Steven Sproat

Early life

Steven Edward Sproat was born on 18 November 1960, in Lanchester, Durham, England, where his father imparted a sense and imbued a love of music upon his son. He tried his hand at the cornet, but quickly abandoned the instrument in his youth before taking up the ukulele. His father constantly played George Formby cassettes while on trips with him, who was a banjoist and ukulelist, giving him the basis for learning the ukulele, and becoming proficient in playing the instrument before graduation from tertiary education. Sproat became a member of the George Fromby Society during the 1970s, surrounding himself by other likeminded musicians. He started playing the guitar after graduating school, when he was 18 years-old, leaving the ukulele aside for quite a while because he felt the instrument was antiquated. His songwriting began in 1985, when he was in his mid-twenties.

Music career

His music recording career commenced in 1988, with his first studio album, ''Straight Down the Line, releasing in 1989. He has since released seven more studio albums, There's More to Life in 1993, So Far so Good in 1999, Coming to My Senses in 1999, in Tomorrow's Road in 2004, Acer Glade in 2007, Full Circle in 2011, and Fruit for the Soul in 2016. He also supported Jools Holland 2012 on several shows and he featured on the Formby TV documentary with Frank Skinner (2011)and subsequently repeated many times on BBC2 and BBC4 TV

Author

He eventually authored multiple books about playing the ukulele, the first entitled, Starting Ukulele, in 2007. Sproat second books was titled, Absolute Beginners - Ukulele, in 2009. Author to Absolute Beginners UKulele books 1 & 2, also Starting UKulele and Starting UKulele 'The Next Step (Book 2) Also UKelounge DVD step by step ukulele playing skills

Discography

Singles include : 1989 School of Thought 'Dance with me@ vinyl -rare You Turn the light on 2007 Full Circle 2011 Fruit for the Soul 2016