Sam Coulson (born 9 February 1987) is an English guitarist, best known for being a member of

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

from 2013 to 2018, after his guitar-playing skills were noticed on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Coulson 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 Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

-based musical, ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album '' News of the World'', written by guitarist Brian May. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it p ...

'' on its North American tour.

Career

Coulson made his debut on the video-hosting website

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 (born November 6, 1966) is an American hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big (American band), Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X (band), Racer X, with whom he ...

, 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 Walter Trout (born March 6, 1951, in Ocean City, New Jersey, United States) is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Biography Trout's career began on the Jersey coast scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He then decided to re ...

in October of the same year. This publicity led to Coulson joining the British rock band

. When Asia's guitarist

Steve Howe Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist and backing vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes (band), Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, London, Holloway, North London, Howe d ...

retired from the band in January 2013, Coulson was selected as his replacement. According to Asia frontman

John Wetton John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Although he was left-handed, he was known for his skilled right-handed bass playing as well as his booming baritone voice. He was a member ...

, 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 () was one of the ancient Roman virtues that denoted "seriousness". It is also translated variously as weight, dignity, and importance and connotes restraint and moral rigor. It also conveys a sense of responsibility and commitment to the task ...

'', 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 ''

'' - 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 Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

based on songs by

- on its North American tour.

Discography

;Solo albums *''Electric Classical'' (2015) *''Black Cross'' (2019) ;With Asia *''

'' (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