Stephen Rafferty

Singer/songwriter from Newcastle, Co.Down, currently recording my Debut Album.
I have been a mostly acoustic artist, mainly focusing on the folk genre but during ‘lockdown’ I opened up my ideas and went down a more alternative route.
My style of writing changes from time to time. At the moment I am mainly focused on the issues surrounding modern day life and I hope that my songwriting can help people to see things from a different perspective.
I was delighted to have been selected as the winner of the Youth Action Northern Ireland ‘Next Big Thing’ competition last year with my song ‘Masquerade’. The nation wide competition was held across 2021/22 and went through a number of shortlists before selecting myself as the overall winner!
My debut album, set for release this year (2023) is coming together a lot quicker than I had originally hoped for. Finding new sounds and styles of playing has definitely been my favourite part of the process so far.
Working alongside my producer Steven Fearnley, and other musicians such as Marty Galbraith, and Cormac Neeson has been a god send for the album. I feel like I have such a strong bond with my whole team and we cannot wait to share the music with the world.