Guthrie Govan

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Guthrie Govan

Guthrie Govan (born December 27, 1971 in Chelmsford, Essex, England) is a guitarist and winner of Guitarist Magazine's "Guitarist of the Year" award. He was a member of Asia from 2001 to 2006.

Govan attended King Edward VI Grammar School (Chelmsford). He began his involvement with Asia playing on the album Aura. He came to Asia through the recommendation of Michael Sturgis, the band's long-time session drummer. Sturgis had been a colleague of Govan's at the UK's Academy of Contemporary Music. With his work on the album complete, Govan was added to the Asia line-up for the tour to support the new album. "Bad Assteroid", an instrumental in the live shows, was a Govan original composition. It came from the guitarist's past work with other bands.

In 2006, with Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes leaving to reform an earlier Asia line-up, Govan and the other two band members, John Payne and Jay Schellen, formed GPS.

Govan has recorded a number of guitar parts for the forthcoming debut album of UK electronic dance music act The Young Punx and is now part of their live act, having performed with them at the Nano Mugen Festival in Yokohama, Japan, on two dates in July 2006. He has also been a special guest on Blues Jam Tracks, recording first-take leads over purchasable backing tracks.

Govan plays at the Bassment club in Chelmsford, Essex every thursday night in jazz-fusion band The Fellowship. His debut solo album, Erotic Cakes, was released through Cornford Records in August 2006. Govan's debut album is reaching and even bigger audience than he has previously had after working extensively with U.K magazine 'Guitar Techniques'. This magazine has also transcribed his own composition 'Wonderful Slippery Thing'.