Steve Balsamo

He had jobs that included a stint as a piano remover and working at Port Talbot steelworks—in between bouts on the dole—taken to support himself while gigging. He secured a place at Bristol University to study Graphic Art, but turned it down to accept a place at a local music college, where he played the role of Jesus in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar. In the meantime, he taught himself to play guitar and continued to write songs.

He toured with the late Jon Lord and had been writing and recording with him before Lord's death. Recently he has been writing songs with folk singer Rosalie Deighton for a duet project called Balsamo Deighton,° who performed in Swansea, Wales in 2013 in tribute to fellow Welshman Pete Ham.

Balsamo co-wrote the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, which finished 15th.

In 2004, Balsamo formed The Storys, a West Coast influenced country rock band consisting of Andy Collins (bass/vocals/songwriting), Dai Smith (guitar/vocals/songwriting), Alan Thomas (keyboards), Brian Thomas (drums/percussion) and Rob Thompson (guitar/vocals/songwriting). Dai Smith left in 2008 and was replaced by Rosalie Deighton.

Balsamo returned to the stage in the French musical "Notre Dame de Paris". He then worked on Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination, a new musical and an album by Alan Parsons Project writer Eric Woolfson, based on the life of poet Edgar Allan Poe. It premiered at Abbey Road Studios in 2003.

Venue: Abbey Road Studios, London (6 to 8 November 2003)

Balsamo signed to Columbia Records and started writing and recording his first album, All I Am, which was released in September 2002. The debut single from the album, “Sugar for the Soul” entered the UK Top 40, and was a frequently-requested favourite on The Box music channel and led to a TOTP2 appearance. The second single from the album, “All I Am is You”, was Ken Bruce’s single of the week on Radio 2.

Venue: Dominion Theatre, London (May to October 2000)

After a friend mentioned to Steve that Andrew Lloyd Webber was looking for a performer to play the part of Jesus, Balsamo seized the opportunity to showcase his 3½ octave range voice, determined to get the part. Despite his lack of West End experience, he won the role of Jesus from the thousands who auditioned, leading to a memorable headline: "The Son of God is Welsh". On one television performance from the show he not only had Andrew Lloyd Webber weeping, but also managed to sell £160,000 worth of tickets to the show in half an hour. He won a Variety Club award for the role in 1997.

Around this time, Balsamo attended a workshop in Cardiff run by The Prince's Trust for unemployed musicians. He was asked to open The Prince's Trust Masters of Music Concert at Hyde Park in 1996, in front of a 150,000 crowd.

Venue: Lyceum Theatre, London (November 1996 to September 1997)

Venue: The Point, Dublin and Edinburgh Playhouse (1993)

Steve Balsamo is a Welsh singer and songwriter, best known for playing the lead role in the London production of Jesus Christ Superstar during the mid-1990s. He performs as a member of several bands and is also a successful songwriter.