When Steve Holy’s breakout smash, “Good Morning Beautiful,”
stood atop the country charts for five straight weeks in 2002, it
sparked a fire that has continued to smolder throughout his decade-long
career. But it’s been a slow burn, and a testament to the dogged
persistence and unyielding tenacity that Holy has displayed since his
first big break in 1993, when he beat out 500 hopefuls in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area Johnnie High Country Review, the same contest
that launched the career of LeAnn Rimes.
It was another four years, however, before he signed with Curb Records,
and three years after that, his debut album, Blue Moon, was
released in 2000.
Despite moderate success with a couple of top 20 singles, “Blue Moon”
and “The Hunger,” it was not until more than a year after its release
that the album first entered Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, and Holy was
four singles deep when “Good Morning Beautiful” finally reached #1, a
full 18 months after Blue Moon launched. The earnest, charming
ballad struck a sweet spot with country fans, later being named
Billboard’s #10 Top Country Song of the Decade 1999-2009. Lightening did
strike twice, but not until 2006, when Holy again reached #1 with the
playful “Brand New Girlfriend.” Of course, it didn’t happen overnight;
it took 36 weeks to rise to the top of the charts, becoming at that time
the slowest-rising #1 hit single in Nielsen Soundscan history.
Having patiently tended the fire all this time, Holy seeks to
reignite the flame with his third album, Love Don’t Run,
releasing on September 13, 2011. He has once again teamed up with
producer Lee Miller, with whom he proved to have fantastic chemistry on
the smash hit “Brand New Girlfriend.” A proven hit songwriter, Miller
has penned three Grammy-nominated songs: “You’re Gonna Miss This” by
Trace Adkins, Jamey Johnson’s “In Color,” and “The Impossible” by Joe
Nichols – as well as #1 hit singles “The World” and “I’m Still A Guy” by
Brad Paisley. Holy and Miller wrote several songs together for the
upcoming album, including the racy, humorous “She Hauled Off And Kissed
Me,” with pal Jim Collins, and the uplifting “Let The Sun Shine In,”
demonstrating the diversity and range for which Holy has become known.
“Having had hits like ‘Good Morning Beautiful’ to ‘Brand New Girlfriend’
that couldn’t be any more different, it’s a luxury to be able to go as
far left as right,” Holy says.
While Love Don’t Run remains consistent with Holy’s overall
pop country sound, it achieves a level of maturity that surpasses his
first two albums, and veers slightly away from the 50’s and 60’s style
that defined his earlier efforts. “When my friends were listening to
current music in the 80’s and 90’s, I was listening to the 50’s 60’s,
and more traditional stuff. You know what, I’m so current I might’ve
moved into the 70’s by now,” he laughs. Holy edges into the 70’s with a
superb cover of the Kristofferson classic “Help Me Make It Through The
Night,” a song that, while most famous as a country number, has been
covered by artists as diverse as Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gladys
Knight and The Pips. A point of intersection for many musical styles, it
aptly symbolizes Steve Holy’s own mixed bag of musical influences:
Charlie Rich, Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke,
Lionel Richie, and a variety of Doo-Wop bands.
For the past two years, Steve has taken time off to return to his
hometown of Dallas and raise his two young daughters, Ava and Ella. “It
was time for me to go home, be a dad, regroup, and come out when I felt
like I was able to put my best foot forward musically,” Holy says. That
time has come, as Holy is once again touring relentlessly, dazzling
audiences with his highly engaging live performances and climbing the
charts with his current top 20 single, “Love Don’t Run.” If the third
time is a charm, Holy is poised to cement his place among the stars once
and for all. “I think part of what motivates me, what gives me drive, is
that I’ve been so close throughout the years to breaking out and getting
on a roll,” Holy says. “More than anything, I feel like I have a lot in
the tank and I want to go as long as people want to hear me. And I think
there are a lot of people that want to hear what we have coming next.”
