About the Stipan twins

I am a son, a brother, a twin, a devoted husband to a loving wife, a father, a grandpa, an uncle, and a friend of Jesus. My love for music brings me closer to God. I enjoy serving and supporting others, helping them find JOY. Singing harmony and creative songwriting with my twin brother John is what I really enjoy (we have written over 1,000 songs!), and telling “Stipan Stories” which are all true! Music keeps us free. We love to sing all over the world.

My life has always included music, growing up singing and playing guitar in Church. Being in bands during high school and college, and after graduating were all about learning and growing and honing my songwriting craft. My career in engineering provided me a means to sing and play guitar and I am very active in leadership development, mentoring and coaching (for many years). This led me to help others in their careers, via the Coaches Café community and on the Board of Directors of STEM in Milwaukee, mentoring the next generation of engineers through STEM work (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). I am also the Spiritual Advisor of our Saint Vincent de Paul conference and totally believe in the power of prayer.

From humble beginnings in Chicago to global experiences, tried and true, John and I have been singing together on-stage since 5-years old, debuting with “Silent Night” at Saint Brides Catholic Church Christmas Concert. The trials and tribulations and fun in

failures and success deliver a bucket-load of song ideas. Stories like these are hard to beat:

Between 9 and 11-years old, we were “Strolling Minstrels” as listed on posters for the South Chicago/ East Side Sidewalk Sale & Festival. We were students of Mr. Stevens, of Stevens Music Center. John played banjo and I played guitar, as we strolled up and down the city streets playing “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (Has Anybody Seen My Gal?)” and “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” and “Song Sung Blue”. What song do you want us to play? We can play it.

In 7th grade, John and I were selected to sing in the Illinois Chorus and were directed by the famous Aaron Copland. This boosted our morale and opened our eyes to every kind of music genre.

We were young when we started writing our own songs, inspired by our musical parents, and Great Uncle Albert Hay Malotte, best known for his musical setting of “The Lord’s Prayer” which we have sung at every family wedding and I even sang it in the Holy Land accompanied by violin at an outdoor colosseum in 2018.

John and I were in our high school’s A Cappella choir and performed in musicals, Swing Choir and Madrigals. When I was 16 and a Sophomore on the Lincoln-Way high school football team, a senior on the football team broke his arm playing football… he was the youngest member in a popular South Chicago area band CTR. The tryouts for his replacement slot in CTR were epic- with dozens of phenomenal guitarists that tried out, but I was the only one who played and sang - and I chose Stairway to Heaven. No one else raised their hand when the band manager asked, “Does anyone else here sing?” My lucky break or Divine Intervention? We did 2-3 gigs a week for months, and I was making as much money a week as my Dad was, and he was President of his own company, Stipan & Sons Marine Electrical Contractors.

Then our high school Choir Director, Charles Stark, caught me practicing guitar in one of the Music Rooms. He didn’t know that I played guitar or was in CTR. He asked me to play for the school A Cappella choir. Next thing you know, our A Cappella Choir headed to Europe and we participated in the Netherland’s International Tulip-Time Music Festival at Katwijk ann Zee. We sang three songs, and my favorite one was “Oh Happy Day” where I accompanied the choir on guitar. We won First Place and took the Silver Tulip Trophy home to the US!

But one of my most memorable moments in Europe occurred in a Church in Germany where Johann Sebastian Bach had played, and many famous songs from artists like Beethoven were performed on the organ there. Our choir was to sing five songs for the parishioners. The first two songs were performed and as historic protocol had established, no one applauded - since it was in a Church. Then we performed our third song “Ride the Chariot” where I sang the lead vocal solo. This spiritual song ended with the rousing echo “I’m gonna ride in the chariot, to see my Lord - to see my Lord!” There was a moment of silence, but then the entire congregation started clapping and continued clapping. I bowed several times, as instructed by our Choir Director. Then the Church Pastor came forward with both arms raised to quiet the congregation. He proclaimed, “Johann Sebastian Bach played here many times, and performances including great works from Ludwig van Beethoven have been played here; we have hosted many musicians over the centuries- but this is the very first time in history that the congregation was moved to applause. This song was inspirational.”

