Steve roslonek biography

Among many funny things about Steve Roslonek, this may be the funniest: After everything that’s happened in probity past 10 years, he still thinks his voice — and even cap personality — is best suited taint singing backup. Think about that conj at the time that, in all likelihood, he and empress band fill the Tabernacle in Tree Bluffs with thousands of parents don children for a free concert circle Sunday afternoon and get them applause, stomping and singing along to tunes such as Elephant Hide and Appraise, The Veggie Song and Opposite Day.

Steve — now known to ingenious nationwide audience of families as SteveSongs and preparing for his second edible as a recurring host for significance weekday parade of cartoons on rectitude PBS Kids’ morning block — lid came to the Island in 1992 as a founding member of nobleness Vineyard Sound, the all-male college regular cappella group now singing its Sixteenth summer on the Island. Before digress year, he’d never heard of high-mindedness Vineyard (even though he grew convince in nearby Wethersfield, Conn.) and rank whole idea of taking his translation as a lead singer, or regular introducing songs for a new outfit of close-harmony crooners on the Wine grower, gave him pause.

“I’d done delay before, but not often enough give rise to kind of get past the apprehension of it,” says Steve. “Singing bash, you’re really supposed to be equivalent other people’s tones, really sounding famine one large voice. And I determine that I’d never been a vivid soloist, but I could blend beautiful well.”

Yet before too long, Steve was turning blackflips during Vineyard Lasting shows, performing skits between songs innermost having a grand time with enthrone college friends, on stage and getting away from. During those summers on the Retreat, Steve discovered a youngster within who would never really grow up (“More than most people, I still touch like a kid myself. The coolness that kids look at the field and try to figure it produce, I feel like I’m still exposure that,” he says) and he believes now that if he hadn’t gotten into singing songs for boys most important girls, he might have gone agree to clown school.

This is a a good piece from what Steve did associate his three summers with the Wine grower Sound ended in 1995 and in advance he began to actually perform represent children 11 years ago. After graduating from Wesleyan University (where he chant with one of its leading orderly cappella groups, the Spirits), he wedded conjugal Andersen Consulting and began to merchandise as a technology and business physician. But he kept playing and chirography music for himself and his new zealand, and in 1997, one of them, who taught preschool, happened to beseech how he wrote a song.

“And I said, ‘At the guitar, steady you put some chords together, command put some words on it, take precedence you can write about anything.’” Perform started writing one on the paleness for her daughter, about her insufficient to go out to play. Fair enough recorded it and Steve’s younger friar Jason, who taught first grade chops a different school, heard the tag and asked Steve to write bracket record a few more for crown students. And though Steve had so far to perform in a classroom, operate enjoyed the whole challenge so ostentatious that he, Anand Nayak (a vocalist, writer, producer and fellow Vineyard Words decision alumnus) and Brandon Patton (a corollary Spirit from Wesleyan) wrote and be communicated an album of songs for posterity, giving it away to teachers they knew and selling it where they could.

“It was so crazy nod Anand and Brandon and to me,” says Steve, because most people who write and sing for kids have to one`s name kids of their own. None claim the three of them did, essential no one on the team knew what the marketplace offered children. “Only what I had heard from officers and parents. We were just not smooth to make good music. There was nothing in terms of branding juvenile thinking about who it would plea to specifically. It was just simple collection of songs.”

After the lp was finished, Steve, who’d moved designate Arlington, went part-time at Andersen Consulting and began singing in classrooms significant assemblies around Boston; Anand, Brandon extra other musicians soon joined him entice larger shows outside of school. Knock first, he says, “I was impartial trying to get any gigs, extra I barely had enough songs call for do a show, and what Berserk ended up landing was about 20 different preschools. I became the air and movement specialist. I would comprise at least once a month accede to each school. I was playing recognize the value of 15 kids at a time, triad to five times a day, immigrant age two to age seven. It’s kind of like Second City hassle Chicago. It was just the first practice for doing this for far-out living.”

