Singer, songwriter, performer, producer, star of Internet radio, outstanding and masterful creature of gay nightlife Tym Moss is about to become an even busier man. I recently had the very special opportunity to have a most enlightening conversation with him. One of the most supportive individuals I know, Tym is also “fun.” I first met him at The Get Out! Magazine Awards and fell instantly in love.
Tym, you have a lot of great events about to happen for you. Can you list some of them?
February 21: Stonewall. February 28 and March 1: I’ll be singing on the main stage of the LGBT Expo and in the video lounge, Saturday at 4:30 and Sunday at 3. February 24: I’m starring in a stage reading, then there is a musical. I just have to learn the music. I’m also a cast member and producer of “Little House on the Ferry.”
What’s “Little House on the Ferry” about?
It’s a musical comedy that is about Fire Island. .I’m also going to be producing cabaret shows of the music from it. We are looking for a venue. It will be in April and May, and then we’re marching in the Pride Parade and doing it again the night after the parade.
You’re a very busy woman.
Tell me about it, OMG! I’m trying not to get my panties in a bunch, but I’m also working on my first cabaret show, which I’m hoping will be around May. I’ll be singing in Brooklyn Pride, Queens Pride, Bronx Pride, and I will be hosting Staten Island Pride in July. I’m also going in the studio to lay the track down for my first dance song. I’m so excited.
What’s it called?
It’s called “Free Again.” I’m doing a dance mix of a song that I’ve already recorded
Nice, Tym.
It’s kind of a spiritual song, like a dance anthem.
For those who aren’t familiar with you, what is it that you do exactly?
Oh, that’s a good question. I would say first I’m a singer, second I’m an actor. I do some television and independent film and theatre. I am also a composer and songwriter, but many people know me as an Internet radio host of my show, which is called “Artists Exposed” with Tym Moss.
Where can people hear that?
In addition to that I also have some video footage that is on some other places as well as “Artists Exposed” when I cover a red carpet event or something. The radio show is on bearradio.net.
Bear like in bear or bare?
It’s like in grrrrr – hairy men. On BearRadio.net, it’s on Saturdays at 10 p.m. and Mondays at 2 p.m. Also on TalkRadioX.com, Sundays at 6 p.m., RainbowRadio.fm – that’s a new station. Last week was my first airing. They just launched. That’s Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. But I’m also on Kwer.fm Wednesdays at 6 p.m. You can also find video clips of “Artists Exposed” at RightOutTV.com, StageBuddy.com/blogs, and thenewsgayper.com.
And occasionally Santa Claus.
I loved being Santa Claus at Get Out!’s holiday party. I cover a lot of LGBT events, and also I was – for a year and a half – I was the founding president to create a new LGBT Center in the Bronx, which was so incredible. I met so many incredible people, like the Bronx borough president.
Tym, how long have you been an entertainer?
Most of my life. … I’m originally from Indiana. Literally, I grew up on the corner of a cornfield and a bean field. … I always enjoyed entertaining. I would watch entertainers on TV, but I never thought or knew that it was possible for me to be one of them, because it just seemed like, from where I grew up, it just seemed so distant. I was in a few different groups that toured the country, and I was the lead singer for them. I moved to New York to pursue entertainment, but I was sidetracked and manipulated into real estate, which I hated. OMG, I hated it. It just wasn’t me, and it’s 24/7. They took me kicking and screaming to get my broker’s license, and I woke up one day, and I owned the damn company. I just remember the feeling of, “This is what I have to do for the rest of my life.” At the age of 25 years old, I had my first business in NYC and was saddled with that. So I had to push my entertainment career off to the side. It was so lonely and so miserable, I started reaching for drugs, alcohol, and I developed a huge, very incredible, drug addiction over the course of 20 years.
YOU! You are the last person I would ever figure to do that.
That’s what everybody says, but it was so extreme that I remember passing the point of no return twice. I knew if I continued on well – it’s really a miracle that I’m here. I knew that I had no idea how to get out of that. I ended up seeking help. I went into rehab. By the way, Lindsay Lohan: amateur.
I just would never have thought you in a million years.
I know, and thank God that’s a lifetime away from me. But that first year was more hell than what I went through with the addiction. It was so confusing and so scary and unknown. But I found my way back. It was so extreme that I had lost all my memories. When I started rehabbing my memory started coming back, little by little, and one of the first ones was “I’m an entertainer.” I had completely forgot about that for 20 years. I kind of grabbed a hold of that, and that really helped. I thought, I’m like 50 years old, let me at least try. As soon as I committed to getting back to entertainment, the most miraculous things have happened to me, like falling in my path, right in front of me. That’s the universe or God, whatever you want to call him, telling me that I’m on my right path. And I’m having a ball!
That is an amazing success story. I love the end of that story, or should I say the beginning.
Well, thank you.
