Stephen attended St. Augustine Webster Primary School in Scunthorpe and St. Bede’s Catholic School in Ashby before furthering his study at John Leggott College - It was here that he started his first band ‘Label’. Fretwell is a keen fan of bands of the Brit-pop era, such as Oasis, Blur, The Bluetones, Radiohead, and Suede. During this period he formed a band; in order to demonstrate his talent to a wider audience. After moving to Salford in the autumn of 2000 Stephen started to gain recognition for his music. He earned notice from magazines such as NME, Q Magazine. 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 put out on Northern Ambition, a label owned by a friend. Fretwell later described it as ‘The one I did to prove to myself I could put out one proper record’. Fretwell left university after only one year, discovering that education wasn’t for him at this time, after all he’d only managed to attend two lectures. With this he picked up his guitar and started to perform at local acoustic nights in the Manchester area. The first of these nights being at The Roadhouse, a venue that lay in the centre of Manchester’s Northern Quarter. That night Fretwell impressed a restless and hard to please crowd with his performance. He later released the Something’s Got to Give EP and The Lines, both self-financed. On back of his growing stature and reputation, Fretwell was invited to support bands such as Travis, Elbow, Athlete, Keane and KT Tunstall. His debut album Magpie, was released in November 2004. The first single taken from the album was “Run” and was subsequently followed by “Emily” which was in the Top 10 airplayed songs. His last single was “Four Letter Words EP”. His song ” Run “ is the theme tune to the award winning sitcom Gavin & Stacey. He is known for his curly mop of ginger hair, sombre lyrics and gravelly deep voice. He names his main influence as Bob Dylan. His songs are derivative of Dylan’s work, and he learnt to play guitar by playing Dylan’s songs on his grandfather’s old, unused guitar. He was described by Q Magazine as ‘Scunthorpe’s finest export… ever’. The Times magazine said ‘Not in your face but in your heart? Yes’. He is signed to Fiction Records and recorded his album at the Abbey Road Studios. He has just released his new album “Man on the Roof” that recieved the same critical acclaim as “Magpie” with beautiful songs such as “Funny Hat” and “Now”… The official website can be found at http://www.stephenfretwell.com/. |
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