TayZonday

44 today 🎂

Grateful for another year!

5 days ago | [YT] | 3,894

TayZonday

On this Mother’s Day, I honor a woman who lived the American Dream with the soul of a lion — my mother. ❤️

The American dream is to start from nothing and achieve greatness. As the saying goes, “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!” I never knew a truer embodiment of that dream than my mother.

Mom was born in 1946 to teenage parents in Bronzeville, Chicago . . . the same place Nat King Cole was born twenty-seven years prior. Times were tough. While magazine pictures celebrated electric life, Mom’s neighborhood was different: horse-drawn wagons still delivered ice for homes without refrigeration through the 1950s.

The oldest of three, Mom had to care for two brothers by herself for days at a time before she reached Kindergarten-age. Her early childhood endured hardship too dark to mention. Adopted by an older couple at age six and raised as an only daughter, Mom helped run her Dad’s south-side furniture stores.

When Mom was a teenager, blacks would not be served if they sat to eat at Marshall Fields on Chicago’s lakefront. City code enforcement shut down her father’s business because violations were only allowed in white neighborhoods like Bridgeport, not hers. Jim Crow wasn’t the law in Chicago, but life took up the slack.

Despite a world rigged against her, my mom had the soul of a lion. 🦁 She lived in injustice but refused to let it live inside her. Forced to learn piano as a child, she used that skill to study Italian opera in adolescence. In 1963 at the age of seventeen, Mom won three episodes of The Original Amateur Hour by singing in Italian. This national television broadcast, hosted by Ted Mack and filmed in New York, was the era’s closest equivalent to The Voice or American Idol.

Mom lived a lot of history. She remembered hearing Mahalia Jackson sing while walking by her flat as a child. She remembered the infamous Robert Taylor Homes being constructed. Despite competency and success, Mom’s music career was derailed by unfairness. Her father refused to sign prestigious music school scholarships while she was still a minor. Soul-singing and Motown-style pop music were growing success vectors for young black women in the early 1960s. Those music styles were associated with business excitement. Being an Italian-singing coloratura soprano? Not so much.

While working multiple jobs and attending college part-time, Mom tried to rekindle her singing with local Chicago music opportunities that claimed to be merit-based. She got ignored. Less talented and more politically connected competition took the prizes and the limelight.

Undeterred, Mom met the love of her life while working as a high school attendance office clerk a one-hour commute from her home. This young science teacher hailed from rural Pennsylvania. After growing up in an Appalachian village as a descendant of German immigrants, Dad crossed paths with Mom in the teacher’s cafeteria. He was so reserved that she first assumed he was a celibate pastor.

My parents married soon after the first Moon landing at their religious nonprofit, which later became today’s Chicago-based Institute of Cultural Affairs. Interracial marriage was unusual. It was still entering mainstream acceptance. Their progressive Christian theology sought to remake the world as a fairer place in the wake of The Civil Rights movement.

After teaching with Dad as a Christian missionary in Polynesia for two years, Mom became an elementary school teacher. She went on to work as a public school administrator for twenty-eight years.

Mom had a gift for speaking broadly, treading carefully and empathizing widely. She achieved leadership and impacted lives in a world that rewarded those abilities. If making opposite people feel heard were a superpower, Mom deserved her own Marvel franchise. In her life, “diplomacy” and “excellence” were synonyms. “Integration” was a survival urgency more than a policy definition. “Black” and “white” identity were like classical Latin, important in-context but too small for what’s next. She and Dad raised multiple children and she continued to work into her sixties.

Mom faced her final eighteen-year journey with Parkinson’s disease bravely. Through each difficulty and indignity, she never held an ounce of effort in reserve. She gave 100% in every moment with fierce determination and ass-to-kick. She took her best swing in every stage of the battle as her body betrayed her.

Today, on Mother’s Day, I salute my mother among generations of lives well-lived. Her soul prevails in unseen heroes fighting uphill battles all around us. It’s the soul of a lion. 🦁

In closing, I present to you my mother, age 17, singing on national television in 1963.

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 79

TayZonday

🍀 Fresh drop for St. Patrick's Day! I just released my brand-new original epic orchestral arrangement of "Danny Boy" — sung with that deep voice you know, backed by full cinematic orchestra. It's emotional, powerful, and hits different this year.

"Oh Danny Boy - Powerful Orchestral Cover | TayZonday (St. Patrick's Day Special)"

What do you think — chills? Favorite line? Drop it below, tag a friend who needs this Irish classic in their life, or share your own St. Paddy's memories! ❤️☘️

Full lyrics in the video description. More epic covers coming soon — stay tuned!

#DannyBoy #StPatricksDay #TayZonday #OrchestralCover

2 months ago | [YT] | 129

TayZonday

New track out in the wild: “Don’t Feel Right When Your World Is Wrong.”

This one’s got fire in the veins and a phoenix in the bridge. Turn it up and see where it takes you. #NewMusic #TayZonday #OriginalSong

4 months ago | [YT] | 361

TayZonday

Should auld acquaintance be forgot? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥂
My Scottish-twist take on “Auld Lang Syne” — mellow start, big belting crescendo, and a smiling “Happy New Year” straight to camera! Lyrics on screen so you can sing along at midnight.
Who’s singing this with me tonight? Drop a 🎉 below and tag a friend you’ll be cheers-ing with!
Watch here 👇
#HappyNewYear2026 #AuldLangSyne #NYE

4 months ago | [YT] | 57

TayZonday

My recent “O Holy Night” cover — synthestrated in that classic key with all the chills and high notes ✨
If you missed it over Christmas, here it is! What was your favorite holiday song this year? ❤️
Watch here 👇
#OHolyNight #ChristmasMusic

4 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 79

TayZonday

43 today! 🎂✊

1 year ago | [YT] | 3,583

TayZonday

CHOCOLATE RAIN" MEETS "NUMA NUMA"!Awesome collab with the LEGEND ‪@GaryBrolsma‬!

1 year ago | [YT] | 103

TayZonday

​⁠Happy birthday to ‪@YouTube‬! Twenty years old! I sat down with ‪@TamronHallShow‬ to celebrate! 💪🏽🎉 🎊🥳🎂

1 year ago | [YT] | 133

TayZonday

Happy New Year!

1 year ago | [YT] | 201