Today we’d like to introduce you to Ted Levin

Hi Ted, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

I was born in New York City and grew up nearby in the Hudson Valley. From an early age, I knew I wanted to be a a musician. There was never a plan b and at 13 I got my first guitar. After High School I went to The University of North Texas. Post graduation I did some sales type jobs for a few years but soon realized that was not for me. At 30 I got the guts to quit everything else and just do music. I started a band called, Space Cadet, in 2000 and we had some success until calling it quits by 2009. After the years of touring and chaotic rock and roll lifestyle I decided to switch gears and take things a little slower. I got residency as a solo act playing every weekend at the Omni Hotel in Dallas doing a ’50’s, Rockabilly gig, and soon after added a couple other guys to back me. We then became, Sweet Crooner, and hooked up with 13th Floor Booking not long after. Wasn’t long before we were doing 150 to 200 shows a year, many in the hot Texas sun. Ten years flew by until my wife and I decided last year we needed to move to New York to take care of my mom who was suffering with Alzheimers. Was tough to say goodby to the Lone Star and my career, but I knew it was the right choice. My wife, Cynthia St. Aubin, is an amazing published Romance writer who can write from anywhere and was excited to live in the magical place that is New York. She’s my absolute rock and has been invaluable in helping with my family. We settled in Queens and instantly fell in love with our new neighborhood. Then came the really hard part, starting my musical career over again from scratch. I put together a new original band called, Goodnight Sky, and we released our debut record, Oceania, in March 2024. Felt great to be playing my own songs again. But it wasn’t long after that before a call from an old college buddy yielded me an audition to play bass with NYC based, Heavy Metal Disco Tribute, Tragedy. I tried out and thought I’d botched it, but later that night I got a text that simply said, ‘Got a valid passport and do you have a criminal record?’ Since then I’ve done a short European tour with them and am going back in a month for 6 weeks for more, this time including the Wacken Festival, one of the biggest Metal festivals in the world. My stage name in the group is ‘Gibby Starlust’, a tip of the cap to my earliest influence, David Bowie, as well as to my lifelong dream. Sometimes everything just turns on a dime honestly. To quote the great Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

No, it has never been a smooth road. There have been times that were easier than others, but making a living at music is in my experience a very challenging uphill battle. There are struggles financially, emotionally, and spiritually. You often ask yourself, is this what I’m supposed to be doing? Sometimes the answer is hazy. As you spend more time duking it out in the business, it can become very easy to become reliant on alcohol and drugs to cope. Unfortunately that was my case. By the time I was 40 I’d become an alcoholic, perhaps even earlier, its hard to say really. By 50 I had been drinking every day for a good 20 years and the stress of handling my mom’s condition only made me lean into it harder. With the help of an amazing therapist and the love, compassion, and patience of my wife, I was finally able to stop February 27th, 2023. I count every day of my sobriety since as my greatest achievement in this life. So far anyways. I still got some air left in my tires and some gas in the tank.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I consider myself, among all else, a songwriter. Only a good one in the last 30 years, but in that time I’ve written a substantial body of work during Space Cadet’s career, and currently with my new band here in NYC, Goodnight Sky. It is certainly what I am most proud of and having an identifiable thumbprint I hope would be what will always set my songs apart. Reflection on pain and heartache from my romantic relationships, my love of the perfect break-up song, those were the bread and butter of the Space Cadet catalog. But in the last few years I have focused on how I feel about whats happening to the state of humanity, especially in this country. The rise of authoritarianism chills me to the bone and I cannot idly sit by and not write about it in my music. I even wrote a song about my mom’s fight with Alzheimers. Song writing can be some of the best therapy. Has always allowed me to get across a sentiment or emotion I could never quite plainly speak aloud. Its always been my happy place.

What does success mean to you?

Happiness before your times up. No amount of money can buy it. And no drug or drink can synthesize it. I’ve been virtually homeless at points in my life, but still never caved in and abandoned my dream of making music. And when I began to do what I felt was right and noble, and true to what I feel is moral and decent in this world, I was amazed at what life gave me in return. The prefect partner, my sobriety back, and a livelihood doing what I know what I was meant to do with my time on this rock.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetedlevin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ted.levin/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TedLevinSpaceCadet
• Other: https://goodnightsky.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits

John Huntington
Cynthia St. Aubin