In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Steve Sidelnyk and Jim Turner to discuss their successful careers in the music industry. Steve and Jim share their most exciting memories, explore the pivotal early moments in their careers, and highlight their struggles with imposter syndrome.

Steve Sidelnyk is a highly accomplished session drummer and music programmer who has worked with a multitude of A-list artists over his storied career. From answering an advert for ‘drummer needed’ for Paul Weller in 1983 to opening the Grammys twice with Madonna and featuring on numerous Hollywood soundtracks, Steve is one of the world's most in-demand live and studio musicians. 

Jim Turner is a long-time entertainment industry professional whose 40+ year career straddles Music, Film, and TV. Having previously worked as a session musician with Steve on British multi-million-selling artists: Black, Bros, and Lisa Stansfield, Jim established himself as one of the top commercial music producers for brands such as Pepsi, Esso, Ellesse, Coca-Cola, and Nike before moving to Los Angeles to work on film and music projects. He has worked with Guillermo Del Toro on Hellboy II as well as the Tekken franchise, and has further developed projects for both Netflix and HBO. 

👉 Steve has always loved music, having followed his brother’s band around as a child. When he learned the drums, his priority wasn’t to earn money from the hobby but to play something that he thought was cool. He was all about music; he didn’t consider what might happen later or make a plan B, he just wanted the music to be a part of his life. Jim was similar, as a child he decided that music was what resonated with him. After watching The Crusaders, he quit his job, bought a saxophone, and just started. His Aha! moment came when on tour as a support act and he realized he was the only one who could see real talent, so he started doing session work instead of being in a band, beginning his work with Steve. 

👉 Steve’s pivotal turning point in his career came when his band played Live Aid and was the second band after Status Quo in 1985. It was the first time he’d ever been on TV, and a week later he was recognized at an airport as the drummer in the band. Having never been recognised before, he realized that he had made something out of his hobby. Jim, on the other hand, doesn’t believe he had one pivotal moment, but attributes his success to deciding to focus on a session playing at a higher level, rather than just local work. He realized that if you’re working for somebody and you’re not the primary talent, you’re always expendable.

👉 Everybody is prone to a bit of imposter syndrome in their career, especially if they are achieving some level of success. Jim shares that his experience being the only person in his band to recognise talent gave him the confidence that he was on the right path with his career. It took him ages to say that he was a professional musician; it wasn’t until he was paying off his mortgage and had platinum records on the wall. When he turned to composing music for commercials, he lost his confidence again; he wasn’t comfortable claiming to be a composer since he was no Mozart in his own eyes. He was always just waiting for someone to claim him to be a fraud. 

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Steve’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-sidelnyk-41473480 

Jim’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimturnerceo