Steven Wilson Biography

Steven Wilson is a British musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is the founder of the rock band Porcupine Tree, being involved in other musical projects as well. As a solo artist, he released 4 studio albums and gained 2 Grammy nominations, out of a total 4. In 2016, Guitar World magazine named him one of the top 15 progressive rock guitarists.

Early Life

Wilson was born in London, in 1967. He became interested in music when he was 8 and his parents brought each other LPs for Christmas. Therefore, Wilson was specifically inspired by Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and Donna Summer’s Love to Love You Baby. During his childhood, he learned to play the guitar, against his will at first. When he was 12, he received his first multi-track tape machine and a vocoder.

Porcupine Tree

In 1987, Wilson and his friend Malcolm Stocks formed the duo Porcupine Tree. They recorded at home their first songs, which subsequently were remastered and included on the band’s debut studio album, On the Sunday of Life… In 1993, a second album came out, Up the Downstair, receiving critical acclaim. Melody Maker called it “a psychedelic masterpiece… one of the albums of the year”. After completing the line-up, Porcupine Tree released The Sky Moves Sideways, which led them to be compared to Pink Floyd. After a few more albums, the band made its major label debut, with 2002’s In Absentia. Furthermore, 2007 and 2009’s albums, Fear of a Blank Planet and The Incident charted very well in both the US and Europe.

Solo Career

Wilson started his solo career by releasing a series of 2-track CDs, each featuring a cover and an original song. He covered Alanis Morissette, ABBA, The Cure and others. In 2008, his first solo album came out, Insurgentes. In 2012, he released a double album, Grace For Drowning, which reached number  34 in the UK and also charted in the US. Additionally, Steven Wilson won the Guiding Light title at the Progressive Music Awards. In 2013, The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) received major acclaim and its title track was featured in the movie Pompeii. Wilson’s fourth album, Hand. Cannot. Erase. came out two years later. It peaked at top 20 in the UK and top 40 in the US. His fifth album is due for August 2017. To The Bone was teased with the song Pariah, featuring Ninet Tayeb.

Photo credit: BBC