Steven Rothery (born 25 November 1959) is an English musician who is the original guitarist and the longest continuous member of the progressive rock band Marillion.

As well as work with Marillion, he started a solo project under the name The Wishing Tree (with Hannah Stobart providing vocals), and released two albums titled Carnival of Souls (1996) and Ostara (2009).

In 2011, Rothery launched the British Guitar Academy "to bring together some of Britain's top guitarists to pass on their hard won knowledge and experience to a wider audience through a series of workshops and masterclasses.

[4] The idea for the album was born when Rothery was rehearsing for a show at the annual international guitar festival in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in October 2013, with a band including guitarist Dave Foster (of Mr.

An audio recording of the show was made available as a download from Rothery's website[5] as a first impression of the forthcoming album's direction, followed by a CD in February 2014.

[10] Rothery was hailed by Scott Kahn, the Editor in Chief & CEO of the website MusicPlayers.com, as one of the great progressive rock guitarists, comparing him favourably with John Petrucci, David Gilmour and Alex Lifeson.

[13] When interviewed in 2010, he mentioned using a Blade Stratocaster-style guitar with Lindy Fralin pickups, and a signature model by luthier Jack Dent.

He makes extensive use of loops, via a setup that includes TC Electronic 2290 Dynamic Digital Delays, an AdrenaLinn III, and a variety of other effects all routed through controller made by Gig-Rig.