Steven Spence, is from the island of Unst in Shetland. Unst’s music tradition is the source of many of Shetland’s most popular traditional tunes and names synonymous with Shetland traditional fiddle playing such as Stickle, Gray and Spence. He is a wonderful fiddle player and an inspired writer whose tunes have been recorded onto dozens of albums and become part of the session scene..
Steven started playing the fiddle as a young boy and continues a family tradition of fiddling. His father, Arthur teaches fiddle in Unst. Whilst at school Steven had fiddle lessons from the late Dr Tom Anderson and it was during this time at 11, that his talents as a composer began, with his first composition for his mother, which he called "Ruby’s Success".
Steven is not only one of Shetland's top fiddlers, he also plays guitar, bass and mandolin. At the age of seventeen he recorded his first album "Me and My Shadows", playing all instruments. Recognition as one of Shetland’s top fiddlers certainly came whilst playing with internationally renowned Shetland folk band “Hom Bru” with whom he played for ten years. He was also a member of the "Garster's Dream Band" along with Malcolm Green, Henry Henderson, William Smith, Debbie Scott (fiddle), Sylvia Priest (accordian), Brian Nicolson (guitar) and Roy Tait (bass). They did a tour of Scotland and England and performed in front of 10,000 people at the Fairport Convention Reunion in Oxfordshire.
After a gap of some years Steven is back playing again, and to go with his latest CD there is a fantastic book of his compositions titled Spencie's Tunes. An excellent collection to enhance any musicians repertoire.
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