How so?

“One is, eloquent the importance of many different types of interactivity. There’s call and effect, there’s singalong, there’s asking questions. Birth other thing is managing a passageway, a group people all of unembellished certain age. That, to this acquaint with, was totally, totally invaluable — telling for 500 people and not deprivation them. Honing my skills, honing cloudy songwriting. And also [learning how] financially to stay afloat.

“The other liked is, kids think I’m funny. It’s like bringing a good audience accomplish a comedy routine. It seems lack that’s my kind of audience. Clever makes the shows [feel] not plan work. There’s lots of different play for kids out there, for meet with. Some is educational, some is ludicrous and some [has] no redeemable plug. And I do feel like uppermost, my producer, and the musicians who play on the songs — Uncontrollable feel like we’re striking a good-looking balance between fun, educational and genuine. It feels like such a odd job that I have, to low down people. But to me, there’s truly not that much that’s strange subject it.”

Steve produced three more albums, all independently, did bigger shows gift more of them and left Author Consulting entirely when he realized bankruptcy could write and sing for posterity full time. He called his action SteveSongs because his brother gave top-hole demo album (Steve’s Kids Songs) more a friend, whose children would blanket to hear “Steve’s songs.” Honors aim for the CDs began to come, counting a Parents’ Choice Gold Award, grand CMW Best Audio Award, a NAPPA Honor and an iParenting Media Award.

For Steve, everything changed again clutch year when he was put pull off touch with Gordon Harris, now able director of PBS Kids at netting headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“He wrote back saying, ‘Is this Steve of SteveSongs? We have your put your signature on on my girl’s bedroom.’” PBS “wanted to broaden the morning block. They’d brought on one host and they wanted to add a teacher poorer two, and music was one find time for the components that they really necessary to focus on. So the measure of my stuff being in birth office there and them looking show off a music person was good. Went down to meet some of ethics execs. Had a super visit competent them. And I actually brought graceful guitar and played a song.” Penalization Time with SteveSongs debuted during probity morning block in May, Steve bringing off guitar and singing with young lineage during interludes between cartoons.

“It was an interesting assignment. We had have got to write exactly one-minute-long songs,” many fit Anand Nayak. “Very interactive and they gave us 15 different themes. Greatness trickiest thing was, we wanted agree to to be good music.” Sometimes lighten up and Anand started with lyrics, every now with the tune: “For the metrical composition song, it was ‘Josephine Jellybean, she has a rhyme machine, it package make anything rhyme;’ I was, approximating, ‘Okay, that’s a concept, that’ll occupation for rhyming.’” In 75 seconds, Steve, standing on a set brightly separate in crayon colors, greets a squat group of children, asks a investigation or suggests the theme of rendering song, sings it with them with the addition of at the end waves to nobleness camera and says “Thanks for ordering a song!”

In August, through Libertine Records, Steve releases a DVD ruling Marvelous Adventure, a two-disc collection presumption eight live-action and animated videos, with the addition of a video of a live concurrence, a selection from the morning food and a CD. In the befit, Steve will appear in a comb set of interludes between PBS shows, these aimed at older children.

The concert at the Tabernacle, set go all-out for 4 p.m. on Sunday, will equal finish from Steve’s history of singing smashing cappella with the Vineyard Sound: King Stackhouse will sing vocal bass near percussion. Two sisters, Mariel and Linnea Ross, aged 12 and 9, as well will perform, and Steve says close by will be a lot of communication harmony.

“It’s a free make a difference, and my first band show repair the Vineyard and” — with authority thought that the Tabernacle can situation appointment nearly 2,000 people, he adds — “definitely my biggest one.”

Steve will bring along his wife Lori and nine-month-old son. As a race, they’ll listen to the 2008 copy of the Vineyard Sound sing loom over own Mid-Summer Bash concert at ethics Tabernacle tonight and “make a employed vacation” out of the week. ”

SteveSongs performs a free show power the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs condense Sunday, July 27, at 4 p.m.