ZenQ never had any doubt about what he was meant to do. He took the long way to establishing a career in music and it’s one that has taken him to three different geographic regions of the country.
The Chicago native left the Midwest in hopes of finding his nichè in the Golden State. Once in California, however, Zen found himself without a legal address. “When I first moved from Chicago to California, I was in my car for a year,” the singer/songwriter reveals. “I took showers at Wal-Mart. Nobody knew, because I didn’t want anybody to feel sorry for me.” It was in those harrowing days in Cali that Zen realized that he was motivated beyond just his love for music. He felt it was his responsibility to make the music happen. “Its not music that makes me happy, it’s the reason why I do music. [My] family back home in Chicago, that don’t have [anything.] It’s the environment I grew up in.”
Born Ivory Unique Scott IV and raised on the infamous South Side of the Windy City, ZenQ was drawn to music from the onset — and unlike many of today’s younger talents, he immediately set out to learn how to master an instrument or two. “I grew up singing in the church and everything, and I’ve been playing piano since I was six and played guitar since I was eight,” he explains. “So I’ve been in music pretty much my whole life. My grandfather was lead singer of the Hummingbirds, an old doo-wop group in the sixties.”
Describing his style as a mix of pop and urban, Zen believes that his gifts as an instrumentalist only add to his ability to express himself as an artist. “I think of the human body as being an instrument in and of itself, so being able to add instruments to my internal being just gives me a [boost.] Not a lot of people play instruments, per se, and it just allows me to [express] myself.”
ZenQ isn’t trying to get stuck in someone else’s box. The free-spirited talent is working to master his own fate, and in doing so, help realize his potential and the dreams of those who have helped him to get to where he is. His focus is singular, because…well…he feels that’s the way a hungry young artist has to be. “So far I’ve learned that the only way to succeed is to sacrifice everything for what you believe in. You won’t get it by half-stepping. That’s what makes the difference. Put everything you have on the table, or else you’ll spread yourself thin.” –todd williams
