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Born in London in 1953, Ian Seaborn migrated to Australia in 1960. He was educated at Adelaide Technical High School and the South Australian College of Advanced Education. Although mostly self-taught, he acknowledges instruction in guitar from Darryl Coggins and Rob Bultsma (South Australian College of Advanced Education) and David Merchant in harmony and composition. Early musical influences include the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Mozart, Brahms and the guitar playing of John Williams.

Seaborn has worked as a guitar teacher for the Instrumental Music Service of the South Australian Department of Education since 1987 and teaches students from year 4 to year 12, in several different schools. In collaboration with Lothar Bukojemski, he established the SA Primary Schools Guitar Ensemble in 1987 and directed this group until 2022. He has composed several works for guitar and arranged many pieces for primary and secondary school guitar ensembles.

His composition for violin, cello and guitar, After Tracy, was performed at the 1999 Darwin International Guitar Festival, and Casuarina, performed by the Sydney Guitar Trio, won the festival's composition competition in 2002. His work Departure for cello and guitar was performed by Julie Ryder and Danny Ross as part of Martin Wesley-Smith's 2002 East Timor Multimedia tour.

The commissioned work Wetlands was premiered by guitarists Raffaele and Janet Agostino, supported by a string quartet, at the 2005 Darwin Festival. Several of his works have been performed by the Elder Conservatorium Guitar Ensemble under the direction of Tim Kersten and Oliver Fartach-Naini including Manta Point at the 2014 Adelaide International Guitar Festival and the commissioned work Ukraine at The Lab in 2022. Gili Mimpang was commissioned by the Opal Guitar Quartet and performed at the Sydney Summer School in 2020. In Memory of Julian and the tryptich A Day in Rio were performed by Fartach-Naini in the Dunstan Playhouse at the 2021 Adelaide Guitar Festival.

In 1989 Seaborn was commissioned by Channel 9 to compose and produce the theme to the children's television programme, Here's Humphrey.

In collaboration with Lothar Bukojemski, he published the tutor books Classic Guitar - A Modern Approach (1995) and Classic Guitar - A Graded Anthology (1997).

Seaborn is a full writer member of the Australasian Performing Right Association APRA, an associate of Music Australia, and holds a Diploma of Teaching (majoring in music). His compositions for solo classical guitar are listed on the AMEB syllabus.

Ian Seaborn — current to November 2023