Be Steadwell

Singer/Songwriter

Sang behind Janelle Monae, Maxwell and Alicia Keys at the Women's March in DC
Opened for Big Freedia at Honeygroove Fest 2017
2018 album featured on Bandcamp Daily

Be Steadwell is a queer pop composer and storyteller from Washington DC. Be composes songs on stage using looping, vocal layering and beat boxing. Be's original music features earnest lyricism and affirming queer content. Be's goal as a musician is to make other black girlies, introverts and weirdos feel seen and loved.

Be earned a BA in Black Studies from Oberlin College and an MFA in film from Howard University in 2014. Be's thesis film Vow of Silence screened in film festivals around the world, including Black Star, HBO's OutFest, The Schomburg Center and Inside Out Toronto.

In 2019, Be composed the music for The Alvin Ailey Dance Company's production of "the gone". Later that year, Be wrote and directed A Letter to My Ex, the musical. A Letter to My Ex imagines a queer black woman's experience of healing after a breakup. In 2021 Be released their latest album- Succulent. In 2023, Be joined the cast of Parable of the Sower the Opera by Toshi Reagon and Dr Bernice Johnson Reagon.

This spring, Be will release their album, Dear Ex – The Musical. Be currently works as a professor at Howard University.

Location: Washington, DC

High Resolution Photos

Photo (.jpg)

Promotional Materials

Poster (.pdf)

Contract Riders

Contract Rider (.pdf)
Tech Rider (.pdf)
Stage Plot (.pdf)

Introduction

Our next performer is Be Steadwell, a queer pop composer and storyteller who composes songs on stage using looping, vocal layering, and beat boxing. Using pronouns of “He, They, She, Be”, their original music features earnest lyricism and affirming queer content - combining activism and art! Be’s goal as a musician is to make other black girlies, queers, introverts, and weirdos feel seen and loved. Please welcome to the stage, Be Steadwell!