Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel (Tnahpele) Stanford.
Hi Daniel (Tnahpele), thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Daniel Stanford & Tnahpele. Tnahpele is pronounced (Nuh-Pell). People ask, “how did you come up with THAT NAME??” (Mostly asked in a frustrated tone). Let’s start at the beginning. I am the son of a preacher man ha! I grew up in church and I was pushed into choir, as something to keep my time filled I suppose. Not having hit puberty, I was one of the best sopranos. Singing in the choir wasn’t necessarily a passion as it was more a duty (me doing my part for the ministry). For a while, after my voice changed, I wasn’t so sure singing was actually my thing. I had a performing arts job downtown Chicago. I was an aspiring poet and I traveled around the city performing poems that I had written. It wasn’t until one of my poet co-workers asked for a melody and harmony is when it kicked in and I realized I still had some semblance of a voice. From then on I did poetry and a few ~oohs and ahs~. Soon I decided to just perform around the city as a singer where I was able to find a sound, my sound. Going back to the name Tnahpele… Tnahpele is the word Elephant spelled backwords. Elephants are my absolute favorite animal and sometimes I think I was one in a past life. Anyway, I came up with that name at my high school cafeteria table. I knew whether it was poetry or singing I wanted to have my own catalogue of art and I wanted a name no one else would have. I wanted it to be unique and I thought of how someone told me that I had a powerful voice but I was also graceful. I asked myself “how do I fit that in a name?” ELEPHANTS! Elephants are powerful and graceful… of course, I can’t get on stage saying my name is elephant. My best friend at the time had gotten me into the habit of spelling things backwards. He would call me Leinad (Daniel) and I would call him (Leahcim) Michael I know…corny! But that was our thing..and I thought (T.N.A.H.P.E.L.E). I went back and forth with myself on how I would pronounce it.
Finally, I said I’ll make the T silent and thus Tnahpele was born. I admit my name is probably the hardest thing about my art. To this day I still have trouble telling people my artist’s name, I even stopped writing it on the (open mic list) when I went to perform because the name would always be botched by the presenter and I would take the mic always correcting them on how my name is said. Someone also said “Change your name it’s stupid and it’ll stop people from looking you up.” Even though getting people to spell elephant backwards was a tedious task I chose to keep it. I let someone deter me once and It is a regret I have. When I was younger my passion was the cinematography and a close friend of my parents told them to not let me go to school for it because It wouldn’t put food on my table and I wouldn’t succeed in it. With that jab to my dream, I felt it also applied to my singing. So when told to change my name I immediately blocked that person from my life. I will no longer let anyone deter me from my goals and dreams even if they have a crazy name attached to it. Moving forward I began to sing for a megachurch which had a Chicago campus. I sang worship almost every Sunday for that church..It was truly the first place I felt that my gift was appreciated and admired. I ended up getting a mentor there who was also a singer and He introduced me to the world of Jobband. Through his connections, I auditioned and secured a singing position with multiple established and new band leaders in Chicago. This was an amazing opportunity, and I enjoyed all my years doing it. I would basically freelance and sing on weekends with these different bands singing at weddings and company dinners. We’d sing everything from “Bruno Mars to Neil Diamond, to ACDC and more”. It was through these years of singing around Chicago I was able to exercise my vocal muscles and make some serious side cash! I also was able to create my first musical project “Potential Beauty”. “Potential Beauty was created by myself and a great musician friend producer Matt Kerr. Potential beauty was made in a basement studio with a skeleton band crew but I was so proud my single “Potential Beauty” a song written on a concluded love was completed late 2016 and “Potential Beauty” was also the title of my first musical project an EP comprised of 5 songs and it was released April 2017. After so many events and wanting a change, I moved to San Antonio Texas and even though it’s not the same musical market as Chicago I found my husband and I have a great community of friends here. I also found my producer Eddy Versatile Keyz and thus I pursued my goal of creating my biggest musical endeavor a 15-track album called “Every Kind of Love”. Every Kind of Love is a more evolved piece of work as the messages covers the different types of love I have experienced and messages of healing and hope.
In February 2022, I released a single called “Shine” and for now that is all that’s streaming. All in all, I’ve come here and am ready to see where and how my story as an artist continues.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Its most definitely not been a smooth road. I’d like to perform more around San Antonio and for a while, I thought I had the company of a great band but covid knocked us out of our plans and we never made any plans to resume.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a vocalist. Every genre I’ve just about sang. Country, Rock, R&B, Neo-Soul, etc. I don’t want to brag but my voice sets me apart from others.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I used to think of it as luck, but honestly doesn’t it all boil down to who you know? I have “known” people and have made connections but I guess if it is about luck then I still haven’t made any significant strides as an artist and getting my music out.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tnahpelesings
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tnahpelesings
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwB11yCHApJWM9_vm6XRC_Q
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/tnahpele
Image Credits
Darren Calhoun
J Will Cosby
