Happy Birthday to actor/model/musician/entrepreneur Steve Grand.
With the release of his first album, All American Boy, in 2015, Steve Grand broke the mold for the traditional singer-songwriter. Having self-funded a viral video of the title track, then fan funding the release and creating a vocal and energetic fanbase, the openly gay artist from Chicago created a place for himself in the music industry and hasn’t looked back since.
The title track,”All-American Boy,” was written solely by Grand. The narrative of the song focuses on a gay man’s unrequited love for a straight man, although Grand contends that the song is more broadly a “universal story of longing.” In an interview with BuzzFeed, Grand explained that the song was inspired by negative experiences he encountered as a gay male throughout his adolescence, including conversion therapy.
Grand further explained the meaning of the song: “I needed to do something to share the ache and share the pain that I’ve felt for most of my life. This is the story I wanted to tell. This is who I want to be. I owe that. I owe that to all the people who have felt this.”
Grand is also the owner and featured model for GrandAxis, a men’s swimwear and underwear seller.
And a couple photos, just because …
