From Stage To Soul: Tony Saint Tone’s Inspirational Journey Using Music To Motivate, Heal & Transform Lives (Inspirational)

What if one inspirational song, one powerful motivational message, could be the spark that transforms not just your life—but an entire room full of hurting people?

In this inspirational and motivational episode, Reginald D sits down with award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, and motivational speaker Tony Saint Tone, a man who has performed over 7,000 shows worldwide and built his life around one mission: to motivate, empower, inspire, and uplift people through music.

Tony shares how he created his unique style of “positive pop rock”—blending pop, rock, rap, and country with positive affirmations and powerful lyrics that become a living motivational speech over music. From performing for U.S. troops in Kuwait, to inmates in jail, to seniors in nursing homes, Tony reveals how music becomes a universal language of hope, healing, and transformation.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in a job you don’t love, questioned your gift, or wondered if you’re “too old” or “too late” to start, this conversation speaks directly to you.

Tony’s journey shows what happens when you stop living small, stop listening to other people’s fear, and start trusting the gift inside you. Maybe you’re not a musician—but you have a gift, a calling, a dream. This episode connects to your desire to: Make your life count, use your talent to impact others, turn your pain, struggle, or doubt into purpose, power, and progress.

Hit play now to experience an inspirational, motivational conversation and a living motivational speech that will ignite your purpose, strengthen your faith, and motivate you to finally go all in on the gift God put inside you.

Tony's Contact Info:

Website:  https://www.SaintTone.com

Motivational and inspirational, inspirational, motivational, motivate, motivational speech, inspirational podcast, motivational podcast, positive music, positive pop rock, mindset, success, resilience, purpose, faith, transformation, self-improvement, personal growth, confidence, music motivation, overcoming fear, chasing your dreams, Music,

Transcript

Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald D. I'm your host, Reginald D. On today's episode, I have Tony Saint Tone.

Tony is an award winning singer, songwriter, musician and motivational speaker. Tony's mission is to motivate, empower and inspire and uplift people with his music.

His unique approach to songwriting blends pop, rock, rap and country to to create what he calls positive pop rock. Tony has performed 7,000 shows worldwide.

Welcome to the show, Tony.

Thank you.

Tony Saint Tone: Thank you for having me.

Reginald D: Absolutely. Thank you. So, Tony, let's start out by telling us a little bit about where you grew up and what your childhood was like.

Tony Saint Tone: I grew up in Hampden, Connecticut, which is right next to New Haven, Connecticut, where Yale is from. My parents both came over from Italy, so they came literally right off the boat.

I'm the youngest of three. I have an older brother and sister.

I started playing music when my sister wanted to take guitar lessons at college and didn't want to go alone at the time. I was playing trumpet for about three months and I came to my dad and I says, listen, I really like this guitar thing, I want to do it.

And he says, well, that's great, but I just paid for a trumpet. If you want to play guitar, you're going to have to pay for it, which was an incredible lesson for me.

So I literally started a paper route and I saved up enough money, which was $35, to buy a guitar, which is,

it's off in the corner here. I still have it. But that started me on my career route, if you will. And geez, I've been playing over 40 years and I've traveled around the world playing.

So it was the right choice.

Reginald D: Yeah, I see. Because Tony, 7,000 shows across the world, that's a lifetime on stage. What have those mouths and melodies taught you about perseverance, purpose and people?

Tony Saint Tone: You know, I've always been very goal oriented and just even from the very beginning,

I started writing songs that I was like, wow, how cool would it be to play in a bar? Because that was like, you know, that's where all the shows were back then.

So I did that. And then it says, how cool would it be to open up for a national act? And then I did that. Then I says, oh, be really awesome if I could put an album out.

And then I did that. So I've always set myself up with goals and then I've always been laser focused on trying to achieve that goal. And even to this day, I still do that.

Reginald D: So how do you blend music and positive affirmations to Create songs that both entertain and empower.

Tony Saint Tone: So back in about 2000, 2001, I think it was, I had already been listening to a lot of Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy,

all these different motivational speakers. And something hit me, like, what if I try to put some of these messages into songs? Because it's something that's very powerful. And I just started playing with it and next thing you know, I started emerging in what's called positive pop rock.

