Divorce, writing talents lead to endeavor in music industry

When going through his divorce in 2002, Dale Steinfest began to write about his feelings and the events surrounding it.

But he didn't just put them in a journal and lock them away.

He created songs - comedy songs.

"I put it in humorous form so others can relate easier, (rather) than reading a book about it," Steinfest said.

He thought so highly of them, particularly his first song, titled "Here Comes the Bride," which rhymes the last word in every line with the word "bride," that he sent them to Tom Hartman, executive producer for HillTop Records, in Hollywood, Calif.

Steinfest said Hartman liked the lyrics so much that he asked him to create a Christmas album and has since written family-centric songs, some of which have a Christian tone to them.

The last batch of songs he wrote were recorded on a CD titled, "The Light of the World," produced by HillTop Records.

He likes to sing, but the producers at HillTop just want the lyrics and a professional singer will then record the songs that Steinfest writes in his Brookfield home.

Steinfest gets royalties when people buy the CDs he has songs on. Steinfest said HillTop has published six of his songs on four albums that have been sold nationwide.

But Steinfest said the money is minimal, and he doesn't continue to be a songwriter for this reason.

"Through my songs, I try to show people that you should treat people the way you want to be treated," Steinfest said.

Steinfest said many of his songs (he has books filled with them, many of which have not been published) are about society's problems, and while most of his songs are comedic, he said "I don't need any swear words to make it funny or don't have to degrade women like so many rappers do."

Writing songs, Steinfest said, allowed him to rekindle a passion.

"I look back at papers from when I was in grade school and I always loved to write and loved poetry," said Steinfest, who grew up in Glendale and worked a number of jobs before owning Steinfest Gardens in Milwaukee for 22 years. "I love words and love to sound them out and that's why I'm so good at rhyming things.

"A lot of the people I've met in Nashville (he was part of a songwriters group there for a few years), it takes them two or three people to work on a song and they still don't come up with anything, and I sit down for an hour and have eight verses down.

"It's a gift that not everybody can do."

Steinfest, 60, is an American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers member and would like to get some of his comedy songs on Sirius XM Radio.

"I'll always keep writing," Steinfest said. "And since I belong to ASCAP, you build connections and doors open up."