Growing up in tiny Greenville, Mississippi and fascinated by the old blues and jazz musicians who used to congregate behind his father's liquor store - the first in the state - Steve Azar knew early on that music would be his life.
In fifth grade Azar won a school talent contest, and by the time he was in eighth grade he was leading his church's choir and writing songs for the congregation's weekly prayer meditation. It was at church that he developed his love of performing. He sang at local weddings, funerals, charity events, fairs and school functions. He appeared on the annual St. Jude's Telethon in Memphis and the area March of Dimes fundraiser. At home, he absorbed all kinds of musical influences: Hank Williams, Conway Twitty, John Denver, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Neil Diamond and John Mellencamp.
As a teen, he began sneaking out at night to the local clubs, and it wasn't long before he was fronting his own band. By the time he came to Nashville he was logging 200 dates a year in the Southeast. He landed a recording deal soon after moving to Nashville but fell victim to an all too-common music industry setback when his label shut down shortly after his debut single was released.Down but not out of ideas, Azar continued touring and honing his writing skills, drawing from his own experiences and those of some of his close friends. "I feel like I had to go through some of the things I have the past few years to get to where I am now," he explains. "As a writer it’s been good for me to weather some ups and downs and to be there for friends of mine who’ve gone through divorces, money problems,deaths in the family, you name it. The new songs reflect all of that and I hope the honesty of it comes through on the album we’re making." On "I Don't Have To Be Me ('Til Monday)," Azar’s first single for Mercury Nashville, Steve taps into that increasingly common need for relief from the pressures of the world, a sentiment he observed firsthand when one of his best friends experienced a near-miss with an emotional meltdown from the stress of his job. "He’s an old college buddy of mine with a fast-track job who always envied MY so-called job! He called and said he was just about to have a breakdown and needed to get away," explains Steve. "So we bummed around Nashville - played sports, talked, and just had some fun. When he left, I wrote the song about escaping from the everyday pressures of being a ‘grown-up’ once in awhile." Azar is working with producer and frequent co-writer Rafe Van Hoy. "Rafe’s great at roping in my energy and helping me get focused," says Azar, excited about his new deal. "I like the vibe at Mercury Nashville, they are exactly what I had been looking for all this time. I needed to find someone who ‘got’ what I was doing and wouldn’t try to make me fit into a certain box and I'm at the right place."