Just songs just had messages. It was non denominational, but yet still carries a positive message. So it's best is yet to come. Breaking the rules that were meant to be broken Reinvent your life I'm a magnet for money.

Just different positive affirmations that just. I put them in these pop formats so people can hear. And when they're singing, it reinforces positivity with them.

Reginald D: And I'mma tell you what, breaking all the rules, that's my jam there.

Tony Saint Tone: Okay, so you got a chance to listen to it.

Reginald D: Yeah, I like that. I like that.

So you performed for everyone from US troops overseas to inmates in prison and seniors in nursing homes. Can you share a story from one of those moments that deeply moved you so?

Tony Saint Tone: God, there's so many.

I'll give you a couple. We've done shows at nursing homes where people are catatonic, where they don't move.

And I'll go in and start performing and they'll start tapping their toe or their finger. And I've seen nurses break down and cry because they're like, you know, that's Mr.

Johnson. I've never seen him even move,

let alone talk.

And yet here he is tapping his finger to you because it approaches a different part of the brain. You know, music just has a way to transcend different levels of consciousness or just different levels altogether.

You know, I call it the universal language. Another inspiring story for me was we were doing a show in Kuwait in a place called Tent city, which was 600 troops in the middle of a desert.

And it was all tents. They put us on a flatbed truck. And this girl was there that I met after the show.

And she says, you know, I really gotta tell you something. I says, oh, what's up? She goes,

I was in my tent tonight, I didn't want to come out. A friend came out and she goes, you got to come out tonight. There's a band. And she goes, I had a fake bottle of champagne.

It was my one year anniversary with my husband, who was not here.

And I just didn't want to Come out. And she goes. And next, you know, I came out and I was stage diving with everyone else, because we all ended up stage diving at one point.

And that's a whole nother story.

But fast forward 20 years,

and I'm playing in Sarasota at a club, and this girl walks up to me. She goes, do you remember me? And I said, no. She goes, I'm Lisa.

I'm like, okay, Lisa. She goes, you played in Kuwait at Tent City. I was like, oh, my God. Okay. And she goes, yeah. She goes, you signed the poster and you drew a picture of a person,

you know, stage diving. And she.

Later on, when she got home, she sent me a picture of the poster. So she held onto this poster for 20 years from that time.

So she goes, you know, you have no idea what that meant to me.

And I was like, wow. So, you know, you really don't know how you're touching anyone.

So when that comes back around, especially 20 years later, it's an amazing feeling.

Reginald D: Oh, yeah, man. That's remarkable. God, man, that is crazy.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah, totally. I was like, you still have the poster? She goes, yeah. And all of a sudden, she shows me the poster and there's my little drawing and signed it. I said, keep on flying, because it was the first time she ever jumped off of a stage.

Reginald D: Wow, man. That's amazing. That's amazing.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah.

Reginald D: So, Tony, when did you realize that your guitar and your gift could be used for something bigger than the stage?

Tony Saint Tone: I always knew that music was powerful, even as a young kid. I mean, I just. I absorbed it. You know, I always listened to it. My mom always sang around the house cleaning, like an Italian mom would.

But I didn't realize that I had a gift for singing until I actually started it. But, you know, when you start seeing people react and just dancing and moving and having a good time, and then you take it further when you start doing shows, like I said, at the nursing homes,

or if I do these shows at jails or halfway houses,

the songs become bigger than you and the message becomes bigger than you. So what I've evolved into is a show called Energize youe Vibes, which is half motivational speaking and half original music.

So I'll go in there and we'll use Breaking all the Rules, for example.

I'll talk about people in history that have done amazing things,

and I'll use that story, and I'll couple it with other stories or personal stories, and then I'll go into the song, you know. Cause the way I intro that particular song is, I say, if you think you can, if you think you can't, you're 100% correct.

So where's your mindset? Where are you putting your focus?

So that's the whole thought of that. So for me, I realized quickly that music is so powerful now, I've been able to harness it in even more with these types of shows.

