Stephen Wilson Jr. had a very different life before becoming a full-time country artist.
Even though he married into the music business, being that he married Sixpence None The Richer‘s front woman Leigh Nash. In case you’re unaware, the “Gary” singer hasn’t been a singer-songwriter his entire life. His father actually trained him to be a boxer when he was growing up. Then, he decided to go to Middle Tennessee State University and studied microbiology. After he graduated with his bachelor’s degree, he went to work for the MARS company.
It was completely unaffiliated with space. As it’s the MARS company that makes candy and pet food.
Stephen talked more in detail about that portion of his life during an interview on This Past Weekend with Theo Von. The 46-year-old country star talked about his educational background and how it actually set him up to be a scientist instead of an artist:
“I have a lot of training in science. I went to Middle Tennessee State University, and I worked at MARS, the food company, in research and development for them as a food scientist. I worked in pet food for them, which is based out of Nashville.”
He said that he witnessed a lot of co-workers and higher-ups at MARS eating the pet food that they were creating. Higher ups in companies are different human beings…and slightly weird to me and this proved my personal point.
He said a lot of people did it to prove they were “tough,” which seems a weird…and Stephen luckily never got in on that. He preferred to just make the pet food, and he actually invented a dog treat that you’ve probably purchased for dog family members before.
“It’s called Dentastix Fresh. It’s still on the market. I see it out there. It’s for dogs. It’s a teeth-cleaning dental chew, very digestible. That’s my baby right there. That was one of my products that I launched from start to finish. It’s cool to see it out there still doing it’s thing.”
Talk about a nice legacy of time working for MARS.