//Kids Music

MR. STEVE, THE MUSIC MAN bio

Mr. Steve, Nashville’s premier kids’ performer, can be described as nothing less than a force of joy. For almost 20 years, Mr. Steve has written, recorded, and performed children’s music with high production value and musicality not typically found in the genre. Releasing two albums with producer Ian Fitchuk (Kacey Musgraves, Little Big Town) that feature artists such as The Wood Brothers, Gabe Dixon, Mikky Ekko, Cadillac 3, and more. Mr. Steve has become a Nashville classic entertaining kids and parents alike with his catchy genre-bending songwriting, humor, and socially conscious messaging. It is both his talent and ability to resonate with all age groups that has garnered him many accolades throughout his career, including NPR’s Artist of the Day with “Responsibility Song,” and the opportunity to perform for children all over Nashville and beyond. Since moving to Music City from his home of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mr. Steve has performed over 250 schools, birthday parties, libraries, festivals, events, and concerts in Nashville including five times at Live on the Green, four times at Third Man Records, where he once opened for Jack White, and the Pilgrimage Festival.

Through his many creative and educational endeavors, Mr. Steve has become a musical staple and role model in the Nashville community. A first-generation Asian American, Mr. Steve has shared his positivity and talent with children in many ways, mastering both the small stage, such as the many classes he’s lead as a preschool music teacher since 2013, and the very large, as the creator and host of the morning drive-time kids’ radio show “The Early Birds with Mr. Steve” at Lightning 100, which ran from 2015 to 2019. 

From the professional success and personal connections Mr. Steve has grown over the years, he has had the opportunity to give back in many ways as well. Serving as a five-year volunteer for Musicians on Call, a program that delivers the healing power of music into hospital rooms all over Nashville, Mr. Steve has also contributed a song to the Read to Be Ready program in 2016, sponsored by the Governor and First Lady of Tennessee, and is currently working with the Arkansas Department of Education creating and releasing the song and music video “CYBERWISE” for their Social Media Awareness Campaign (SMACtalk). And he just finished up writing, recording and producing 12 vocabulary songs that were animated for AR PBS’ summer education initiative “Rise and Shine”!

With two records under his belt, Mr. Steve isn’t finished yet. He’s currently wrapping production on a television pilot featuring his music, finishing up a third album of original songs for release in the fall, and pursuing opportunities to write and record commercial sync songs. Co-writing  “You’ve Got that Smile” with Daniel Ellsworth for a Holiday Inn campaign in 2017, Mr. Steve has the ability and experience to craft commercial sync songs that parallel the straightforward messaging and catchiness of the kids’ songs he’s written and performed for two decades.

Extra Mr. Steve Facts

• Songs placed in the Spotify Kid Playlists: Sing Along and Kindie

• Part of the production team called GO-B-KIDS. Recording high quality, traditional (royalty free) kid songs. The team is made up of Ben Simonetti (Zac Brown Band), Peter Groenwald (Concord Music) and Court Clement (Johnny Lang)

• “Arkansas Razorback Hog Call” song and video featured on ESPN, which went viral in the Arkansas Razorback community

• The Early Birds with Mr. Steve radio show aired on Lightning 100 and was produced and created by Mr. Steve. The show played thousands of calls from kids and featured over 60 musical guests such as Kacey Musgraves, The Wood Brothers, a duet with Margo Price, Emily Kenney, Sinbad, Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Daniel Ellsworth, Becca Mancari, Erin Rae and Devon Gillfillian

• Dubbed the “most famous kids Korean singer in Tennessee” by KoreAm Journal (Korean American Journal)

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