Reginald D: Yes, absolutely. And your nonprofit, the Spirit of Music Foundation.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah.

Reginald D: You bring live shows to those who can't afford it, which is remarkable, man. Can you tell us a little bit about your nonprofit and how it brings hope and healing through music?

Tony Saint Tone: Sure. So, as I just mentioned, we do shows at Boys and Girls Clubs, nursing homes. A lot of the nursing homes don't have music. Some have music once a month, some don't have it at all.

So just going into that and watching people light up is amazing. When we do shows at the jails and are at the halfway houses, that's a whole nother level, because that's when we're actually going in with the original material and really going in with the message of hope and a message of,

you know, stay positive. You can do this.

I've done shows when I used to live in Los Angeles, where it started, I've done shows there, and I've met people outside of jail, and they'll look at me like, I remember you.

And I'm like, okay. They're like, you came when I was in jail.

They're like, you have no idea what that was like. I mean, we never got entertainment, but then you had this message.

So, God, we played a show. And, you know, I tell people this a lot. I've done over 7,000 shows, and one of the top three shows was at the women's LA County Jail because there was 200 women in there who were so ready for something positive and something uplifting.

And they screamed so loud, I felt like we were the Beatles at Shea Stadium. It was like an overwhelming feeling of energy that came towards us. It was so big that we started playing and I missed my cue.

We all took a step back, and I was like, I just. We all looked at each other like, what is this?

Because we just never felt that kind of wave of energy.

And then I settled in like, okay, we're here to do a show. But at the end of the show, people were laughing, crying. Can you sign this? Can you sign that?

It was just a very emotional and uplifting thing. And I remember the guard saying, we'd never seen anything like this.

But they usually bring in four Piece quartets that are just playing classical music or jazz.

So for us, it was like, again, a message and a meaning with uplifting music. So it combined a lot of things. And since I write in different styles, if I write in pop,

country, rock, some rap,

there was a little something for everyone. So it's basically throwing a big net out there.

And you know you're gonna start snagging people. And I always say this during these shows. I say, listen, guys, it's not about the actual song and as far as the style that you're into or not, but listen to the message.

And they get it because I'm able to talk before each song.

Reginald D: Wow. And this game changes too.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah. Oh, totally, totally.

Reginald D: So, Tony, you shared the stage with some major acts like Foreigner, Kansas, Blues Traveler. What lessons have you taken away from performing with those legends?

Tony Saint Tone: God, it's a mixed one, to be honest with you. Sometimes, you know that they always say,

whatever goes up must come down.

And they're like, if you're polite to people on the way up, you better be polite to them on the way down.

And some of these guys are on their way up. Since some of these guys are on their way down.

Some were really incredible to work with.

And I was just honored to be on a stage or share a stage with them.

Others had large egos. And I was like, wow. I remember we did a show with Jefferson Starship, and it wasn't necessarily them, but it was their road crew. They had set up a box between me and my guitar player with a candle on it.

I says, hey, guys, can we just move this? Because, you know, we have, like, no room. We're opening up. The guy goes, nothing moves from the stage. And I was like, wow, really?

It's a box with a candle. We're not sound checking it. It's a prop.

But, you know, they get that way. Cause they're like, you know, we're Jefferson Starship. And it wasn't the actual band, but it was their crew. So I go, okay. You know, you just gotta live up to and go, okay.

You know.

But it's always been an amazing thing. I've done over 30 different national acts, and they've all had different situations and they all had their own little thing. But I could say that, you know, always act professional again with that box and that candle.

I could have said a lot of things. I just went, okay and smiled. And that's what you do. You just roll with the punches. So I think the main thing is just go with it,

you know, be Thankful that you are where you are and understand that there's a lot of egos in there. You just have to understand that.

I think that's the best way to answer that question.

Reginald D: Right. Exactly. A lot of times some things are just too big for some people, you know?

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah.

Reginald D: So that's one of those situations. They could have easily moved them.

Tony Saint Tone: Exactly.

Reginald D: You know, but, you know, it's just like you say, ego, man. Ego.

