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Steven P. Wheeler

Steven P. Wheeler

Steven P. Wheeler is an award-winning journalist who wrote about the music industry for a variety of publications–both in the offline and online worlds–from 1985 to 2003. After a few years of full-time freelance writing, he found a home at the bi-weekly Hollywood-based Music Connection Magazine; serving as Columnist, Associate Editor and Senior Editor from 1989 through 1998.

In 2000, after starting his own short-lived political/entertainment magazine, L.A. Vision, he expanded his creative role as a writer to include video production and entered the online world as Vice President of Content Programing & Marketing for Tonos Entertainment (founded by legendary music figures David Foster, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Carole Bayer Sager, and former Warner Bros. Chairman Bob Daly). During his stint at Tonos, Wheeler headed the video production, content programming, artist development and marketing departments until the company closed its doors at the end of 2003.

Throughout his music industry career, Wheeler was an in-demand moderator for industry event panels and he was also the producer of the "American Rock Connection" concert showcase; a monthly live event held at the legendary Palomino Club in Hollywood, which resulted in publishing deals and recording contracts for some of the handpicked talent that performed at his shows.

By the end of 2003, his contempt and disgust for the popularity of shows like American Idol – which he compares to talent scouts scouring karaoke bars to find new talent, rather than discovering true musical artists slugging it out in dirty nightclubs around the world – and the slow demise of the music industry in general, Wheeler set his sights on other areas of the entertainment industry which he dabbled in throughout his 15+ years as a print journalist.

He joined the online division of Warner Brothers in 2004, and is now the Senior Content Producer for that division where he is responsible for creating and programming all content for WarnerBros.com, and an endless stream of other related WB sites, applications and initiatives.

Born in 1963, Wheeler maintains his residence in Southern California, where he lives with his wife, Maggie, and a seemingly endless series of feline adoptees.

26 articles

List of articles in the library

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Bernie Taupin, Elton John: Bernie Taupin: Elton's Write Hand Man

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1989

IT IS THE summer of 1989, six months of phone calls and patience have finally paid off. Bernie Taupin, the man who has been placing ...

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1989

WHAT CAN be said about Tom Petty and his crack band the Heartbreakers that hasn't already been said? They are quite simply the tightest and ...

Elton John: Great Western Forum, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, September 1989

LIKE THE title of last year's album suggested, Reg is back. ...

New Model Army: Start The War

Profile and Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Happening, January 1990

FORMED IN 1980, New Model Army, an English rock trio, has marched throughout Europe and America over the past nine years leaving legions of fans ...

Warren Zevon: Your Guide Through Transverse City

Profile and Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Happening, February 1990

ROCK & ROLL'S Master Of Disaster Warren Zevon, entering his fourth decade in the music business, has released the most impressive album of his roller ...

Eric Clapton: Great Western Forum, Los Angeles

Live Review by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, April 1990

OKAY, SO Eric Clapton isn't God. But try to convince the millions of six-stringers around the world who have tried and are still trying to ...

J.J. Cale: Henry Fonda Theatre, Hollywood

Live Review by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, May 1990

MENTION THE name of J.J. Cale to any blues/rock guitarist and you'll be greeted with a knowing grin and a nod of appreciation. Cale remains ...

Ken Scott

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, July 1990

FOR OVER 25 years, English-born Ken Scott has been in recording studios working with the legends of rock. Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, Scott was ...

Fleetwood Mac: Mick Fleetwood: Silencing The Rumours

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Happening, January 1991

FLEETWOOD MAC has been around for more than twenty years, and for over half that time, has been one of the best-selling American rock & ...

Divinyls: Makin' Out Alright

Profile and Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Happening, March 1991

AFTER TEN years and five albums, this Australian-based rock duo has finally captured the ears of America with one of the fastest rising albums on ...

The Doors: When The Movie's Over

Report by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, March 1991

Did you have a good world when you died?Enough to base a movie on?– Jim Morrison ...

The Byrds, Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn: A Byrd Returns To The Nest

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Happening, April 1991

WHEN IT comes to the legends of rock & roll, there aren't too many singer-songwriters who have had the impact on contemporary rock as Roger ...

Pat Benatar: A Former Heartbreaker Finds True Love

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, May 1991

BETWEEN 1979 and 1988, Pat Benatar was rock's reigning queen, releasing six platinum and three gold records. during this nine-year span, the fiery vocalist cracked ...

Nicky Hopkins

Profile and Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1991

PROBABLY THE most underrated and yet most talented musicians are those who carry with them the less-than-heralded title of "session player." While some transformed themselves ...

Divinyls: The Divinyls: Palladium, Hollywood

Live Review by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1991

THE PALLADIUM was the perfect Southland venue for this Australian outfit whose recent self-titled album has become their biggest American hit. ...

Genesis

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, January 1992

WITH THE band's last studio album, Invisible Touch, Genesis became the first rock band in U.S. chart history to send five consecutive singles into the ...

Harry Nilsson

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1993

2010 note: Harry Nilsson succumbed to heart failure and died on January 15, 1994, less than six months after this interview took place. ...

Concrete Blonde: End Of An Era

Profile and Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Happening, October 1993

I got the ways and means to New OrleansI'm going down by the river where it's warm and greenI'm gonna have a drink and walk ...

Ronnie James Dio: The Return of Ronnie James Dio

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, March 1994

CUTTING HIS professional teeth with the mildly successful early Seventies band Elf, the 45-year-old Ronnie James Dio (Ronald Padavona) first rose to fame with former ...

Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks: Stevie Nicks

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, July 1994

SINCE SHE FIRST EXPLODED ON THE ROCK SCENE IN 1975 AS THE SEDUCTIVE FOCAL POINT OF FLEETWOOD MAC, STEVIE NICKS HAS BEEN AS MUCH AN ...

Bob Seger: Turning The Page

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, September 1994

A new greatest hits collection, featuring many, but not all, your Seger favorites, should make it ten platinum albums in a row for the blue-collar ...

David Bowie: Man Of A Thousand Phases

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, September 1995

IF EVER there was a rock star who epitomized the life of a musical chameleon, it would be David Bowie – not only in his ...

Bonnie Raitt: Still Burning Down The House

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, October 1995

This redheaded Grammy Queen is back with the first live album of her long career – an album that harkens back to her grittier pre-platinum ...

Mark Knopfler

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, May 1996

With more than 80 million records sold worldwide, and the release of his first official solo album, Golden Heart, this Sultan Of Swing is no ...

Bill Wyman, The Rolling Stones: Bill Wyman: Former Stone Gets Rolling

Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, February 1998

BILL WYMAN is one of only two former Rolling Stones still...well, rolling around – the other, of course, being Mick Taylor – but he is ...

John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin: John Paul Jones: Life After Led Zeppelin

Profile and Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Happening, October 1999

WHILE JOHN Paul Jones will forever be known as the bassist and keyboardist of Led Zeppelin, his musical legacy extends far beyond the boundaries of ...

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