journal of Music,Technology and Education. In 2013, Steve's book 'Never Mind The Bee S#arps' was published, reaching number 1 in the iTunes (UK) music book charts. Click books for further information and links to all available formats. Further Details and full text downloads of my academic research are available from my Research Gate page.
As a guitar arranger and transcriber, Steve has completed more than fifty published works for Music Sales including album folios by Queens of The Stone Age (Songs for The Deaf), The Vines (Highly Evolved) and The Clash’s ‘Complete Chord Songbook’. Other arrangements include tracks by Foo Fighters, Morrissey, System Of A Down, Velvet Revolver, The Killers, Funeral For A Friend, Maximo Park, Nine Inch Nails and Kaiser Chiefs.
Check out further material on the lessons and media pages.
Steve holds a first class honours degree in Music and Popular Music, a Masters in Higher Education teaching, a Licentiate Diploma in guitar from the London College of Music and is a teaching fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