Yeah. Yeah. So you had the honor of performing at the 2009 inaugural ball for President Obama.

Tony Saint Tone: Yes.

Reginald D: What was that experience like for you?

Tony Saint Tone: So that was incredible. I'll give you a quick story. My wife, who wasn't my wife at the time,

was interested in joining the band. And she says, you know, I can get you guys different shows. And I said, well, you know, I've never had a girl in the band.

It was like, you know, boys only club. And that's just because every band that I've ever listened to was more like an all male band.

So I said, well,

all right, why don't you try to get us a show? So the first show she got us was the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. I was like, oh, wow, that was pretty great.

You know, we flew from Connecticut to New Mexico to do that. And then she goes, oh, I'm going to get the inaugural ball for President Obama.

And we're like, there's no way you're going to do that. That's insane. He's the first black president. It was 2009, his first term. I'm like, there's no way. And everyone said.

She was like, you're crazy.

That's an impossible thing. Well, about 250 calls later, she got us the gig.

And we actually got phone calls from, I think it was the management from Pool and the Gang and said, who are you and where are you from? You know, like,

we've never heard of you. And she's like, well, we're Saint Tone and we're playing. She's like, we want that slot. I'm like, well, that's nice, but we already got it.

So, yeah, it was just an incredible experience. And, you know, talking about a feather in your cap, it's one of those things that you're like,

there's not too many people that can say they did that. Let's say it that way.

Reginald D: Yeah, exactly.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah.

Reginald D: Yeah.

Tony Saint Tone: It was just an incredible experience. I remember it being extremely cold there. Coming from Florida especially. We're like, oh, my God, it's so cold here in Washington. Yeah.

Reginald D: Oh, yeah. So who has inspired you the most as a performer and as a person.

Tony Saint Tone: You know, growing up, I listened to the Beatles, Billy Joel,

a lot of different acts. Interesting enough, I got a chance to meet Billy Joel at one point, and it's a really interesting story. But I was at the Songwriters hall of Fame induction ceremony, which is a big dinner where they induct people into the Songwriters hall of Fame, just like the Rock and Roll hall of Fame.

So he just happened to be in the urinal next to me in the men's room, and I'm like, oh, my God, it's Billy Joel right next to me. And here's a guy that I have every album by,

and I go, I don't want to say anything stupid to him. So I just go, hey, I got a funny story for you. And he goes, yeah, what's that? I says, the guy who tunes your piano tunes my piano.

Because this guy that had been tuning my piano kept saying that he tuned Billy Joel's piano. So I just threw it out there. And he goes, oh, yeah, no ****.

The guy from Connecticut. And I go, yeah.

So it was true.

So I was like, oh, this guy wasn't lying.

So I just had this brief conversation. I says, hey, listen, I just gotta tell you, I'm a huge fan, and I've listened to your stuff, you know, my entire life.

And he goes, oh, that's great. He goes, I'm doing some classical stuff right now, but hey, thanks. Anyway, so I go back to the table and I tell my friends,

and friend of mine goes, yeah. Wow, you went to the men's room? I'm gonna go to the men's room to see who I can meet. I'm like, okay, you know, just kidding around.

And he comes back and he goes, you met Billy Joel? He goes, I met the three brothers from Hanson. And I went, oh, okay. I guess I won that little battle, if you will.

And at that same performance,

nobody knew it, but Brian Wilson was being inducted to the Songwriters hall of fame, and Paul McCartney was there, but he was a secret,

meaning that nobody knew that he was there. Now, at the time, you got to imagine this huge, huge hall where I paid $400 a seat, but the people in the front row paid $25,000 a seat to sit there.

And here comes Paul McCartney, and the whole place erupts.

Because they were doing the ceremony before the dinner, and my wife at the time just goes, go up there, Go up there. Go up there. Because he was coming off of the pew, and he's waving at everyone like, hey, you know, and they're sort of.

And I. I literally froze like a five year old little boy. I could not go up to him and I was like,

what am I going to say to this guy?

Everyone else is losing their mind. And these are people who have. Are in the industry and that worked with him and they're blown away. So I didn't know what to do.

