Fleeing housing projects, bill collectors, and bad decisions in the Midwest with his parents and siblings, Greg Newman ultimately ended up in San Diego as a teenager. His struggling family needed a roommate to help cover the rent, so his household included a local musician who found Greg a used guitar at a local swap meet. Having no interest in music at the time, Greg removed the three bottom strings of the guitar and realized that it made a great prop for shoplifting from a local liquor store. Candy bars, beef jerky, and adult magazines were easily stuffed into the sound hole under the nose of the oblivious college-aged clerk, and Greg’s love of music was instantly fueled.

Over time, Greg realized that he enjoyed the guitar more when it had all six strings, and that he had a real talent for crafting songs out of thin air on this guitar, as well as on the roommate’s piano. After graduating from high school, Greg moved out on his own and found a job as a dishwasher for a catering company. He also enrolled in college as a music major to learn music theory with an emphasis on guitar and piano composition.

During his college years, Greg learned that music was better as an avocation than as a career. He enjoyed it, but he didn’t like the lifestyle that he’d be subjected to if he pursued this interest on a full-time basis, such as relying on other musicians to form a band, touring endlessly, and living meagerly. Instead, Greg mastered the intricacies of catering, which enabled him to start his own company 11 years ago.

While Greg developed his new company, he also improved his musicianship and perfected his songwriting by developing dozens of original songs. Greg had little patience or time for fellow musicians, and instead utilized the autonomous approach to his songwriting. During the eventual recording process, Greg turned his autonomy into a dictatorship as he played several instruments himself, but paid session players, a producer, and an engineer to complete his sound. His new release, “The Cuts You Said Were Good”, is the result of this pursuit. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.