Stephen Fretwell (born November 10, 1981) is an English singer-songwriter from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.
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".
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'. This is something Fretwell describes as flattering but not something he actively encourages . 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.
His version of Jeff Buckley's Morning Theft, appears on the 2005 covers-album Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley.
He supported Oasis at Marley Park in Dublin on Saturday July 16 2005.
His song 'Bad Bad You, Bad Bad Me' was featured in the pilot episode of Dirt, starring Courtney Cox
Featured musicians on "Something's Got To Give" EP, "The Lines" EP and "Magpie" LP are JAY SIKORA (Drums - who also produced and played on "8 Songs"), MATT WATSON (Piano / Keys) and JONNY LEXUS (Bass Guitar - also played Electric Guitar on "Man On The Roof", inc single "Scar").
"Run" is currently used as the theme tune for the BBC3 Comedy, "Gavin & Stacey".
His new single is called "Scar" and will be released on 3rd September 2007, with the new album, "Man On The Roof" released on 10th September 2007, and featuring James Iha.
