We recently connected with Stephen Dijoseph and have shared our conversation below.
Stephen, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I first new I wanted to pursue creative life when I was six years old. I mean that literally. I saw the Beatles perform on TV. I literally jumped out of my chair and exclaimed “I gotta do that… I want to do that!” The rest is a 60 year history of doing just that! At that same time ( within weeks) I began with strange movements urges and blurting phrases, curses, you name it. My parents (after being “harassed” by me for two years ) finally got me a toy organ (which i STILL have!) at age 8.
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?
Since my neurodiverse condition and my intense desire to be an artist showed up simultaneously, it became a natural outgrowth of my personal reality to be a type of advocate. A voice for neurodiversity. It wasn’t always like that though. When I was in my 40s, a gentlemen named Serge Nicholich came along and helped me understand that my condition gave me a certain edge… a kind of a superpower if you will. and that I needed to take notice of that and be outspoken about my condition of Tourettes and it’s role in my life and music.
Another thing that happened is I developed what I call MGD… multiple genre disorder. So in order to organize this drive to create in different genres, I would simply create complete albums. So when people come to peruse my catalog, they will find Solo classical/jazz piano, Celtic jazz, Jam band, Orchestral/New age, prog rock and mixed – genre songwriting.
My role as an artist and advocate seems to be inspiration. To hopefully inspire people in the same manner as that which has come to inspire me. I called what goes on in the brain ‘A Synaptic Adventure.’… An explorative journey through that which one creates. We all create a life and my secondary job is to point that out. My first job is to create.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I began taking medication for my Tourette’s (for the second time). It happened at a time when I was also going through some big changes. I became so severely depressed ( combination of challenges and highly incompetent medicinal treatment), I could barely get out of bed ( I HAVE A SONG about this experience called ‘Long Way Down’). During that time I managed to keep doing and booking my gigs, so I had a thread of normalcy to help me move forward. Through a change in medication, hope, discipline and others’ help, I was able to come out of it and truly feel wonderful. Better than before!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The shear excitement of coming up with new musical/creative ideas never gets old.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Stephendijoseph.com
- Instagram: Www.instagram.com/stephendijoseph
- Facebook: www.Facebook.com/dijosephmusicandfilm
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephendijosephmusic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephendijoseph
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/stephendijoseph
Image Credits
Henry Nevison