Steven J. "Steve" Tannen (born 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. He is best known for being in the folk-pop duo

The Weepies The Weepies were an American indie pop-folk band consisting of singer-songwriters Steve Tannen and Deb Talan. Their music has been described as "subtly intoxicating folk-pop". History Formation and early years (2001–2005) In 2001, Talan and ...

Early life and career

Tannen was born in New York City, but grew up in Australia and Canada in addition to New York. He started performing at an early age and learned music at home. He is the grandson of magician

Louis Tannen Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

and the brother of songwriter Greg Tannen and screenwriter Robert Tannen. Steve graduated from

Mamaroneck High School Mamaroneck High School is a public school located in Mamaroneck, New York. The school is part of the Mamaroneck Union Free School District. Students residing in neighboring Larchmont also attend this school. Ranking Mamaroneck High school is unra ...

. He received a degree in English from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Tannen worked as a production assistant in Hollywood, becoming a script reader and assistant to film director

Norman Jewison Norman Frederick Jewison (born July 21, 1926) is a retired Canadian film and television director, producer, and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. He has directed numerous feature films and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best D ...

. He interned at radio station

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

, and then moved to Colorado to work for the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) at the

National Center for Atmospheric Research The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundatio ...

(NCAR). He left NCAR after a year and worked odd jobs around the US, developing a personal mix of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and rock. He returned to New York and, with the help from former

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...

guitarist Jon Gordon, started a rock and roll project. This turned into his debut album ''"Big Señorita"'' which was chosen as one of Performing Songwriter Magazine's Top 12 Independent Releases of 2001. In 2001, while touring behind ''Big Senorita'', Tannen met his future wife and musical partner

Deb Talan Deborah Ruth "Deb" Talan (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for being part of the folk-pop duo the Weepies. Early life and career Born in western Massachusetts, Talan grew up in the small town of Pelham, ...

at a show at

Club Passim Club Passim is an American folk music club in the Harvard Square area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was opened by Joyce Kalina (now Chopra) and Paula Kelley in 1958, when it was known as Club 47 (based on its then address, 47 Mount Auburn Str ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. His second solo CD ''"Stopped at a Green Light"'' was released in September 2003; this was quickly followed by the first Weepies album ''

Happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

'' in December of that same year. In addition to The Weepies' albums, Talan and Tannen collaborated with singer/actress

Mandy Moore Amanda Leigh Moore (born April 10, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame with her debut single, "Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Her debut studio album, '' So Real'' (1999), recei ...

on her 2007 album ''

Wild Hope ''Wild Hope'' is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mandy Moore, her first in four years ''Coverage'' (2003). It was released in digitally in Australia on June 18, 2007, and on June 19, 2007 by The Firm Music, a division of EMI ...

''. Together, they wrote and recorded five songs with Mandy – the single " Extraordinary," the title track "Wild Hope," "All Good Things," "Few Days Down" and "Looking Forward to Looking Back." Steve is also a member of The Tannen Brothers, in which he plays with his brother Greg Tannen.

Discography

References

External links

Official siteSteve Tannen collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

's live music archive
Listen
to some of his songs at folkweb.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Tannen, Steve 1968 births American folk-pop singers American singer-songwriters Living people Mamaroneck High School alumni