Tony Cummings spoke at length to ukulele maestro STEVEN SPROAT about his long career in music

The catalyst was a completely unexpected rise in popularity of the ukulele. The instrument had made a startling comeback. In schools everywhere more and more classrooms were replacing the recorder as the instrument of choice to teach children music making and were embracing the ukulele. A music shop frequented by Steven began getting requests from people wanting the name and phone number of someone who could teach ukulele playing. Steven was the man they recommended. One day into the shop came the popular TV comedian Harry Hill who was on tour in the area and asked if they could tell him of a uke teacher. In a subsequent phone call Harry asked Steven whether he would go to London and give the TV star some ukulele lessons. The cash-strapped Sproat readily agreed and the lessons went well. Then Harry made a startling suggestion to the singer, songwriter, ukulele teacher. He suggested that Steven should make a How To Play Ukulele video and Hill himself would be prepared to appear in it. He was able to secure an interview with Music Sales Ltd, the giant publisher with a near monopoly in music teaching manuals, videos and songbooks. Sproat and Hill made their pitch to Music Sales but there then followed an ominous telephone silence. Eventually when Steven did make contact with the publishers he was told they didn't want to go with the Hill/Sproat video idea but they were prepared to publish a Steven Sproat ukulele teaching book.

When Steven's book Starting Ukulele was published in 2007 it was a huge sales success. There are now copies in hundreds of classrooms across Britain and in just about every music shop in Britain. But, as it turned out, that runaway success of the book proved to be something of a mixed blessing for Steven. He explained, "The agreement I had was a one-off payment. Now that's very sad because they have since gone on to sell massive, massive amounts. I'm afraid I don't get royalties on them; if I did, I would be in a different position. I would have a very nice car and the mortgage would be paid. I would like to know the figures; I have asked, but I've never had a reply. I can work it out to some extent. Sometimes you get another version of it under a different cover, and they have been packaged as a bundle, so you get a ukulele and one of my books and a packet of strings, that kind of thing. Then of course they're in America, they're in the Far East. I saw them in a music shop in Newcastle just the other day, and it did make me think 'Gosh, there they are - piles of them.' It is a bit frustrating, but there we are."

After the success of Starting Ukulele, requests for Steven to conduct workshops in schools and universities began to flood in. Also after Harry Hill several other celebrities sought Steven out as a uke coach including Frank Skinner, Sir Tom Courtney and Nicky Campbell. Steven did find time to release an album 'Acer Glade' in 2007 but for a season his songwriting and recording took a back seat as he taught teachers, children, university students and celebrities skills on the ukulele. Then more books like Absolute Beginners Ukulele Omnibus Edition and a teaching DVD Ukelounge followed. Then Steven wrote a book he did get royalties on, Starting The Ukulele: The Next Step. Commented Steven, "It was a more advanced book. Actually it's my favourite book - not because I get royalties, though that helps - because it's very practical. If you've been playing the ukulele for more than a year then you would get something from the book because there are some tricks in there it took me a long time to find out about."

In 2011 the downturn in the economy began to hit Steven and with UK lessons and workshops drying up Steven was forced to think the unthinkable and give up on his career as a full-time musician. He got a job as a rep for a company providing convenience stores and corner shops covering the West Country. But songwriting was still in Steven's blood. It was on a trip from his Gloucestershire home to Devon that he wrote a line "who put the moon there?" which was to be used in what is now acknowledged as one of Sproat's best songs. Steven spoke about the song "Full Circle". "While I was driving the moon was big and low in the sky. It made me think how could anyone not believe in a Creator God when the signs and beauty of skies and moon are there for all to see. I was addressing the song as if I was an unbeliever with lines like 'Do I have to go to school again?'"

"Full Circle" was released as a single in 2011 and was the title track of a Sproat compilation in 2012 (which also contained "You (Turn The Light On)"). Said Steven, "I had some airplay with 'Full Circle'. Jeremy Vine, who was a man of faith, picked up on it and said 'This is a lovely song'. Also Aled Jones played 'Full Circle'. As I played ukulele on 'Full Circle' I thought it was a good opportunity to get the song, and another of my songs 'Hugely Overrated', in my last uke book."

For such a gifted songwriter it's a little ironic that one of Steven's most popular recordings is his cover version Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)". Explained Sproat, "There was a chap who made a video which when it got posted on YouTube got a huge number of hits. But the guy whose channel it was on originally closed his channel down and he gave me the video, so I had from scratch again. With YouTube, if you move channels, you have to start the counter from zero again. We got up to about 200,000 hits and I'd had various radio plays from it; Gilbert himself said it was the best cover version of his song - that was high praise indeed."

O'Sullivan took a real interest in Sproat's songwriting. Remembered Steven, "He said to me 'Just try and find that one song that is going to make people listen'. So that's what I've done. I've focussed on a song called 'Fruit For The Soul' which is the title track of the new album." Released last month the 'Fruit For The Soul' CD was, like Sproat's other recent albums, recorded at Dave Pickering Pick's renowned FFG studios in Tewkesbury. It was painstakingly put together over two years of recording and the title track is indeed a memorable song. Speaking about it the veteran songsmith commented, "I had been through some tough times from 2007 to 2011. I can see at the time why they had to drag on so long and I felt like Job, or Joseph, or worse! I thought God was angry with me and I was being punished. I kept many diaries, made many notes and now looking back on that period I see I've become more grounded in God, more loving, more understanding, more rounded as a person and it has become fruit for my soul (fruit being good for the body)."

Another standout track is Cross Rhythms current playlist song "Found My Soul Again". Said Steven, "I wanted to write a positive reflection on what has been very challenging times. I felt I had dwelt on the past too long and 'let the tape go round and round" as it were instead of reaching ahead to the new. Visits to Soul Survivor a few years ago with my daughter Gabrielle (who had been featured with Steven on the cover photo for the Starting Ukulele book when she was just nine years old and who in fact sings BVs on 'Fruit for the Soul') helped me see that God was still alive and well. . . and hadn't given up on me."

That is clearly evident and even if thousands rather than millions get to hear the skilfully crafted songs on 'Fruit For The Soul' this nearly-famous singer/songwriter is clearly a man at peace with himself. He said, "People have said to me 'why don't you go on Britain's Got Talent or X Factor?' But I don't want that quick fix. I've already punched my ticket. I started off in working men's clubs in the north east of England. Some of them were pretty rough. I was playing ukulele dressed like David Bowie - red hair, black plastic trousers. They must have thought, 'Who's this guy?' I went from that to being a Butlins Redcoat. I've done all sorts of festivals and shows in this country and abroad. I've been on national TV and toured with Jools Holland. I don't want to go on some talent show and be 'discovered': if my talent's going to get through, I want it to get through organically. I might be naive here, but I like to think eventually that water finds its own level: stick around long enough and people start to notice."