Each month, we invite local artists to Greeny’s rehearsal space to lay down a stripped-back live session. One take. No do-overs. This month features Steve Edwards – legendary house music vocalist, Grammy-nominated songwriter and one of ShefF’S most quietly prolific exports.. Watch the full vid over on the Exposed Insta (@expmagsheff).
He’s topped charts across the globe, collaborated with French house royalty and written dance anthems that have soundtracked countless club nights. But back in his hometown, you might not even clock him in the queue for a pint.
For his Red Light Session, Steve linked up with a Sheffield supergroup featuring members of Reverend and the Makers, Milburn and a former Arctic Monkey (go watch the session over on our Insta to see the full line-up) to put a fresh spin on The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’. It’s bold, brassy – and it slaps.
“We’d done one rehearsal and I said, let’s just smash into it,” Steve told us. “And we did. No messing. I think you can feel that in the energy – it’s loose, but it’s real.”
“There’s a version we did in Jamaica with Sly and Robbie – me and Bob [Sinclar] made a record out there – so we leaned into that feel a bit,” Steve explained. “It’s probably quite apt at the minute, something like that. ‘Ghost Town’. What’s going on, eh?”
Steve was so happy with the session that they’ve decided to release it as an EP in January 2026, via brand new label Sound Gas Records. “I was listening back and I thought, we could release that,” he said. “Just as a thing, you know? A live version. Sheffield band. It’s got legs.”
They also ran a live take of World, Hold On – the global smash he wrote with Bob Sinclar back in 2006. The original soundtracked beach clubs and big rooms across Europe, but the Red Light version brings it back to basics.
“I did ‘World, Hold On’ as well, just to see what it sounds like live, stripped-back like that – and it really worked, man,” he said. “It’s a proper band version, not just a DJ thing. It gave it a new feel.”
With a track record like Steve’s, it would’ve been easy to fall back on polish and precision. But the spirit of this series – raw, immediate, unfiltered – fits him perfectly. He’s someone who’s always backed himself, even if it meant taking risks and moving away from Sheffield to make things happen.
“I wasn’t afraid to get on my bike and go find it,” he said. “Even though it was tricky here, I just didn’t wait. I made my own thing happen.”
That self-made ethos runs through Steve’s story. After cutting his teeth in Sheffield studios like Axis and Fon, doing session vocals and playing with live bands, he spotted a gap in the house scene – a space where UK vocalists weren’t being heard.
“You’d see all these featured artists on records – all American divas or gospel singers. No British voices. I thought, why not me? So I just started putting myself out there.”
He landed a breakthrough with Charles Webster as part of the deep house collective Presence, touring a critically acclaimed album across Europe and playing early dance festivals alongside Leftfield and Faithless. From there, his phone didn’t stop ringing.
Within a few years, he was in Paris working with Cassius, swapping demos with Daft Punk and writing what would become the chorus for ‘The Sound of Violence’ – a single that went to number one on the US dance charts.
“There was just something about that time,” he said. “It was like… this is different. I knew this was an opportunity. And it was. Everything changed after that.”
Now, with a new solo album on the way next year, there’s more to come. But whatever happens next, this Red Light Session captures a unique artist in his element. One of the city’s finest – still exploring, still pushing, still sounding like no one else.
