He can be seen walking around school with his guitar or singing a few melodies in the hallways during lunch. Kevin Piedra Santa has made a name for himself at Riverside by giving it his all and displaying his talent for singing.
Piedra Santa first began singing only four years ago after listening to a lot of mariachi and decided to start playing the guitar to have something to accompany his voice. Believe it or not, he took his first ever chorus class his junior year. He’s learned everything about playing the guitar from videos on youtube. Piedra Santa’s father bought him his first guitar, but was hesitant because he wanted Kevin to prove that he was serious about playing it and keeping up with the instrument. After many days of practice, his father saw how serious he was about playing the guitar and bought him one worth $800.
As a child, he described himself as very shy and reserved. Eventually he got into music and slowly started coming out of his shell. “ Music isn’t really an escape for me, it’s more of a passion.” As he’s come out of his shell, he’s been performing a range of events.He usually performs at parties and the 5v5 tournaments hosted at Riverside, but he’s also had larger events. One of his shows was at Southern High School, where students from multiple high schools got together and put on a show. One of Piedra Santa’s bigger shows was at an event at DPAC called Evening of Entertainment (EOE). “ It was a dream come true, I’ve always wanted to perform on a big stage in front of people”. Before every performance, he plays a little bit and gets ready to hit the big stage. “When I’m about to perform, I’m nervous for ten seconds. After that I’m running off pure adrenaline”
Aside from singing songs, he now even writes his own music. “It was hard at first, but now I can start a song during the day and finish it the same night” Piedra Santa has received offers from people who would like to provide him studio time, but he’s turned them all down as of now. “I have people offering me studio time, but I’ve declined because I don’t feel like I’m ready” For the time being, he does have a youtube channel where you can see a raw, uncut, performance. As of recently, his channel has died down because of a three month hiatus he previously took. He refuses to let any of this put him down , he continues to practice daily. “ I don’t get tired of practicing, my mom is the one who gets tired”
After high school, Piedra Santa plans to continue doing music. He would love to become an artist and continue doing the thing he loves the most. You better get used to the face and the name, because you might see him on the big screen one day.
