It was last winter when Pierce Bivens’ father said to his 12-year-old musically inclined son, “Dude, you’re getting really good. You need a better guitar.” Christmas morning, Bivens’ wish for a Gibson Les Paul was granted. “I played for three
It was last winter when Pierce Bivens’ father said to his 12-year-old musically inclined son, “Dude, you’re getting really good. You need a better guitar.”
Christmas morning, Bivens’ wish for a Gibson Les Paul was granted.
“I played for three or four hours that day,” Bivens said. “I like the gear.”
But the Kilauea boy’s passion for music runs much deeper than just a hobby.
“I want people to be inspired by my music to do good in the world,” said the solo artist jamming at home, shoeless and wearing blue jeans and a Hawaiian shirt.
The third track on his recently released first CD, “Listen to Me,” is titled, “Bully.”
With nearly 300 views already on his music video posted less than three weeks ago on YouTube, the long-haired blonde boy hopes to raise awareness of the travesties he has witnessed.
“I’ve watched kids get seriously bullied,” Bivens said. “I feel bad I didn’t try to always stick up for him. I did sometimes, but not always.”
Bivens’ compassion is hereditary. His grandfather was a civil rights attorney in the 1960s defending black people and women.
“It inspired me to work for other people,” Bivens said.
His penchant to be compassionate to others is blended with his extraordinary academic track.
He skipped from third to sixth grade and graduated middle school at the age of 10.
Then he took a year off school to focus on writing music and currently takes online college courses through Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University. His ambitions are lofty.
“I’d like to be like Bono or John Mayer,” Bivens said.
By the time Bivens celebrates his 18th birthday, he said he’d like to have at least five Top 40 hits and maybe one No.1 song. But first, he needs a band and wants any Kauai child or teen to contact him if they are serious about music.
“I want a band really bad,” Bivens said as he smiled with his shiny, bright braces.
In the meantime, one of his biggest fans is his 2-year-old golden retriever Koa who sleeps next to his bed at night.
“He loves to eat peanut butter,” Bivens said. “And he loves it when I play rock.”
A record label is courting the Kilauea boy, who already has a long list of Kauai music professionals who have mentored him.
But it begs the question, was his musical talent preconceived?
“My husband was always singing, ‘Crosby, Stills Nash,’ songs to my stomach while I was pregnant,” his mother Marie Bivens recalled. “He sang to all our kids before they were born.”
The Bivens parents support their three children wholeheartedly, but no matter what the genius tendency may be, they still treat each of them like children.
“Mom, can I have a brownie?” Bivens asked his mother during his first newspaper interview.
“Not yet,” she answered him.
For further information, visit piercebivens.com or email the artist at piercebivensmusic@gmail.com.
Lisa Ann Capozzi, a features and education reporter can be reached at lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com