But I mean, it was an incredible night. So to answer your question,

there's so many musicians that have inspired me through the years. The Beatles, the doors, Bully Joel, U2,

Elton John. I mean, they're just.

I love all styles of music, so there's just too many to actually hone into just one.

Reginald D: Yeah, that part.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Reginald D: I know that's tough. So what role Tony has faith and spirituality played in your music and your resilience as an artist?

Tony Saint Tone: So a lot of my music gets downloaded. And what I mean by downloaded is I'll wake up in the morning with a song in my head, fully produced, and I'm singing it to myself.

And I literally have to get out of bed and either grab a phone and sing it into the phone, or if I'm working on a lyric,

I'll literally write the whole lyric out. Like about three months ago, I wrote a song about some dads. Some dads do this and some dads do that. And I'm like, where did this come from?

Like, I don't know. And then in other times, I do things called scat singing, where I just pick up the guitar and I'm strumming chords. And when you scat sing, you're basically just singing words that quickly rhyme.

And I've done songs like that where I've written almost like a complete song without only making a couple minor changes on the first take.

And I listen back to this recording and I go,

wow, where did that come from?

You know, because I didn't consciously think of it, I'm just playing the chords and I'm just singing. So I'm in this little zone, if you will, of just allowing it to happen.

And I find when I do my songwriting, that's the best way to do it. It's almost like a hands off type of thing. Just be the scribe, if you will,

and layers come to me. Other times I'll take a song and I'll go, mama said we could work it out if we want to. And I kept singing that. I'm like, okay, well then what is it that mama said?

Well, mama said we could work it out. And it was about win Win situations and compromise.

So the song evolved into that. But where did Mama Said come from?

I don't know, it just happened, you know, So I don't overanalyze it. I try to just take it, accept it and then I just mold it if I need to.

But a lot of times it's already pre written and I'm just cuddling with the flower man.

Reginald D: Tony, that's a gift, man.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah. Oh, totally. Listen,

I know it's a gift and that's why I remember hearing an article about Michael Jackson saying he sees songs over his head.

He would feel or see songs and he would say, if I don't grab it, they're going to give it to Prince.

So I need to get it. And I'm like, wow. So he was feeling like these were,

I don't know, like little particles going past. Like I need to grab this as it's on its way to Prince and if I don't snag it, Prince is going to get it.

Reginald D: Yep, yep.

Tony Saint Tone: And I think Prince got some too.

Reginald D: Absolutely. So, Tony, I want you to finish this sentence. Music is universal.

Tony Saint Tone: A universal, unbelievable, transformative love. Yeah, I mean that sentence could be a run on sentence very easily. You just keep going. Yeah.

Reginald D: Oh yeah. Oh yeah, man. Music is the most powerful thing we have.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah.

Reginald D: All the way down from a baby. You can put music on, maybe baby quit crying.

Tony Saint Tone: Exactly. Because it's vibrational energy. And you know, if you're listening to,

you know, think of.

And this is something I do with my songs just as of being conscious of it. If you keep repeating something, words have power.

Now words with rhythm have even more power because it could set you in a certain trance or a certain state.

So when I perform the songs at the Energize youe Vibe show, I keep that in mind. So it's like, hey, I'm talking about breaking all the rules that were meant to be broken.

And I'm giving you guys all these different subject matters, you know, of people that have transformed themselves and have done things that society didn't think was possible or their parents didn't think was possible.

And now I'm presenting a song and I'm trying to give it vibrational setting.

When they hear that song again, it's like, oh, wow, you know, that's that song. I did this thing at one of the jails and I talk about. It's the rat story, as I call it.

So a couple of scientists had, in the 50s, wanted to see how long a rat can swim. So they grabbed like A bunch of rats put them in the water and they roughly, within 15 minutes, they started drowning and they pulled them all out of the water.

So the assistant quickly said, hey, you know what, let's just throw em back in the water, see how long they last.

Well, to their surprise, they swam for 60 hours.

They just kept swimming and kept swimming and kept swimming. Because at the end they thought, well, the rat just thought it had to swim long enough until someone plucked it out.

