When people ask me "So, what do you do..?" I usually reply I am a Songwriter and Performer. That's what I do for a living". Then I follow up with their next question with "No, I don't make enough money to support myself 100%, not yet". I guess, after high school I did what kids are supposed to do. I went to college, and eventually got a Bachelor's degree. My major was Organizational Communications, and my minor was Philosophy. Those are both on the opposite end of the spectrum since communications deals with being outgoing and working with people, and Philosophy is mostly writing and thinking while being more introverted. It took me 7 years of luck to get my college degree. Once I got my degree I did what I was supposed to do once again. I got a job. My first job out of college didn't exactly work out since I got fired for sleeping in a meeting. I was the center manager for a multi-million dollar branch of a well known company. They had this company t-shirt that said something along the lines of "Not Everyone can be a rock star..." or something like that. It's true, but it kinda pissed me off. After that job, I ended up at a few other corporations only leading to more distress. I always knew that my heart was in songwriting, singing, and playing songs. After 2 years of using my college degree I finally decided to just start my own business. By learning to develop web sites I worked part time making very little money and working on music with my spare time. I ended up going to open mics 4 nights per week, or more. It was a-lot of dedication, but looking back it turned out to be a huge benefit to me as an Artist. I learned how to be a better performer, and had the opportunity to try out my newest songs in front of a crowd. Those 2 years of playing open mics turned out to be what I'm now calling my "internship" in my music career. Finally, I just thought that I should take my career to the next level, maybe even get paid. I started making fewer web sites, and working even more on music. There are many people I really admire in the music business and I follow their footsteps. Artists like Shawn Mullins, Glen Phillips, Stephen Grant Wood, Cliff Erickson, and many other artists really inspire me to do what I do. Stephen Grant Wood (a local musician) is practically like a mentor to me. It's important to have people to look up to, especially as a musician in the music industry. Now I feel like this is becoming more and more of a career. It's taken a long time to realize what I should be doing, but now I know. Once you know you can't exactly forget, or turn back. It is something that I'm happy Deron 5L – Biography Continued (Page 2 of 2) to realize, but also get scared thinking of the so called "odds" of making it in the music business. As a songwriter I sometimes feel like a storyteller, that is why I have a pen name. I go by the name Deron Feivel which translates into "DERON 5L" which is kind of different I know. Those two names “Deron” & “Feivel” have a meaning which I really like. If you look the names up in a baby name book, or online, you can see the meanings. The best way to explain it is to just mention Mark Twain to people, or to mention other artists like "Nine Inch Nails" or "Dashboard Confessional". I hope that makes sense to you. My real name is Terrance, so that's what I go by in person. You can call me "Deron" if you want though.