Audacy LAUNCH artist Stephen Wilson Jr. joins Rob + Holly this week for the Friday Night Takeover, talking about his boxing career, the story behind his hit, "Gary," and the moment that changed his life "instantly."
LISTEN NOW: Friday Night Takeover with Stephen Wilson Jr.
Stephen and his song, "Gary," were recently announced as the latest to be spotlighted in the Audacy LAUNCH initiative, illuminating emerging artists across all our Audacy Country stations. It's what's next in a long line of accolades for the singer, who was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2025 CMA Awards, and used his moment on the CMA stage to take his star to another stratosphere.
"It's been wild ever since," Wilson Jr. reveals to Rob + Holly. "It changed my life instantly. I don't really remember it, and I still have yet to watch it. I don't really know what happened, I don't really wanna watch it. I mean, I've seen clips of it, don't get me wrong, online, but I like to remember it for what it is and what it was, and I don't really remember it at all."
"I kind of got to high five my dad in heaven for like a minute, and that's kind of all I remember," he adds of his performance. "He showed up in the wildest way and into that arena, and I was honestly kind of numb to it cause I probably would have just fallen apart if I hadn't been. But nobody else was, so that was the important part, and what happened happened and I'm just kind of trying to process it all. It's been a couple of weeks cause it never really slowed down after that."
Suddenly the quiet kid from Indiana is in the spotlight. "It's been a wild thing, you know, I take a lot of pictures in the grocery store now." But thankfully Stephen has support from someone who has been there, his wife, Sixpence None the Richer singer, Leigh Nash.
"She's taught me everything I know from singing to being a front person, how to emote on stage, but, you know, she's been getting recognized for a long, long time, still all the time, and she handles it very well and she's always been very gracious about it," Stephen says. "She has a different personality than me though, where I'm very quiet and, you know, it's startling. I've always been the guy that nobody notices. I've been non-existent and, happily non-existent."
To hear more from Stephen Wilson Jr. about his rise to fame, his new song "Gary," and life in the ring, check out the Friday Night Takeover with Rob + Holly, or listen to the full interview above.