But they outdid their performance from 15 minutes to 60 hours. I says, now that's a rat. So what do you think you can do and what do you think you're really capable of?

So I plant that seed. I'm like, here's a rat that was able to do something from 15 minutes to 60 hours.

So where's your line? You think you only can do this, but you really have more ability than you realize.

And I told that story and about six months later I went back to the jail and I was back in one of the pods where these guys were. This guy comes up and he goes, oh my God, I can't believe you're here.

And I go, oh, hi, what's up? And he goes, you were here six months ago and literally two days ago I was telling a new inmate that story that you told about the rats.

I'm like, wow, okay. So it's like,

again, you don't realize what type of effect you have on people that stuck with him enough for him to share it and move it forward.

So when you can plant seeds,

they start to grow and they germinate and they plant other seeds. So yeah.

Reginald D: Yep, that's it, man. You never know when you have that moment with somebody or you take the time with somebody. You know, that's the big key.

A second to listen,

whatever you could do to help respond, you know, you never know how far that would take.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah, yeah.

Reginald D: That person, like you said to the next person. To the next person and things like that. That's how it all works, you know?

Tony Saint Tone: Absolutely.

Reginald D: Music is.

Tony Saint Tone: Yes, yes. That's the whole thing. It's like, you know, you don't know what that person's going through and how that song affected them. I've had people come up to me and go like, wow, that song Empower Me really helped me through my divorce.

I'm like, oh, okay. I mean, it wasn't written with that intention, but it was just. It's called Empower Me. So it's a self empowerment song. And they took it and used it in that way.

You know, So I go, okay, well, listen, however you can use it,

by all means, it's there.

You know,

take it.

Reginald D: Yeah, exactly. So, Tony, when it's all said and done, how do you want people to describe the impact of Tony Saint Tone.

Tony Saint Tone: The man behind the music,

to continually follow what inspires you in your dreams, whatever your desires are, to go for it.

Like, my desire was to play music full time.

And I had a father who wasn't really keen on that. He didn't approve of it, if you will.

He just thought he didn't understand it.

He came over from Italy, worked in a sheet metal factory for,

I don't know, like 60 years.

And he'd always say to me, you know, you need to get a real job.

You know, you want to do this music thing? And I says, well, no, I want to play full time.

So he constantly fueled my fire, if you will.

And at one point. I'm just going to share this story with you. At one point, I had written these two jingles for Subway restaurants, and I had a check for $16,000.

And I says, I'm going to show him this check, and that's going to change his whole mindset of what I'm about and what I can do.

So in my mind, I thought I was going to get like, you know, hugs and cheers and all that stuff. So I show him, and he goes, well, you can't do that every day.

And I went, wow,

okay. And at that point, I realized I no longer have to prove it to you.

You served your purpose for me, and your purpose was to fuel my fire, to keep me going and to really kept my drive going. I said, but now I don't need to try to prove it to you any longer.

So I put them aside.

My point being is from there, I moved to Florida to play music full time. I could play seven days a week,

three times a day. Where in Connecticut, I didn't have that ability.

So whatever you want to do, there's a possibility to do it. And there's. Success leaves clues.

You know, depending on what you want to do, success leaves clues.

But I also say you might be that person who's going to be setting the example for everyone else.

So in a song like Reinvent yout Life, I talk about this woman, Grandma Moses, who started painting at the age of 75, lived to be 103 or something, and she paid a 30500 paintings.

And one of her paintings ended up in the Smithsonian Museum of Art and sold for $1.4 million.

This is a woman that started at 75 because she couldn't crochet anymore, so she started painting with no training,

you know, so what are you doing? What are you waiting for? You're not too old. You're not too smart enough, you know, whatever it is you like,

go for it. That's what I want to be. I want to be that guy who says, hey,

go for it. And I also say this. There's a song I use called Turn Yourself Around.

Sometimes you exhaust all of your energy trying to convince someone of something.

But if you're on FM and they're on am, they're two different wavelengths, and you're never going to get to them. So I say, take that energy and use it upon yourself and lead by example.

