Editor’s Note: Edits were made to this post to fix some errors in the article compared to our print edition this week. Sorry for any confusion on phrasing or content in the story beforehand.

Growing up in the musical city of Nashville, it is only fair to assume that Tim Chance, the son of two musicians, would also become a musician.

However, he didn’t start off as a musician. He attended APSU from 1999-2003 as a business major and an English minor.

He gave a brief account of his times here at APSU:

“I was the house manager, as a freshman, for the [Sigma Phi Epsilon]  This house was in shambles, and honestly, needed to be condemned. We had a lot of issues out of the landlord, but I was able to negotiate a deal with him to take it off his hands. [We] wanted more people in there.”

Chance got his start in music when he was still studying here at APSU. He was a DJ at events and parties in Nashville, someone recognized him as as an APSU student, and offered him a publishing deal. He mentioned that the coolest thing was that these events brought everyone together from all backgrounds, including athletes and Greek life.

“Chance” got his musical inclination from his parents, who were originally from West Virginia and ventured out to Nashville for their musical careers. His father played guitar and his mother sang, and they performed as a duo: Ken and Pauline.

Though, when Chance was five years old, his mother was diagnosed with cancer, and this was an ongoing battle for a total of eight years.

“She had everything but brain and lung cancer, and she fought it three different times. The coolest thing about my mom though, was that no matter how much pain she was in, I never remember her complaining once. That was the best lesson I learned from her,” Chance said.

Due to experiencing firsthand trauma with his own mother, and losing her at such a young age,  it drove him to do further research. He started experimenting with audio frequencies that may make a difference, and make everyone stand tall with a “feel good” vibe. He took this research and further applied it to his own music.

His newest music video was inspired by his trip to Miami, Florida. He wanted this video to be “raw” as if he had “found his beach in the flood.”

He described his music as, “Real, but it is as an acronym for Reincarnation equals Energy, Anger, and Love. My music is country based, but I do a lot of other genres on the side. The thing is I rap better than I can sing, so it’s a more Country Hip Hop genre,” Chance said.

Though, he is original in his own work, he had several inspirations and coaches along the way.

Some of his favorite artists that inspired this genre of music were Dr. Dre, Tupac, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Prince, Michael Jackson, T.I., Eminem, Lynyrd Skynyrd and 3 Doors Down.

In his previous years, he did work with 3 Doors Down and helped produce and search for talent.

He was a self-taught musician, who had a lot of influence from other artists living in Nashville and going to honky-tonks. He learned to produce from a man named Todd Rubenstein, who motivated Tim to purchase his own recording equipment to create his own music.

Right now, his new hit single “Better Than This” is available on Spotify, YouTube, and more.

If you like what you hear, Tim Chance and The Fugees featured artist, Wyclef, will be performing a live recording in Nashville, Tennessee on September 22, 2018. The location is still to be determined.