TAEM- The Arts and Entertainment Magazine would like to introduce the multi-talented entertainer FC “Steel” Anderson to all of our readers. Steel, as you are so often referred to, have been around for a long time, with music being your primary calling. You also go by the name of Cisco Castille, so for the meantime we will call you ‘Steel’. How did you originally start in your music career?
S- Thanks Joseph! I guess I started out as a child, singing back-up harmonies for church and family groups, and taking beginner piano lessons, before I eventually got into playing trombone in high school in various bands, while still singing background vocals in various groups around the DC area.
TAEM- Tell us about your training at George Washington University and how it had helped you.
S- Oh, the 6 months of vocal/operatic baritone voice training at GWU helped me big time, until then, I was rapping, and producing a little, but had never thought of myself as having a possible lead voice, until my maestro at the time gave me a great compliment, saying I was his best student, and should continue opera singing, but since I’m more into urban music and my articulation was improved, I nicely turned down that opportunity and went back into urban music. Not only did it help me find my voice, or voices that I sing lead with, but also to truly appreciate the full range and power of the voice as an instrument, whether you are just singing, rapping, talking, or whistling. I truly appreciate everyone’s voice, even annoying, and sometimes just like to listen to a new group’s interaction and interchange of voices, I’m also a big karaoke fan too, when I was stationed in Tokyo in 98’ with the Navy, but that’s another story . . . (more…)