Story Behind The Song

You're an inspiration, a fighter - that's what you do: stay strong! The 22nd of June, 2007 went down as one of the blackest days in BMX Dirt Jumping. That afternoon, 3-time gold medalist Stephen Murray crashed in the midst of performing a double back-flip. The impact crushed his 3, 4 and 5th cervical vertebrae and consequently suffered damage to his spinal cord. Though he managed to survive, Stephen Murray professional athlete, husband and father of two young boys, is now a quadripaligic & paralyzed from the shoulders down. Few no better know better, than TJ LAVIN what a crash like that could mean. Having won the World Championship in BMX Dirt Jumping several times, his experiences have made him well aware of the risks in BMX. As a long-time friend of Murray's, that friend's fate hit him all the harder. TJ wrote a track to encourage Murray and to come to terms with the tragic event, a song that gets to the heart of their friendship and puts his worries in a nutshell: "Soldier", a well-crafted fusion of HipHop and ballad that demonstrates this world-famous athlete as an outstanding musician.

Song Description

TJ LAVIN gives free rein to his influences ranging from Timbaland to Garth Brooks on "Soldier". His rapid, well-phrased rhymes paced at a moderate beat couple themselves magically to an acoustic guitar that is sure to get those goosepimples up and prickling. He receives support from Pippa Tabron, the wife of a close friend, in the form of gorgeous vocals she contributes to the track. There's hardly a more intense way of showing someone that you're there for them, through thick and thin. For ten years now TJ LAVIN has been active not only as a BMX star and for MTV Real World / Road Rules Challenge as a presenter who enjoys worldwide popularity. He has a following as a musician, too. Working on his own under the name Lavs Labs, he already produced a collection of captivating HipHop tracks on his album "The First Set". The CD took off like wildfire across the USA via mouth-to-mouth propaganda. It soon became clear that TJ LAVIN also had all the makings of a highly talented musician, a man who is developing a style of his own at his well-equipped home studio in Las Vegas. As TJ puts it, he would never call himself a rapper. The process of seeing a track emerge and grow is what he loves. Pure and simple. Even so, he has a solid 'rep' on the Vegas HipHop scene, and a fruitful musical friendship with the Kottonmouth Kings has been nurtured for quite some time.