And you're like, oh, how are you getting all those shows? Or, how did you do this? It's like, well, now, I'll tell you now that you're interested. But if I'm trying to spend all my time trying to convince you,

I'm not booking all those shows, I'm not doing all the things that I want to do.

That makes sense.

Reginald D: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And, you know, with everything you said at the end of the day is, you know, is sacrifice.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah. And how bad do you want it?

Reginald D: Yeah. You backed up and moved to Florida. Like, hey, man, this only way I'm gonna get this done. I got to leave, you know, I got to leave, you know, so that sacrifice then probably wouldn't turn out the way it is.

Tony Saint Tone: No. And let me tell you, I had a lot of resistance from friends and family because they were projecting their fears onto me.

Like, how are you going to do it? You don't have. Do you have gigs yet? No. But how are you going to do it? I'm like, I don't know. And I would just say I'm going to play full time.

I wouldn't give them the opportunity to get into my head, because then I would start doubting myself.

Now, in the meantime, they were doubting themselves. Or like, well, if he's doing it, that means that I could do it, but I don't have the courage to. So I'd rather have him stay here with me.

So let's both stay here in Connecticut, where we only play two to three times a week. And it's cold. I'm like, no.

Because they would say, it's hot in Florida and there's old people there. I'm like, well, it's cold in Connecticut and there's old people here.

So and, you know, oddly enough,

this is even crazier. When I went, I had just bought a house. I had a house for about a year.

And my uncle, who's a real estate agent, says,

you want to move? Huh? And I says, yeah. Goes, okay. He goes, we could work something out. Where? Your second house. We'll call it a. A vacation home.

And he goes, and rent the first house.

So my wife and I literally moved to Florida with no jobs and two houses and people like, you're insane. How are you going to do this? I'm like, we're just going to do it.

They're like.

My dad would say, everybody I tell what you're doing, they think you're crazy. And I says, dad, just, you know,

trust me.

And within two months, I think most like within two months, I was playing full time.

Reginald D: Wow.

Tony Saint Tone: Took me about two months to get established. Yeah.

Reginald D: Yeah. You're breaking all the rules, man.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah, listen, that's meant to be broken.

Reginald D: Calling you crazy, man. You're breaking the rules.

Tony Saint Tone: Yeah, well, I want to be that exception.

Reginald D: Right, right, right. But that's awesome, Tony. That's awesome. So in one word, how would you describe your purpose?

Tony Saint Tone: The first word that came to me was motivate.

Was motivate.

Yeah. Or inspire might be a better word. I think inspire would be the word.

Inspire. I love inspiring people to do whatever they want to do,

you know? Like, I know how I achieved what I set out to achieve,

but how can you do what you're looking to do? And if you need someone to be that person to constantly call us and give you that push, I'll be that person.

But you might think I'm annoying after a while, like, oh, weren't you the one who said you wanted to lose weight? Weren't you the one who said, you want to learn how to swim?

Or whatever it is,

you know, I'll keep bringing it up if you want me to.

See, I used my dad to fuel my fire. Every time he said negative things about it. That just got me more angry and more persistent about following through,

you know, making those extra phone calls, practicing a little bit more. Whatever it was, he gave me more of that drive.

And you need that fire because,

you know, if you don't have that. And I say that when I do the shows in the jails and at the halfway houses, I'm like, listen, you guys are learning things on a different level, and you might not be able to hang out with the people you used to hang out with,

because if you hang out in a barbershop long enough, you're going to get a haircut. Same thing with a tattoo shop. You're going to end up with a tattoo.

So if you hang out with guys who are, you know,

robbing people or mugging people, you're going to end up robbing someone or mugging someone, you're going to back in jail.

You need to distance yourself from that now that you know that you have an opportunity to make a difference.

You know, we all sort of start at different levels, but we all make choices. So it's like, where are we going?

Some start from the bottom, go to the top and some start the top and go to the bottom.

Right?

Reginald D: So,

yep, that's it. It's all about how you handle life, man. It's all about life. And the one thing, you know, in speaking with you and what sticks out to me is,

you know,

we all have this one life to live. Right?

