GREENFIELD — At a packed house at the Hi Fi in Fountain Square, friends and family recently joined Hancock County native Steve Boller in celebrating the release of the pop singer’s first full album, “Let’s Begin.”
Boller, 27, of Indianapolis, has been performing in show choirs and the Hancock County Children’s Theater since he was in elementary school, but he took up piano and guitar in high school, which sparked the beginning of his music career.
Inspired by artists like Jason Mraz and Ben Folds as a child, he recorded two albums in his room and got more than 100,000 streams on the social media site MySpace, according to his website.
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Boller majored in music at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he sang in choirs, studied classical piano and Bossa Nova guitar techniques. These experiences shaped his soulful, eclectic sound, he said.
Though Boller sold his homemade music albums in high school, “Let’s Begin” marks his first professional album, recorded with a hired band at the Varsity Recording Co. in Anderson. The album features 12 tracks of singer-songwriter pop music with a big emphasis on harmony, Boller said.
Boller relished the experience of recording at the Anderson studio, where he said his sound benefited from the counsel of owner Jonathan Class.
“I loved it,” he said. “It was such a creative experience, for us to partner and collaborate on every single song and bring in talented musicians … We did a lot of things an individual might not have done on their own.”
Strings and horns added to the tracks gave the album even more polish, he said.
After the release of “Let’s Begin,” the album rose to No. 3 on the singer/songwriter charts of NoiseTrade, an online free music distribution platform, Boller said.
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Pop singer/songwriter Steve Boller has several upcoming performances. They are:
- Aug. 28, Don Hall’s Castleton Grill, 6010 E 82nd St, Indianapolis, IN 46250
- Sept. 20, Bear’s Place, 1316 E. Third St., Bloomington, IN 47401
- Sept. 28, Alley’s Alehouse, 13825 Britton Park Rd, Fishers, IN 46038
- Oct. 1, The Pine Room Tavern, 51 Chestnut St., Nashville, IN 47448
- Dec. 6, Bear’s Place, 1316 E. Third St., Bloomington, IN 47401
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Steve Boller’s music can be found at steveboller.com or anywhere digital music is sold.
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