Stephan Nance was born in Eugene, Oregon, but raised outside any municipality, in the unincorporated area of Santa Clara. Like his childhood home, Stephan’s songwriting resists annexation; he specializes in awkwardly charming vegan straight-edge queer alternative piano folk rock. His is not the voice of the majority, nor the voice of a generation... but it is a voice worth listening to.
Stephan’s piano based style can be described as quirky yet dark. His music is often compared to that of Ben Folds, Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple, and They Might Be Giants, but is praised for achieving pure originality time and time again. Nance crafts his songs without the overproduced polish of a modern studio, opting for earthier sounds like piano, unaltered vocals, guitar, and cello. One reviewer suggests that Stephan's music contains "large amounts of genuine wonderings on top of layers of upbeat melancholy and optimism."
Nance began his career with performances of original songs on Youtube (Song for Losers having amassed over 100,000 views). However, he soon moved beyond the video-sharing site and released two EPs; Tricky to See (2008) and A Piece of the Piece (2011), and a studio album; A Troubled Piece of Fruit (2012). Nance was an OUTMUSIC Award nominee for the ceremony held December 16 of 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nominations included both his trilingual epic “Japanese Garden / Jardin japonais / Yaponskii sad” for Best Alternative Song and his album A Troubled Piece of Fruit for Best CD Cover Artwork. (The artwork forA Troubled Piece of Fruit was created by Nance's close friend, Rebecca DeMoss.) Additionally, he has provided entertainment with his original songs at numerous events including Viva Vegan Con (2011) and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival (2011). In 2010, he was awarded an honorable mention for his "most unique" song “Guts” by the KarMel scholarship program, and in 2013, his tune "Song for Santa (Jingle Your Own Damn Bells)" was deemed best holiday song by The Akademia Music Awards.
