Steven Sharp Nelson

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Steven Sharp Nelson (born July 5, 1977) is an American cellist and songwriter.

He is best known as "The Cello Guy" of the classical new-age musical group The Piano Guys, with whom he has released eight number-one albums and scores of music videos.

He also has three solo albums to his name.

He is regarded as a pioneer in "cello-percussion," which improves traditional cello playing with pizzicato and perssive techniques.

Early life and education

Steven Sharp Nelson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the uncle of John C. Nelson and Lynne Sanders. His mother, Mariae Nelson, died of a brain tumor on May 21, 1999, and his younger sister, Camille Nelson, is a folk singer. Nelson's father, who was seven years old at the time, decided that all of his children would learn to play an instrument that wasn't available before 1800. Nelson tried the violin but found a passion for the cello. He studied cello with instructor Kate Reeves and then with Ryan Selberg, Utah Symphony's principal cellist. Since his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) stifled his attention span for long practice sessions, he started training on other instruments, such as drums, guitar, and piano. "strumming it, banning it, and using pizzicato more aggressively – using my thumb, fist, fingernail, and palm." He has performed with various musical groups, including jazz, orchestras, and string quartets.

Nelson received his bachelor's degree in music from the University of Utah in 2002. He received a master's degree in public administration as well as a graduate certificate in urban planning from the same university in 2007.

Personal life

Nelson is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nelson went to South Korea as part of his faith. He believes that his art and his tours are a way to spread the gospel; he also gives a copy of the Book of Mormon to someone on nearly every tour. Prior to every concert, recording session, or video shoot, he and the other members of The Piano Guys, all LDS, prayed together.

Nelson and his partner, Julie, have four children and live in Salt Lake City. In 2017, he performed a duet with his daughter Lucy, who performed, in the One Voice Children's Choir's music video "Only Hope." In a "Rewrite the Stars" tribute, he performed with his wife, who played violin, in 2018.

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Career

Nelson began working as a real estate developer before becoming the owner of Thornton Walker Real Estate. He played cello with local musicians on stage and in the studio in his spare time. He had appeared on more than 100 locally made music CDs by 2006, and that was by 2006. Several pianists and a guitarist were among his musician friends. He referred to his music as a "fuge rather than a profession" in 2006, and didn't expect that music would be his primary occupation.

Nelson signed with Stone Angel Music, an independent record label in Salt Lake City that was founded by Paul Cardall in 1999. Sacred Cello, his first solo album, made it into the Billboard top 20 classical albums and received a Pearl Award for Best Instrumental Classical Album. Tender Mercies (2008) and Christmas Cello (2010) are two of his other solo albums.

Nelson became a member of The Piano Guys in 2011. The group was founded by Paul Anderson, the owner of The Piano Guys piano store in St. George, Utah, who wanted to advertise his store via social media. Anderson saw a YouTube music video posted "for fun" by local musician Jon Schmidt, starring Schmidt on piano and Nelson on cello and kick drum, as part of Coldplay's "Viva la Vida." Over one million views were earned by the video. Anderson recruited the pair to film videos that he would professionally film in unusual locations and post on his store's YouTube channel. Nelson brought Al van der Beek, a songwriter and music arranger with a home recording studio, along with his project. Tel Stewart was assisting with video editing.

The Piano Guys received their first widespread exposure with "Michael Meets Mozart" (2011), thanks to Schmidt's invitation to the nearly 30,000 people on his fan mailing list to "watch it and share it"; as a result, audiences began viewing the recordings outside of the area. Nelson was seen on the video performing 100 cello tracks to achieve the final effect. Nelson's YouTube videos of "Cello Wars" (2011) and "Beethoven's 5 Secrets" (2012) debuted at number one on the YouTube charts.

In 2012, the Piano Guys joined Sony Masterworks. All of them left regular jobs to pursue their musical dreams at that point. Eight number one albums have been released by the company. They have surpassed 1.6 billion views on their YouTube channel and have 6.2 million followers as of August 2018.

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