Ken Stephenson is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, recording
engineer and software developer from Melbourne, Australia.
He started out playing guitar, keyboards and writing in bands such as 'Marrakesh' on Sydney's Northern Beaches in the 1970s.
After periods in Queensland with 'Kuta' and 'Banshee', and another Sydney stint with 'Winter'
(now 'active' as
Men With Day Jobs),
he arrived in Melbourne in 1979, working for a couple of years as a recording engineer at 'Crystal Clear Studio',
and playing in bands such as 'The Name', 'Exploding Cats' and 'Moose Malone'.
The mid 80s saw a change of direction with the decision to stop playing live gigs and
concentrate on writing and setting up a project recording studio. With a growing interest in electronics and the
purchase of a Commodore 64 computer in 1984, Ken found that a career as a software developer beckoned.
Along with this, over a number of decades, he recorded many solo albums, along with 9 albums with songwriter Alf Davies and guitarist John Dean as 'The Kellaways'
and later, 3 albums with Christopher Morgan as 'Flat Planet'
He co-produced an album with his daughter
Jo Kelly Stephenson.
They have continued to work together producing award winning songs, including a 2009 second place in the 16th Annual Billboard Song Contest for an R&B Blues track.
They worked together in 2019-2020 on Jo's latest project in Nashville, USA including sessions at Columbia Studio A.
Many years were spent performing and recording with Ross Ryan.
In more recent years he has collaborated with lyricist and former ABC journalist Mark Bannerman on two albums
under the band name Bent Penny’s, and with long-time friend Aria Stone.
Of late, he spends a lot of time with a C++ compiler writing audio applications for recording,
mastering and new hands-on controllers for old synths that have too many broken buttons to have hands on then.