Former star of Broadway hit 'Stomp' inspires Youngstown kids, parents

YOUNGSTOWN

You don’t need an instrument to make music.

“Music is all around us,” said Elec Simon, a percussionist and motivational speaker.

Simon performs with the Q Sticks in Cleveland, performed in the Broadway show “Stomp” and toured with the off-Broadway version. He led Williamson Elementary fourth- through sixth-graders Friday in a performance for Black History Month.

He just returned from performing in Toronto at the NBA All-Star Game.

Friday’s celebration also included a performance by the Williamson Gospel Choir under the direction of Angela McCoy. The singers entertained fellow students, teachers and parents with “God Made Me,” “Break Every Chain” and “We Shall Overcome.”

Rather than drums, the students who worked with Simon tapped their sticks on electric-blue 5-gallon buckets from Lowe’s.

Simon, a Steubenville native, travels to schools, prisons and juvenile detention centers, spreading his inspirational message.

“I taught them the rhythm ‘Never Give Up,’” he said. “That’s my motto in life.”

He has it tattooed across his chest, too.

Read more about him and his appearance here in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.