Please introduce yourself, what you do, why you do it, and what you want people to know about you.
Hey! My name is Robert Bannon. I am a singer/actor/talkshow host/entertainer located in the Jersey! I do what I do because nothing else gives me joy like seeing, creating, and support ART! I am a teacher as well (something has to pay all them bills!) Between my art and my art, I just want to spread joy, humanity, and love through music, acting, and my live show! I have an album called “UNFINISHED BUSINESS” because after high school I chickened out. It is my mission to encourage people to FINISH that dream that they have been to afraid to tackle! There is no day like today!
What qualities make you different and unique from everyone else in the industry?
Ha! I have no idea! I will tell you what I try to do. I try to make my concerts feel like friends gathered in my living room just having a moment together. There is no pretense, no airs, just a safe space to be and join together. Someone once told me “what comes from the heart, goes to the heart.” That is what I try to accomplish. Just send a little piece of myself and hope it connects to someone who needs to hear it.
Describe THAT moment when you realized you wanted to do what you do now. Who did you tell first? What has it been like since that moment?
Wow! Well I went to my first Broadway Show at 12 and was hooked! Then my grandmother played me a VHS tape of Sinatra, Sammy Davis, and Liza Live at the Fox in Detroit and I was hooked BUT the day I got a karaoke machine for Christmas, I knew that I was going to sing. It just was all I could think about. I told my parents that I wanted to quit basketball and go to musical theater class. Thankfully they were supportive and the rest is history. How has it been since then? A wild ride. Sometimes its been amazing. Sometimes I ran from it in fear. Sometimes, a lot of the time, it is hard and tests you, but it has been worth it!
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to face and how did you overcome it?
In life, the biggest challenge for sure has been MYSELF. The insecurity and anxiety of an artist can make or break you. I have done a lot of self sabotaging in my younger days. I think it is normal to think, “Am I good at this? Is this what I should do? Am I wasting my time? What makes me unique?” Then you come to realize that the desire isn’t going away. This is what makes me want to jump out of bed in the morning so I just keep at it! How did I overcome that all? Besides a good therapist (LOL But not really!) just life! Seeing and feeling that it is what I needed and wanted to do and deciding to face it head on. If we learned one thing this year it is that life is fragile! We have no choice but to live it up!
If you had to pick the TOP 3 people you’d want to meet that could take your career (or business) to the next level…who would those 3 people be?
That is a hard question. Who would I want to meet? Well aside from ‘industry” people, there are artists who inspire me. I am inspired by creatives greatly. I have been obsessed with Insecure. It breaks my heart that it is ending. They feel like my friends. I would love to pick Issa’s brain about how she created that world and made her brand into an empire. She writes such relatable characters. On a whole other note, and I have met him so I do not know if it counts, but I was the only Manilow fan as a kid. His arrangements and the drama of his music spoke to me. I mean THE DREAM would be to have a residency in Vegas in my late 70’s still singing hit songs in the original key! I need all the secrets on how he did it!
Finally, I am a huge fan of activism in art. I think that art is a reflection of society for sure! I would love to sit with some of the leaders of the social movements for marginalized groups. be it Shaun King, DeRay McKesson, and all the people at the forefront of queer rights as well! They are heroes. They are the rolemodels. How can artists be more of service?
List the direct links/URL to your social media profiles so people can follow you:
IG- https://www.instagram.com/robertmbannon/
FB- https://www.Facebook.com/robertbannon762
Twitter- www.twitter.com/robertbannon
Tik Tok- @robertmbannon
Spotify- https://open.spotify.com/album/1XKjPvPPzVKFRgwP81jyxf
Website- www.RobertBannon.com