Being the child of a guitar teacher, young Moanzy grew up in a house full of music. He got his first guitar when he was 10 years old and has been composing his own tunes ever since. Moanzy felt trapped in the boredom and lack of perspective of the lower middle class suburban environment he grew up in and thus, in his early teenage years he started dreaming of breaking out and living a life on the road – playing and travelling and travelling and playing. However, when he finished school, he gave in to his father’s urges to pursue a more stable career path and began a traineeship in IT engineering and later started working in a full-time position at the Dutch brewing company Heineken.
The more ‘regular’ his life seemed to be, the bigger his wish grew to dedicate it to music, and music only. When he was 20 years old, he fell in love with a harp-playing street artist with who he was in a relationship with shortly after. This relationship shaped Moanzy deeply and up to this day, it still is the main theme in many of his songs. The harp player encouraged Moanzy to publish his music and to play his songs publicly, which was the beginning point of regular busking sessions and self-produced publications on Spotify. Additionally, Moanzy quit his position at Heineken and got accepted as a student to the conservatorium in Leiden which he quit after one semester due to the unexpected pregnancy and miscarriage of his girlfriend.
Shortly after this, the relationship ended and Moanzy found himself left with a shattered and chaotic life. In this phase he found comfort in his music and travelled several times to Sao Paulo and Lisbon to busk and meet other like-minded artists. Moanzy underwent several musical transformations. While his first published album mainly serves a rather typical pop/rock genre, he recently teamed up with a new producer and created music mainly including influences of R&B, Melodic Trap & Lo-fi Soul.
Moanzy was diagnosed with ADHD and put on medication when he was seven years old. He quit taking medication when he was a Teenager: “Being on medication changed my character, I felt numbed and disconnected from myself. I rather am a twitchy and annoying mess than not to be at all”. Moanzy advocates that children should not flippantly be put on medication: “There are other ways to help children and adults who struggle with ADHD. Look at me for example: have my music to calm the chaos in my head. I can give my thoughts and feelings meaning when I play and that helps with processing all the overstimulation and confusion. Society should be more open and tolerant towards people with ADHD, then there is no need for medication.”
Moanzys greatest wish is to be able to travel the world and to inspire with his story and his music. “Until then I will keep teaching kids playing the piano, this is also fine”.
