Stephen Leonard :: singer/songwriter strums for equality
Chicago’s talented singer-songwriter Stephen Leonard had not performed live for some time when he moved to the Windy City from his alma mater Michigan State a few years back, but when California’s Prop. 8 became law in late 2008, he found a new motivation to pick up the pen and get in front of an audience.
The culmination of his new campaign-via-song is A Concert for Equality, a fundraising event Leonard is headlining January 27, 2010 at Sidetrack to benefit the Chicago chapter of Join the Impact (JTI-C), a grassroots organization taking an action-oriented approach to social and political change. Feeling angry after California’s loss at the ballot box, Leonard became heavily involved with the organization as they launched solidarity rallies around the city. He hit the streets and shared his marketing expertise to lend visibility to the organization’s efforts.
Combining the personal with the political
But Leonard soon realized his passion for the movement came in the form of a song, rather than a chant and began recording a series of songs - written over the course of some six years - for a record titled "With a Pen," whose release will also be celebrated at the Sidetrack concert. The songs combine the personal and political, most notably on the poignant "Still Say No," a song penned as response to the LGBT community’s hard-hitting political loss. The acoustic guitar-laden songs surround "coming of age accounts of self-discovery, infatuation, politics and intoxication," as the album’s description reads.
"I realized I had to tap back into my music, both on a personal level and as a means to add a different leg to the movement," Leonard told EDGE. "Sharing this moment with [JTI-C] is important because they were the catalyst that led into this whole process. They’ve given me a lot of inspiration." Story continues on following page.
Watch Stephen Leonard sing "Still Say No."
