Calvin Grant

With the eight-track tape deck testing the limits of the battery in his father's
pick up truck, a young Calvin Grant sits in the truck captivated by a live version of Al Green's Let's Stay Together.
Attempting to sing along, but know sure of the words, he closes his eyes and drifts towards the cheers
and applause coming from the eight-track. His father's voice from under the hood of the
truck startles him back to reality, "One day they gonna be cheering like that for you son.
Now boy get down out of that truck before you kill my battery."

One of Calvin's earliest memories is of church on Sunday mornings. Before he was old enough to even know what religion was, or even before he was tall enough for his feet to reach the floor from the church pew, he was captivated by the fervor of the music. The soul-stirring, foot stomping, down home, nobody knows the trouble Ive seen, gospel music of the south. He recalls his eagerness to get to church early so that he and his family could get the front pew where he would be close enough to see the dust kicked up by the choir as they stomped their feet to the music.
By the time he was nine years old, he was singing with the choir and before long
singing solos and leading the congregation.
The committment to and love of music that Calvin grew up with all around him planted a seed that continues to inspire his music today. From a very young age Calvin learned that singing with total commitment to the feelings, and to the emotions of the music was what would grab and hold a crowd. Trusting the music, your soul, and people's need to feel, and holding nothing back.

To his family and everyone around him, it was clear from an early age that Calvin Grant was a natural performer. He spent countless boyhood
afternoons singing to his audience of pine trees and hogs in the backyard of his house in rural South Carolina. And there ALWAYS an aunt or uncle that would arrange an impromtu " boy sing that one you sang at church Sunday" or sing this or sing that! Sing.Sing.Sing.Sing...................

In all seriousness, the experiences and inspiration of those people and those days, shaped the music that lives and is born from the man that Calvin is today.
Having been immersed in the tradition of Gospel music inspired Calvin's voice and fed his soul. Letting his imagination
run free in those performances for the trees fueled his creativity. Feeling the excitement of a live audience in those performances for his
family nurtured his confidence. Out of these experiences has grown a man of great artistic depth and musical creativity. Calvin's music pairs
the irresistible spirit of the Gospel tradition with his impressive gift for melody writing. Employing the union of what everyday people feel and original insight, Calvin's music speaks to the soul with an emotional depth that seems to be absent in a lot of popular music of today.

In addition to being a prolific songwriter, Calvin has enjoyed a successful performing career which has taken him around the world.
He appeared as Tom Collins in the Tony Award winning musical Rent on Broadway NYC. His Broadway musical tours include: Miss Saigon
Second National Company, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, My One and Only, Anything Goes, South Pacific, and he also sang with The
Broadway Inspirational Voices.

His regional credits include hits like the world premiere of the Cole Porter story, Red, Hot and Cole; the world premiere of Bojangles, Brother
Can You Spare a Dime with Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas brothers. He also appeared in Freedom Song and as a guest artist on Ruth
Lyon's televised Christmas special.

He has been a featured singer in a host of shows with such companies as Walt Disney Productions Tokyo, Kings Productions, Taft Attractions,
Jean Ann Ryan Productions, Paramount Entertainment, and Coca-Cola Productions. He has sung with Patti Labelle, Carl Anderson, Robin
S., Ben Vereen, Anri, Seiko Matsuda, and Shirley Ceasar; and has appeared at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem and at Carnegie Hall.

Calvin has had the honor of performing for two U.S. presidents. On one of those occasions he performed the Star Spangled Banner
accompanied by the U.S. Marine Band for a televised speech.

In 1995 while living in Tokyo, Calvin appeared regularly on the Japanese soap opera, My Blood Type is O. Additionally, Calvin has appeared
in several commercials and industrials, and a USO tour of Asia and the South Pacific.