Good News Tucson - A Family Values Publication

ESTEBAN Plays Tucson by Travis Kelly

Stephen Paul, the son of steel mill worker, born in 1948 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saw his first guitar at the age of eight in a store window. Stephen's uncle bought him the guitar. "It never left my hands", says Esteban. Esteban is the name given to Stephen by legendary guitarist extraordinaire Andres Segovia. Esteban studied with Segovia from 1974-1978 in Spain. A tragedy almost cost him his career. His albums have appeared on Billboard's Top 200 list. Today he is considered one of the masters of classical guitar. Esteban will be in Tucson Saturday, March 1, 2008 at the Rialto Theatre.

As a young man, Esteban focused all his spare time on playing and learning the guitar himself. His dream was to express his inner feelings through his music. As an aspiring student of the guitar, he longed to be taught by Andres Segovia. A dream with little hope of ever becoming a reality since Esteban was self taught. Segovia only accepted students from other classical guitarists. Realizing that it was likely only a dream, Esteban enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University and graduated in 1974. His first year there was 1968 and it was the first year guitar was offered - the teacher was a cellist. Again the young soon to be Esteban was on his own and taught himself to play. He stunned the critics with his amazing self-taught style and played his own compositions. After graduation he taught guitar classes and played gigs to earn a living. The dream and quest to study with Segovia never left him.

Esteban left hundreds of messages for Segovia on bright yellow cards while he was on tour. "My life is meaningless unless I can study with you." In 1974 Segovia finally agreed to hear Esteban play. After hearing him play, Segovia invited Esteban to Santiago de Compostela in the Northern part of Spain for master classes.

Upon the completion of these classes Segovia invited Esteban to Madrid to study privately with him. Esteban was finally the student under the teacher he longed to learn from. These are the moments and memories that he cherishes to this day. Esteban learned everything he could from Segovia for four years and in 1978 Segovia endorsed Esteban and then Esteban returned to the states and began touring. "Segovia taught me how to put emotion into my music and now I play from my heart". One year later he was in a car accident. He suffered severe damage to his left arm and hand and was not able to play for ten years. Through dedication and sheer love for his music, Esteban returned to playing and touring in 1990.

Since then he has charted nineteen top 20 New Age Album, including three Number Ones. His 1999 album "Enter the Heart" stayed on the charts for 31 weeks. The most recent release, "Best of Esteban," broke that run lasting 38 weeks on the charts. Esteban is the first ever musician to be on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. He was also in a full-feature article for People Magazine. He has created quality affordable guitars. Another one of his dreams is becoming realized as people of all ages are inspired to pick up the guitar and learn to play. A great deal of his commercial success has been credited to selling his guitars and music on the QVC and HSN.

His fans recognize him worldwide by his bolero hat and sunglasses along with his link to the world renowned Spanish Classical Guitarist Andre Segovia. The self-taught guitarist, composer, turned teacher and student of a master classical guitarist has made a name for himself. He has developed a faithful following of fans on tour.

Many have seen the guitarist perform more than once. Take the time and judge for yourself because Esteban will be here in Tucson March 1st at the Rialto Theatre. Spend a Saturday night with Esteban in Tucson.

Travis Kelly is a freelance writer and the Men’s Ministry Director at Pathway of Hope Foursquare Church in Oro Valley.