Happy Birthday Steve Grand! @SteveGrandMusic
TheOUTfront sends Best Birthday Wishes to one of our favorite out and proud recording artists, Steve Grand!
Steve Grand started writing music at the tender age of 11. In an interview with “QVegas” he said,
“It was Dad who got me started… He made me realize the lasting power of music — how a great song can take you back to the moment you first heard it. From that point on, I knew that’s what I wanted to do in life, create something so real and beautiful that it stays with its listener forever.”
As he told “A&U Magazine” in 2015,
“I knew I was gay at thirteen,” he offers vibrantly. His first sexual encounter came as a high school freshman, with a guy who was a few years older… Afterwards, I was so scared.” Steve experienced guilt and vulnerability. “I grew up with a lot of shame about sex and sexuality,”
Steve was able to come out to his parents at 19; started modeling; but it would be four years later, on July 2, 2013, when he’d uploaded the music video of “All-American Boy,” that he’d written, performed, and produced himself, to YouTube. In only eight days, it had more than one million views and put Steve Grand on America’s music landscape.
Nine months later, his Kickstarter funded debut album set records.
“It [is] the No. 3 most-funded music project in Kickstarter’s history – and the No. 1 most-funded music Kickstarter among musicians who have never been affiliated with a major record label… based on pledges of $326,593 from 4,905 individuals… more than four times the original goal of $81,000.”
Here is how he dedicated the album
“To everyone out there—no matter where you live or where you’re from, no matter your age or race, the color of your skin, your sexuality or gender identity….to everyone out there who has ever been made to feel different, or immoral, or wrong, just for being who you are, this record is for you. Nothing that you are is wrong. You are exactly who you were meant to be.” — Steve Grand
Today, Steve performs nationally and internationally with over 13 million views on YouTube; his debut album “All-American Boy,” went to #3 on The Billboard Independent Album Artist Charts; and is available in all digital retailers. He is a passionate champion of LGBT rights and equality.
When asked about a new album and music in an article last month on OutClique,
“Originally, I intended to put out another album either in the summer or the fall of 2016, but that didn’t happen. I was just telling my mom recently I am glad that it didn’t. I feel like the album I would have made would have been angry and I don’t feel so angry anymore. I feel like I have overcome a lot within myself over these past few years… I feel like I am in a much better place to reflect on these fears now that I am out of the thick of it. I think the record that I am making right now is coming from more of a place of acceptance, and more of a place of making peace with myself.”
Full interview here via OutClique
(photos courtesy of OutClique)
Become part of the #GrandFam and follow him on Facebook and visit his website!
