Sam Coulson (born 9 February 1987) is an English guitarist, best known for being a member of
progressive rock band
Asia from 2013 to 2018, after his guitar-playing skills were noticed on the video-hosting website
YouTube.
Sam was born in Chigwell London, and later moved to the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove.
In 2013 Coulson married and moved to Canada. As of 2019, he is currently the lead guitarist for the
Queen-based musical, ''
We Will Rock You'' on its North American tour.
Career
Coulson made his debut on the video-hosting website
YouTube in 2007, sharing videos of himself playing songs on the electric guitar. His playing attracted the attention of the famous American guitarist
Paul Gilbert
Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X, with whom he released several albums. In 1996, Gilbert launched a solo career, for which h ...
, who in July 2012 invited him to be a guest instructor for his "Great Guitar Escape" series of workshops, as well as seeing him being invited on stage to sit in with American blues musician
Walter Trout in October of the same year.
This publicity led to Coulson joining the British rock band
Asia. When Asia's guitarist
Steve Howe retired from the band in January 2013, Coulson was selected as his replacement. According to Asia frontman
John Wetton, the band had a "list of favourites" for Howe's replacement. Gilbert was one of these favourites, but was unable to take the role, and recommended Coulson. Coulson worked with Asia on their studio album ''
Gravitas'', released on 25 March 2014, as well as performing on the following tour. During Asia's 2015 hiatus, Coulson worked on a solo album entitled ''Electric Classical'', consisting of
classical pieces played on the electric guitar, which was released 20 November 2015.
Coulson left Asia in 2018 to focus on solo projects. This was announced both by the band in a tour announcement, and by Coulson himself in a Twitter post on 2 April 2019, with Coulson stating that he was looking forward to seeing the band "as a fan".
Following his departure from Asia, Coulson released a second album on 15 March 2019 entitled ''Black Cross'', consisting of original guitar compositions.
On 26 June 2019, Coulson announced via his Twitter that he had joined, as lead guitarist, the touring band for ''
We Will Rock You'' - the
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
based on songs by
Queen - on its North American tour.
Discography
;Solo albums
*''Electric Classical'' (2015)
*''Black Cross'' (2019)
;With Asia
*''
Gravitas'' (2014)
*''Symfonia: Live In Bulgaria 2013'' (2017; recorded 2013)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulson, Sam
1987 births
Living people
21st-century British guitarists
Asia (band) members