My name is Anthony Singing Bear. My great-great grandmother was Apache.  I feel deeply connected to a spiritual community of Native American musicians, ceremonialists, and activists. 

With that being said, I do not identify as Native American.  I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. It is important to acknowledge where we come from, to be aware of our roots and heritage. My Dad was first generation Italian-American and my Mom was born in Texas. I grew up as a middle class white kid in a very diverse neighborhood. 

When I was 16 years old, I was obsessed with philosophy, poetry, world religions, mysticism, counter-culture, psychedelics, music, and backcountry hiking. I picked apart reality piece by piece, leaf by leaf, and felt convinced, early on, that there was something magical about life. Serendipity and coincidence felt more like guidance than chance.

That same year, a friend and I went to the Smoky Mountain National Park for a 7 day backpacking trip through the most remote part of the park. We were caught in a torrential downpour on the second night before we could set up camp. We got lost in the dark and stumbled into what we found out later was an old Native American burial ground. With water-logged packs and a steep rainy ascent before us, we were overwhelmed with exhaustion — ready to give up. At that moment, I looked down at my muddy soggy boots, and right there in the mud, I found a small piece of turquoise carved into the shape of a bear. I picked it up and held it tightly in my hands. It surged with energy and gave me the strength to carry on. I dragged my friend up the hill and set up our tent in the downpour. The next day we found out that some hikers had died in the floods. I held onto that turquoise Bear for years. It was my powerstone.  

At the time, every corporate, business-driven pursuit seemed to me ethically negative. So I did the only thing that felt honorable to me at the time — I became an organic farmer. I lived for a year on an organic farm in Oregon and then moved back to Ohio and bought a farm with my brother. 

Our farm is in Rutland, Ohio, and that is where I first learned about the vast and endless world of herbs. It turned out that all of our neighbors were medicinal herbalists. We were next door to United Plant Savers and Frontier Herbs research farm. I spent every day for years studying botany and health, making tinctures and herbal remedies, and growing and harvesting organic food. It was there that I met Tis Mal Crow who introduced me to the Native American Tradition of herbal smoking blends. I met Paul Strauss, Seven Song, Rosemary Gladstar, and several other influential herbalists, and I witnessed real herbal medicines in action. That was where I first developed the Original Blend. 

My Mother had embraced her Native Heritage during that time and had spent some time working with a Shamanic Woman Circle. On my 23rd Birthday, she came to the farm and said that she had something very special for me. “Let’s take a walk,” she said. We walked for some time until we arrived at the highest point of the farm. Then, in a sort of ceremonial fashion, she pulled out some sage and lit it. She had a hawk feather that she had wrapped with a leather strap and fashioned with a little turquoise bear bead. Then she pulled out this large stone which looked just like any other rock you might find in the woods. 

“I went on a Spirit Walk,” she said. A Spirit Walk is when you walk directionless into nature until you feel as if your mind is totally clear from distractions and thoughts. Then, you wait until nature calls you to any object — she found this stone. Then you sort of look closely at that object and let the first thing come into your mind that naturally arises. “I thought of you,” she said. “And I saw how you are the Bear who Sings. So I would like to give you your name — Singing Bear.” 

She told me that I would go on a long journey in an effort to help people. That I would climb many mountains and be challenged again and again to do the right thing. And she told me that the Bear would be my guide. 

I didn’t just start going by Bear that day. It was a little over the top to go around to everyone who knew me as Tony Beres and say, “Hi my name is Singing Bear.”

Years later, after being visited by a deer in the snow outside of a Teepee, I left the farm to pursue a life of music. I formed a band and of course the natural name that came to me was Singing Bear. It became my stage name.