We recently connected with Manny Grey and have shared our conversation below.

Manny, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

In 2020 I embarked on two projects that where dear to me. The first was walking from Brockton, Massachusetts to Florida, A journey that took 76 days, 1300+ miles, and over 2 million steps. It changed me dramatically in ways I still feel to this day. When I returned, I wanted to share some semblance of the relief my trip had given me. So I started the Embers Project where I collected over 200 user submitted stories from all over the world to be burned on New Year’s Eve 2020. These people expressed to me their pandemic stories, most of which I read aloud before burning. Out of respect for the ceremony, I haven’t told their stories since and likely never will again. The burning coincided with the release of my Embers EP where I told the final stories of my old life and feelings before I moved on to who I truly am today.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Human being’s respect effort. They may clown it and talk trash about your attempts. But deep down they respect it. They respect and admire strength, whether physical or spiritual. I have strength in abundance and I think people can feel it when they meet me. They can hear it in the energy of the music, the lyrics and the tone of my voice that there’s more here than what’s being seen or heard. It took me a lifetime of pain to admit my strengths; Not to allow myself to be crushed under the weight of insecurity. I turned away from that voice that makes humility into a cage instead of a path forward. I don’t define myself by my weaknesses anymore but rather the facts of who I am. And what I am, is strong.

Through the arts I’ve accrued I aim to express just that. I aim to wake up that truth inside of those like me who just need a reminder of their power. My music provides the emotions they’ve yet to understand. The lyrics are words they feel but couldn’t express. The videos are the colors of their emotions. I know there are people out there like me. People who felt like I did; Isolated. Angry. Depressed. I want to show them that you can be more than what you are. That your power is one choice away.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Forward to the biggest stages. I want to perform on the biggest stages there are. I want to have shows filled with people like us. People who see and experience the world in a way that many feel like they have to hide. I want us to rage together, scream and sing together. I want to create a place for my people. And it’s happening. I can see it on the discussions and interactions on my socials. My music has attracted, artists, thinkers, business owners, street dudes, mothers, fathers, loners, outcasts. People all inexplicably linked by how they resonate with and think about the world, completely unique from their individual circumstances. And the bigger the stages I perform on, the more people we can allow in to feel like themselves, unplugged from society.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

There’s a moment in the book The Alchemist where the main character has to become the wind or be killed. Upon his summoning of the wind, a leader states this in reaction to the fear of his commanders: “I want to see the greatness of Allah,” the chief said, with respect. “I want to see how a man turns himself into the wind.”

It stuck with me forever that this general wanted to be a witness to something Great. I always thought his bravery was so dope. But it changed me when I realized in my own life I could be both the Wind and the Witness.

The moments I wish to experience, I have to create. No one is going to give them to me. I have to take them for myself. But that also means taking ownership of my failures and learning from them. I had to accept that the brick that builds the wall isn’t always made of victory.

So that little passage in an old book was one of many, many roots that lead to a more independent kind of growth mindset. And that mindset has been valuable in every aspect of my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: mannygreymerch.com
• Instagram: @mannygreymusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MannyGreyMusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MannyGrey/videos

Image Credits
@barsoverbarsmedia @onlyfilms14