Stevie J. grew up near the small
town of Apollo, Pennsylvania. At
the age of 5 years old, Stevie took
interest in his parents record
collection and a cheap,
abandoned acoustic guitar he
found. Stevie recalls, "The sound
of the Beatles chromatic guitar
chord change in I Want To Hold
Your Hand sent shivers down my
spine. I wanted to be able to do
that too."
When Stevie entered the 5th
grade, MTV, hard-rock, and heavy
metal videos found their way into
the family room television set
fanning the flames of Stevie's
burning desire to play music
professionally. He then began
private music instruction with Bill
Duff, another Apollo native and
seasoned road musician. And by
the age of 16, Stevie was teaching
guitar lessons and playing in the
rockin' country outfit Working
Class with musicians twice his
age. He remained in the
Pittsburgh area trying his hand at
many different styles with any
band who needed a guitarist for
the stage or studio.
In 1999, former Johnstown native
and legendary entertainer Brooks
Paxton hired Stevie to play in his
show band aboard Royal
Caribbean Cruise lines. "We
played just about every style of
music there was six nights a
week. It was basically sink or
swim. There was no excuse not to
know how to play something. I
practiced sometimes 8 hours a
day just to master the sets and
keep up with Brooks. A lot of
nights I would fall asleep and see
sheet music and chord charts in
my dreams."
Upon his return to the Pittsburgh
area in 2000, Stevie settled in as
the "hired gun" around town on
stage and in the studio. He has
worked with many local bands
such as In The Saddle, Fastback,
Sledgehammer, Glitz, & Dancing
Queen.
In 2010, Stevie took a hiatus from
playing with other bands to begin
writing and recording his own
original music. At this time Stevie
also formed the Stevie J. Band, a
three piece outfit that he fronts
on lead guitar and vocals.
These days, Stevie normally
doesn't hear his phone ringing
over the music he is always
creating in his head or blasting
through his speakers. However
when Southern Detour dialed his
number in November 2011, Stevie
answered the call.
"It's very cool to be a part of this.
This is a great band, and I'm
excited to see what we can do
together."
