Nad Sylvan

Nad Sylvan (born 4 June 1959) is a U.S. born Swedish progressive rock musician and songwriter, who is currently the vocalist in Steve Hackett’s band Genesis Revisited and has also maintained a solo career and collaborations with several other musicians. Born Hugh Erik Stewart on June 4, 1959 in West Covina, California, to tennis player Hugh Wright Stewart and Swedish socialite Agnete Sylvan, he showed a keen interest in music from his early years, with an increasing gift for singing and playing piano, keyboards, and guitars. After drifting through the progressive rock and punk rock eras he signed to “Planet Records” in 1983, releasing the disco single “Midnatt” (“Midnight”), sung in Swedish. He then collaborated with “Hasse Carlsson and the Tectives” as second keyboardist and back up singer, for his first real touring experience in Sweden. After a name change to “One by One”, now with Christopher (his mother had renamed him Christopher after their return to Sweden) as the band´s lead singer, they released two singles,“Dancing Mono” and “Say You Never”. Although enjoying numerous live experiences and TV shows, no album materialised and the band eventually broke up. Between 1989 and 1996, Stewart remained isolated in his studio, determined to find his own personal style as a musician, eventually releasing his first solo album in 1995, “The Home Recordings”, subsequently re-released in 1999 as “Blue Waters”. A close friend’s tragic suicide in 1997 led to the composition of a mini pop opera tribute, “The Life of a Housewife”, comprising 15 songs. At that time, Christopher decided to change his name to Nad Sylvan. After uploading the album onto mp3.com, interest followed from Michael B. Tretow (ABBA’s audio engineer) and a collaboration began, culminating with many successful live appearances at the “Nalen” in Stockholm and the release of the CD “Sylvanite” in 2003. In October of that year, Sylvan attended a concert of Canadian Genesis tribute band The Musical Box, touring “Selling England by the Pound” at the Royal Albert Hall. His enthusiasm for the performance led him to the Genesis website/forums where he met Bonamici (aka. Christian Thordin), starting a successful collaboration, “Sylvan and Bonamici”, that led them to the “Unifaun” project. Meanwhile, Sylvan became star reviewer Steve Gilmore’s “Artist of the Year” (December 2003), thanks to his song “Yellow Sky” from “Sylvanite”. In 2008, “Unifaun” was released by “Progress Records” and is now considered a cult album. It was repackaged in 2013 with new album artwork by Claude Martin. After the “Unifaun” project, Sylvan was discovered by Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings, which led to the birth of the band “Agents of Mercy”. In 2009, Sylvan began touring with the band to promote “The Fading Ghosts of Twilight”. The band toured successfully around Europe and the US and released three albums through to 2011: “Dramarama”, “Power of Two”, (live album with Karmakanic) and “The Black Forest”. In April 2012, Sylvan caught the attention of Steve Hackett, former guitarist and songwriter of Genesis (1970–1977), who had enjoyed considerable solo success since leaving the band. With the creation of the "Genesis Revisited” project, Sylvan sang on the Genesis Revisited II album, followed by the Hammersmith and the Royal Albert Hall live albums released in 2013 and 2014. Sylvan also began a successful world tour at this time, with “Genesis Revisited” playing theatres and concert halls. In October 2015, another Genesis Revisited live album/DVD was recorded at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, coinciding with the release of his solo album “Courting the Widow” by Inside Out Music (Sony), that was well received by critics and fans alike. Further success followed with “The Bride Said No”, released in May 2017, featuring contributions by virtuoso musicians. In January 2018, Steve Hackett released his fourth live album with Sylvan as vocalist, recorded at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. Much appreciated and requested, Sylvan took part in many other projects with bands and artists in the prog world. In July 2019, Sylvan released a new solo album ("The Regal Bastard"), while at the same time touring with Steve Hackett for his seventh year of collaboration on the "Genesis Revisited" project. Sylvan continued to tour globally with Genesis Revisited during 2023. Nad Sylvan was born Hugh Erik Stewart on June 4, 1959 in West Covina, California (USA) to the tennis player Hugh Wright Stewart and 19 year old Swedish socialite Agnete Sylvan. The couple settled in Sweden, but soon Hugh’s father returned to California. After the divorce of his parents, Hugh was renamed Erik Christopher by his mother (1966) and, after adopting his mother's surname too (Sylvan), began the evolution of his artistic name that would later become Nad Sylvan. From his earliest years Nad was involved with music. At primary school, he often sat by the piano or at the classroom’s harmonium, discovering the cross hand technique and performing songs with the dream of recording and sending his own compositions to Jimi Hendrix. During this period he was raised by his grandparents, Astrid and Erik Sylvan, who, despite being a little strict with him, encouraged his passion for music. When, aged eleven, he left his grandparents’ house, there was a two year gap in his contact with music and that was when Christopher discovered his love for horses and riding. He reconnected with music in 1973, becoming the lead singer of his first band, the short-lived and unsuccessful “White Lightning”. In 1975 he fronted “Envoys”, touring Sweden and singing Uriah Heep covers, like “July Morning” and “Easy Living”. He was also influenced by Alice Cooper. Between 1976 and 1979 Prog Rock became his realm. He could play every kind of keyboard (organ, Minimoog, Elka string synthesiser, Fender Rhodes and Mellotron) without putting aside his deep fondness for singing. His band, “Avenue”, was influenced by Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant and Camel. Punk rock arrived also on the scene at this time and in 1980 he formed the “Chris Stewart Band”, writing music in the style of Gino Vannelli and Al Jarreau. His interest in various musical genres expanded considerably. He enriched his collection of keyboards with a Yamaha electric Grand Piano (Yamaha CP-80) and a Roland Jupiter-4. In 1983 Chris signed to Planet Records and released a Disco single, “Midnatt” (Midnight), sung in Swedish. He then joined “Hasse Carlson and the Tectives”, touring Sweden for a year with a repertoire in Swedish. When Hasse left the band, the remaining members changed the name to “One by One” and with Chris as lead singer, released two singles: “Dancing Mono” (written by Chris) and “Say You Never”. No album could be released at that time because the record company had put the band on hold. In Spring 1987 the offer to support two Lionel Richie shows in Stockholm and Gothenburg arrived. However, as the band hadn’t played together for some time, the experience proved disappointing. From 1989 to 1996 Chris confined himself to his studio, searching for his own style and musical identity and focusing on writing songs. The idea of changing his name from Chris Stewart into something less serious and more captivating came after the release of his first complete album in 1995, “The Home Recordings”, subsequently re-titled “Blue Waters “ and re-released in 1999 as an mp3 album. At this time, Chris was drawn to male artists with female names like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson and started to consider the name Nadine. However, he performed a number of successful shows under the name “Sylvan”. A pivotal transformation in his career came when one of his friends, known as “The Housewife” (because of his penchant for female dresses) committed suicide at the age of 36. Reflecting on the brevity of life, Chris composed a mini pop opera to celebrate him, eventually producing fifteen songs (including an earlier composition, “Strangers”, made with