Award-winning pianist Stephen Nelson answers 7 Questions with Emmy and stuns her with his skills
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Every week I’m interviewing fascinating people in our community, nation and around the world!
The idea came from a Facebook commenter who saw a video of me and my family floating down the river in Island Park. The person said I should turn the tables and interview my dad (Nate Eaton) – so I did and the rest is history!
Today I’m chatting with one of the most incredible pianists you’ll ever hear. Stephen Nelson is an award-winning composer, producer and songwriter who works with GENTRI and Mat & Savanna Shaw. He has also produced for Lexi Walker, David Archuleta, Madilyn Paige, The Gardiner Sisters and others.
WATCH: 7 QUESTIONS WITH MAT & SAVANNA SHAW
Stephen’s music can be heard on radio, television, Emmy-winning films and Billboard Chart-topping albums. He has written and produced for major corporations, charity organizations, Disney and Sony Masterworks. In 2017, Stephen arranged the song for the Vice-President’s first dance at the Presidential Inaugural Ball. He has also toured across the United States with symphonies performing his original compositions.
One of the things I like best about Stephen is you can give him the name of some songs and he will mash them together on the spot! In fact, I asked him to combine ‘Call Me Maybe’ and the ‘Harry Potter’ soundtrack! You can see it in the video, along with his answers to the following questions:
- When did you start learning to play the piano?
- What is your favorite arrangement you’re done?
- How did you meet GENTRI and Mat and Savanna?
- Do you play any other instruments besides piano?
- Can you tell us about a cool experience you’ve had arranging a song?
- Who do you look up to?
- What do you like to do when you’re not doing music?
BONUS QUESTIONS
- Do you ever get stage fright and how do you deal with it?
- What advice do you have for me?
- We know at GENTRI concerts, you will ask the audience for a popular song and a movie score and then combine the songs. Could you do that with the songs ‘Call me Maybe’ and ‘Harry Potter’?
Stephen is not on social media, but you can catch his piano playing with GENTRI here and Mat & Savanna here.
If you have an idea for someone I should interview or just want to say hi, email me! My address is emmy@eastidahonews.com.
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