We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stells Di Rossi Hurst a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Stells thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

When you think rock and roll over the past few decades what do you picture on the stage? Sadly, there is an automatic gender bias of someone male and the industry is predominantly Caucasian for most of the world. Names like Big Mama Thornton and Rosetta Thorpe are an antidote of social bias stamped beside them because the were not allowed to cross over into mainstream outside of their communities in the their eras and not attributed to being part of the founding influences of the rock music until much after 2020 by the industry. Both were amazingly talented plus sized, women of color that dared to defy the standard and stigma of society because they only wanted to be musicians expressing themselves. Not a gender or pigment racial assumption society has engrained.

Excuse has been made that it was a different time, few rock musicians know their name or influence as they hear the radio. In these modern times its still happening- culturally engrained that if you see a big black woman with a guitar she’s got to me Gospel or Blues, rather than just give it a chance and experience the artistry of the artist voice, people need stereotypes engrained with stigma. Everyday society feels it’s socially acceptable, in these present times despite desegregation many have not truly socially or mentally broken that generational curse yet.

Stells, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Every time I take the stage, I am profiled by pigment, assumed to be the stereotype of what American Society associates with people of color in entertainment and artistry despite my heritage being otherwise than what they were raised to assume. I’m an alternative rock artist that infuses her Sicilian, Egyptian and American heritage in her music creating a new sound western culture can’t quite place.

America has an ugly habit and on going history dealing with racism, segregation and despite things progressing we still have not address the elephant in the room when it comes to bias in the arts. Being a plus sized, a woman of color in the rock sector is rare. The fact that everyone wants to assume or decide what my voice should be creatively for me, is just disturbing.

Growing up I loved punk, metal and rock music. Being of mixed culture, having international family I was exposed to more than most of my peers. Because of the fact that my family was so multicultural I was given the opportunity to see how amazingly beautiful it is when you are what you are because of yourself, not the pigment bias of social disease standards. This became conflicting for me because I have a diverse family-  Caucasian family, Italian/Sicilian Family, Egyptian family, Canadian family, African American family, European family, Latino Family and Afro-Latin and Afro-European family. – We are a global people not as sheltered to smaller community mindsets.

But despite that, I loved punk music. There were no strong women of color to admire. No female black plus sized rockers talked about or mentioned unless you start digging. Especially not of Egyptian decent – as many women are still under Muslim law.

I wanted to be someone to challenge this socially by existing for more women, little girls and others afraid to be themselves to see not everyone is going to take the oppression of social disease. Racism, sexism and others aspects that affect society have been rebranded to out of site out of mind thinking creating this back handed compliments, stay in your lane thinking. I’m at the forefront of this battle every time I load up, plug in and try to just be myself.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I feel like we need to stop trying to stereotype arts. Stagnation is the way to the end. A lot of the reason that people hold on to these unspoken versions of oppression is because we have made it tradition. By keeping silent, and normalizing pre civil rights era practices we continue social disease.

The next time you see an artist, and you’re curious about who they are- give them a chance. Don’t assume, don’t compare them to something because you’re assuming, they may very well not be on that path. Support innovative and new concepts and people. Just like technology advances so does art. We can’t find out who our future icons are if we keep allowing outdated practices, become repetitious and mundane to prevent us from giving them a chance.

Let the artist tell you and show you who they are. And above all support more women and people of color in the industry that crossover and breakthrough. Society used to be literally divided until 1965.

No, we can’t force one another to integrate, but ask yourself why don’t our entertainers represent modernized concepts in certain regions despite social change. We still have so much biased compartmentalization, that it’s still uncomfortable despite segregation ending.

America literally still has segregated music, entertainment by ethnicity.

Why are we still doing this and branding it as categories?

Stop telling black rock artists they aren’t what they are because you’re not used to it. That’s racist. Stop telling female artists to not be loud, or try to change any artists voice because you feel uncomfortable. That’s censorship. The color of someone’s skin doesn’t change the creative elements of art, voice or genre. Neither does their gender. It’s art. It suppose to provoke feelings not be subjective to generalized standards of what you feel the artist creative expression should be.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have been performing and touring internationally for most of my life. Began music at age 2 years old. My entire life I was out of place in one music scene or another because of racial bias and undertones. In the orchestra I was one of the only black female members.

The punk scene there were only a few in the region – and they were overlooked for bands that had all white members. As a female performer of color I have been told for years to stop performing rock music and just sing jazz, sing gospel, sing blues or to stop playing guitar and be a “ big black soul singer”.

I’ve been soured, ostracized, gossiped about, pigeonholed and I’m still here almost 30 years later and my music is all over the world. Every time I break another level in the glass ceiling, my own city never acknowledges it.

Most of the press I get is from out of town, out of state or international. This is why I choose to carry on the tradition of being a black rocker in America, that my grandfather faced. He was back in the Motown days, dealing with sun down town mentally touring.

Now sadly his children and grandsons choose to stay in the stereotypical lane he endured so hard to push forward, but not his grand daughter, not me. I’m the first female rock guitarist in my family, and the first Egyptian Sicilian American female rocker to create her own unique sound. I fight for it every day, so that my legacy will be to break that glass ceiling to level the playing field for women and people of mixed cultures to be able to cross over the generational curse society reminds us of as if we are to stay in a lane we never choose.

That’s true and innovative American spirited music when it challenges society and social norms. It is also the very thing rock and roll has always done within society- be that edgy voice of the people, social issues and the soundtrack to our lives. That’s what rock music has always been. So, rock on, rock hard and live free before you leave this earth.

Contact Info:

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Image Credits
Photos courtesy of Method to the Madness, Thor Media Productions and Lee Hurst