Our Choir Director, in tears, turned to me and the choir saying, “We will end here on this high note!” We never sang our remaining songs, and we even got to sit and play the same Church organ and bench that Bach sat on and played.

As an electrician, I did become President of Stipan & Sons Marine Electrical Contractors and worked my way through Purdue, while playing guitar and serenading sororities with my friend and Sigma Chi member Dave, singing “Sweetheart of Sigma Chi”. Because of my electrical background, and a moment where I helped Purdue Professors identify and wire a 3-phase motor, I was offered a Teaching Assistant position at Purdue University where I taught Electronics and Industrial Controls. When I hooked up that motor to an Allen-Bradley Variable Speed Drive and a Programmable Logic Controller, I found that at lower motor speeds, below the frequency of 30-Hertz, the motor had an audible hum! I used the PLC to program the motor to hum the school fight song “Hail Purdue” - and my Professors loved it. They used that to teach PLC programming language for over 15-years at Purdue!

When we moved to Cleveland upon graduation, as I worked for Allen-Bradley in their Programmable Controller Division, I met some Test Engineers who were musicians. When we talked-tech and music, we instantly clicked. The four of us formed the Cleveland rock band Hardtimes and we had a serious lead guitarist join us from Picker International. This city was where “Rock n’ Roll” was first mentioned on the radio and we had 20-30 songs in our repertoire but started right away writing our own songs. We went into a recording studio and recorded “Hardtimes- Beginning to End” and pressed CD’s to sell at our concerts. The CD cover was the five of our faces pasted on five men in a 1930’s Cleveland bread line. About 10-20 people would hang out at the corner of the house where we practiced in the attic! At the last Hardtimes concert down in the Flats, the day before Sue and I were to move to Milwaukee, the band was surprised when A&M Records approached us at a break to talk about signing us! Alas, the timing was part of God’s plan, and the band ended with my move to Wisconsin.

I live to share my purpose, my leadership knowledge and my experiences with a delightful passion and enthusiasm that is fun and serious. I do love problem solving and am certified Six Sigma Black Belt. I help people define their mission, vision and values. And writing songs with others is a blessing. I will write a song with you if you want.

I have written two technical books (High Temperature Electronics in Japan, and The Electronic Packaging Handbook- Chapter 15 Electronic Package Reliability & Failure Analysis) and have three patents, plus one pending. But I captured my exciting life stories in a book with 33-chapters, 400+ pages, and the exciting twin-stories growing up with John and my blessed marriage with Sue and our experiences with our children when I wrote “Peter Stipan Stories, With Prayers”. This book includes many of my song lyrics and their origin.

One chapter in my book is titled “Ah Rome, I Will Get There Someday” - and in 2024, I went to a Sarah Hart concert in the Milwaukee area, and heard her story, sang her songs in the audience at her concert, and stayed after the concert ended to wait in line to meet her. Everyone in line was having her sign things, even the guy in line in front of me had a guitar that he had her sign. When I got in front of her, I just started singing a song that my brother and I sing all the time called “Love You In The Light” - written by John years ago and I came up with the harmony. After singing the chorus, Sarah exclaimed, “That song is beautiful; who wrote it?” When I said that my brother and I did, she then said, “You should come with me to Italy!” We did! You can see some photos of us with Sarah Hart and one is me playing guitar with Sarah on a rooftop in Rome! Everything that I wrote in that chapter came true!

Our songs are all original, all with a story that many people can relate to and love to hear. Enjoy. If you are a music publisher looking for incredible material, an established artist and/or record label looking for songs with outstanding potential for your artists, contact us. We would prefer to license our songs (retaining ownership) in exchange forroyalties rather than selling the full copyright outright. We welcome collaboration,especially for up-and-coming artists for song placement.

Blessings only,

Peter