The Music & Hippie Within the Star

This is Star Spann! I found her playing a music set in Brooklyn and was just stunned with her talent and feeling for music. Buckle up because this is a story you don’t want to miss! This is her story:

Hey Star! Could you tell me your story?

I was born in Lorton, Virginia, the youngest of six girls in a wild family. As a kid, I struggled a lot with school due to having severe dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia (learning disabilities that make it difficult to read, write, and solve math equations.) Because of this, I felt like an outsider who didn’t understand anything and felt misunderstood. Until one day, I watched an episode of a TV show from the sixties called “The Monkees” about a hippie band trying to make a mark on the world. The music on the show made me feel alive, free, and at home for the first time in my young life. That first taste of music completely changed my world, and I became obsessed with all music. It was a language I could finally understand and made me feel understood.
At an early age I identified as a hippie and became enthralled by the art, music, and culture of the sixties. It became my goal to make people feel the things I felt from music through my own music. At age 13, I started taking voice lessons, which led to a career in musical theater. Performing made me feel like I could do anything, I felt free and powerful and not constrained by my disabilities. I always wanted to write and play music like the musicians I’d grown to idolize, but got sidetracked and pursued a path in musical theater for eight years and lost myself in the process.
At 20, I was working as a performer for a dinner theater in the evenings, finishing my associates degree at community college in the mornings, and working as a children’s party performer on the weekends. I was stretched so thin and felt deeply depressed as a result. As a way to cope, I bought a guitar and started songwriting. Then on my day off from the theater, I was able to go to a Monkees reunion concert (full circle moment) in Washington D.C. I was in the audience singing along to the music and it finally clicked: I was on the wrong path and needed to quit and follow my childhood dreams. I finished my contract at the theater, scrapped my plans for continuing college, saved up some money through odd jobs and moved to NYC to pursue my hippie music dreams.

What have been the biggest challenges of being a musician in NYC?

The biggest challenges for me have been:

For sure, finding balance in performing and working my day jobs. I work as a nanny during the day for two families, so running from job to job, then to a gig, or to the park to busk can be a lot to manage. When I have to go straight from my job to a gig I call it my “Mary Poppins to Bob Dylan mad dash”.
Dealing with misogyny that comes with being a young female musician in a male dominated field. I am fortunate to not have had too many terrible experiences yet (knock on wood), but I have been talked down to, not taken seriously, asked out WHILE I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF SINGING, and other crazy things by men who think because I’m an entertainer, it means I must be there to entertain them and them alone. With that also comes safety concerns, it’s just me playing gigs all around the city by myself a lot of the time, and I’ve been followed, harassed, and been made to feel unsafe as a result.

What has been the most rewarding part of being a musician in NYC?

The people. I’ve met so many amazing people here who’ve helped me on this journey. The music community here is small and extremely supportive. Everybody knows everybody and tries to help each other. The people I’ve met here inspire me everyday. Plus It’s true what they say: “There is no place on earth like NYC”, everywhere you go you see history. Getting to walk down the same streets and play the same clubs as the musicians I’ve looked up to since I was a kid, has been a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to live here and now that I do, I have to pinch myself just to make sure I’m not dreaming!

Do you have support from back home?

My parents still live in my hometown and despite worrying about me moving to NYC with my guitar and no plan, they trusted me and supported me through it all. My partner Jarrett also lives in Virginia, and when I told him I was moving to NYC to pursue music, he supported me every step of the way. I go back to Virginia every couple months or to visit and get some fresh air.

I listened to your new single “Double Indemnity’ and got goosebumps- so good! How do you go about writing your own music? Where can we find it?

Thank you so much!! “Double Indemnity” was my first single release and I love the way it turned out. My writing process is based on improvisation. I’ll get an idea for a song, subject, person, phrase, etc. sit down with my guitar, turn record on my voice memos and play until I come up with something I like. I’ll listen to what I’ve recorded, pull the parts I like, and rinse and repeat the process until I have a song I believe in. “Double Indemnity” was inspired by a movie from 1939 by the same name. The song is the perspective of the female antagonist of the film, a woman who is classic noir vixen type facing the consequences of her schemes. The song is available streaming everywhere! Spotify, Apple music, Youtube, etc. Currently, I am in the planning process for a Double Indemnity music video.

Do you have anything in the works right now or are you focusing more on your sets around the city, or maybe both?

I am in the planning process for my debut album. I have the songs, the musicians, and the name. Now I’m on the hunt for a producer and studio to record it. My goal is to have it ready by my 23rd birthday this September.

Where can we find the schedule of your sets?

Every performance date I have coming up is on my Instagram, Facebook page, and website: starspann.com so when you’re done reading this, check me out!

Do you have any advice for others who also want to pursue being a musician in the city?

You are never gonna feel ready to put yourself out there, so you just have to do it! Every gig I’ve booked so far I didn’t feel “ready” for. I didn’t have enough material, experience, confidence, etc. but I booked them and then I did them. You have to believe in yourself because if you don’t, nobody else is going too.
I would also say if you’re starting out in the city, try busking! I got my start performing at Strawberry Fields in Central Park playing the music of John Lennon and The Beatles, and it is still my favorite place to play. Playing the park has helped me as a performer to adapt to an unstable environment. You never know what will happen in the park, so all you can do is play freely for the people walking. Busking gives you the freedom to experiment and play what you want, as well as connect with your listeners up close and personal. I have found it to be a very rewarding experience as a performer in NYC.

Do you have a favorite song/book/podcast/show/movie that has changed your life?

A song that changed my perspective of songwriting and as a result my life, is “Ode to Billie Joe”
by Bobbie Gentry. It is a six-minute story-song about a family having an uncomfortable conversation at the dinner table. The song has so many layers to it, its a protest song of sorts of tearing down the nuclear family and breaking down the wall of mental health and suicide. When I first heard it, I was driving and got so lost in the words I had to pull over my car to really listen. When I play it at gigs or in the park I love watching people who are walking by get struck by the words and stop in their tracks to listen to them. That is the mark of a truly great song. It changed the way I view songwriting, which in effect changed my life.
Two movies I watch constantly for inspiration are “Across the Universe” and “Almost Famous” both films follow struggling artists trying to find their place in the world and always make me feel better after a hard day and have inspired me to my core.

Do you have a favorite quote?

“I’m just a musical prostitute, my dear” by Freddie Mercury. I know it may sound a bit funny, but I repeat this to myself often. It serves as a good reminder to never take myself too seriously I this business.