Photo by Sergei Belski
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in a city in Northern New Brunswick called Miramichi, population of about 17,000.
What shows and work have you been up to most recently?
October 2017 was an extremely busy month for our company Worldwide Music Entertainment, we had 7 concerts which included two short tours with both Lyle Lovett/John Hiatt, The Mavericks and The Jesus and Mary Chain. In addition, we have another tour in early March. The Lovett/Hiatt tour took place in the US, which included shows in Memphis, Indianapolis and Michigan is the beginning of what we are hoping for a break in that market for us. We are also putting the pieces in place to expand our music publishing practice. We are currently looking at setting up an office in Nashville!
What is your true passion in life?
My passion is music, sharing music with others, whether it is through hosting concerts, guitar clinics or the social work I do with Guitars for VETS, giving others the gift of music is what gets me excited.
Who are your favorite bands?
My musical taste is all over the board. I love Metallica, Kiss, Johnny Cash, Breaking Benjamin, Five Finger Death Punch, Reignwolf, Notorious BIG, Tupac and Guns N Roses.
What mark in the world are you wanting to achieve?
I’d love to be able to say at some point that I was able to bring music to those who needed it. I’d also like to be able to say I had a hand in putting the power of music back into the hands of musicians, not information technology companies like Apple and Spotify.
What did you do as a career out of high school and then on?
After high school I went to college to take carpentry, but not my cup of tea so I joined the military shortly after. I was hoping to spend more time in the military than I did. Again however, they did not have a permanent position for me at the time. Then I went back to college for a Marketing/Technology diploma. Once I completed the two year program, like many others, I realized there would be no work in my hometown so I moved to Alberta in '96 where I started working in oil and gas. Since then I’ve worked for many of the larger companies such as Petro Canada, Shell, Anadarko, Encana, Cenovus etc. About five years ago I decided to go back to school again getting my bachelor of commerce degree. At which time, I started working for another oil and gas company Suncor where I managed teams all around the globe from India to Costa Rica. Just over three years ago I started down the path of working in entertainment with Worldwide Music Entertainment. I was very fortunate to get to work with some incredible industry talent right out of the gate. My first “music” job was marketing for the first ever Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp Canada, featuring Joe Perry of Aerosmith! From there I’ve been a part of putting together marketing plans for several concerts including Lyle Lovett/John Hiatt, The Mavericks, Sass Jordan, Los Lobos, Rodney Crowell and many more to come.
Bret Wilson's Stampede Party, in 2017 with Chris Tutty.
Guitars for Vet's event in Calgary, with Gerald Auger. Sean McCann attended as well.
Steve Gilliss' Wife and former Great Big member, now solo artist Sean McCann. He is a spokes person for Guitars for Vets.
You can see Steve in our 2018 print Issue!