Tony Saint Tone: Right.

Reginald D: Why don't we go do what we love to do, you know, what we have a gift to do instead of keeping ourselves in a box,

you know, and just doing the day to day thing that you really don't like. But you got to do it because you got to make some money here and there.

But you got to understand that, you know, your gift will make room for you,

you know,

open up doors bigger than anything. And I think people should learn how to live more freely in life and in what they want out of their life.

Tony Saint Tone: Yes, yes. And once you nail down what you want,

you know, there's going to be some twists and turns and stuff. And that's when you're going to be asked to say, how bad do you want it?

Are you willing to move out of state?

Are you willing to give up that job? Are you willing to play,

you know, at this place that you don't care for but you know, you know that you're going to get paid. So it's, listen, I'd rather play a show there than work at subway restaurants.

I don't know, you know, it's. That's like there are sacrifices involved,

you know, it's not going to get handed to you. But let me just tell you,

the reward is that much more fulfilling when you've had to work for it. If I handed you a trophy says world's greatest dad, you're like, okay, thanks. I'm not even a dad.

You're like, yeah, but I just thought I'd give it to you. But if you were a father of six and someone gave it to your kid, gave it to you Then you're like, wow, thank you.

You know, so I've always believed that, yeah, you know, you got to work for it or at least open up the space for it to happen and believe that it can happen also.

I'll tell you, the motivation came. I had taken this course called Doing Music and Nothing Else.

It was a three day seminar and I was in the band at the time. And they said, tone, you should go.

Because I was the one that was always so driven.

I was the one doing everything. They're like, you should take this course. And the guy was the one who told me about Zig Ziglar's six cassette tapes and a booklet.

I'm not sure if you remember those. You'd get six cassettes in a booklet.

And I ordered the Zig Ziglar one and it really just blew my mind. And the guy said, he goes, you're entering one of the hardest businesses there is out there and you're going to need motivation.

And he goes, so I highly recommend that you start listening to motivational speakers because that's going to keep you fired up when everything is going wrong. And I took that to heart and I went, okay.

And that just helped move me forward.

Reginald D: Man, that's awesome, Tony. Yeah, Tony. Lastly, how can people connect with you, your nonprofit and follow your journey?

Tony Saint Tone: So if you go to my website, www.saintone.com s a I n t 2 n e,

there is a mailing list. I only put out one email a month,

so I don't spam you because I don't have the time to do it. And plus, I wouldn't want that. Also you can see where I'm playing. Cause I perform here in Florida, but I also travel a lot.

We did two tours of England this past year and Ireland. We're going to be back there again in April.

I've done shows in Connecticut and California. So, you know,

there's different places that I travel. So depending on where you live and if you want me to come play in a place where you live, then let's talk. Because I do that quite often also.

People always ask, do you travel? I'm like, yes, I do. I travel a lot. So yeah, I would say the main website is the main thing. I'm on all social media.

I'm on Spotify,

Apple Music, Amazon Music. So I'm on all the streaming platforms as well.

So I have over 18 CDs out. I'm always putting out new music.

I'm in the process right now. My last email I sent out, I have about 12 songs that are partially produced, and I'm asking people to see who wants to help me pick my next single.

So what I'm going to do is send you three songs, tell me which one you like the best. I'm going to just narrow it down and go, okay, these are Majority seems to like this song because when you write a song, you're always so personally attached to it for different reasons,

but it's the common listener who goes, I don't know why I like it. I just like it.

You know, they don't analyze it. Musicians analyze the heck out of it. You know, is it the beat, is it the bass, is it the words? They just go, I like it.

I don't like it.

You know? So, yeah, I'm putting that opportunity out to people, too, that are on my email list.

Reginald D: All right, awesome. Awesome. There you have it. Tony Saint Tone. Tony, thank you so much, man, for stopping by, hanging out with us for a minute.

Tony Saint Tone: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Reginald D: All right, thank you.

Thank you for listening to Real Talk With Reginald D. If you enjoyed listening to Real Talk With Reginald D, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts. See you next time.