Paul Steegmans was born on 3 July 1957 in Hasselt. In 1980 he earned a diploma in piano and music education at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, and went on to receive a first prize in fugue in 1985. From 1981 he took advance courses in piano with André de Groote (Brussels), Jacques de Tiège (Antwerp) and Jean Franssen (Maastricht). He later studied with Willem Kersters at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, earning his first prize in composition there in 1993. Steegman was a prize winner at the Baron Flor Peeters Composition Competition (with Concertstuk for organ, 1983) and twice in the Cantabile Competition (with Dance and scherzo for piano). In 1989, his Sonata for clarinet and piano was awarded the Albert de Vleeschouwer Prize. Compositions by Steegmans have been performed in Japan, Finland, Costa Rica and Cuba. From 1980 until 2018 the composer taught piano and accompaniment at the Ghent Academy for Word and Dance and he was guest teacher of practical harmony at the Lemmens Institute. Paul Steegmans is also well known as an accompanist of singers and choirs, and has given concerts both in Belgium and abroad (Germany, Sweden, England) as a soloist and improviser.