A lifelong Bronx resident with many talents is showing that no challenge or obstacle is too difficult to overcome.
Bronx-born Ronald ‘Bee Stinger’ Savage is living proof that someone can be successful despite their own personal challenges.
Bee Stinger grew up in the Castle Hill Houses and went to Adlai E. Stevenson High School.
As an adolescent, he spent time with hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa and Bambaataa’s awareness group Zulu Nation in the Bronx River Houses.
Despite his many connections as an early teen, Savage was faced with many challenges.
As a child, he was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome as well as Epilepsy, making it difficult for him to properly communicate and interact with others. His parents also divorced when he was at an early age.
Savage’s biggest obstacle, however, was when he became a victim of molestation at age 15.
According to Savage, the experience damaged him and robbed him of a normal childhood. From then on, it would become very difficult to show emotions in his future relationships with women.
“It was a very difficult time in my life,” Savage said. “I was smiling on the outside but I was very sad on the inside. The worst part about it was that there was nobody there to talk with me about it.”
Bee Stinger bounced back from these challenges, however, eventually mastering his Tourette’s and controlling his epileptic seizures.
His first break in the music industry came when he worked at Strong City Records as a DJ Record Pool Director with DJ Jazzy Jay in the mid-1980s.
A few years later, Bee Stinger left Strong City Records and began working for Dick Scott Entertainment. At his new label, he worked with German Eurodance group Snap! Along with Arista Records, Bee Stinger helped shoot Snap!’s single ‘The Power’, arguably their biggest hit.
The song eventually went #1 on the weekly charts in Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, as well as the Eurochart Hot 100, and peaked at #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1990.
After the Snap! project, Bee Stinger worked with Bronx hip hop duo Showbiz & A.G., promoting their releases to different TV and radio stations in NYC.
However, he suffered a mild stroke from the constant stress at his job, which proved to be the end of Bee Stinger’s career in the music industry.
The next few years proved to be very difficult as well, as he heavily struggled with depression and even attempted suicide in the early 2000s.
Turning to a political career in 2005, Savage, along with the help of councilwoman Annabel Palma, started the United Coalition Association, a non-profit organization that provides college fair days for high school kids, preparing them for the college process in all aspects.
The group has also completed PSAs encouraging youth to stay away from gang and street life, which have been aired on TV stations such as MTV and VH1.
In 2008, Savage was elected to the New York State Democratic Committee with the help of former NYS Assemblyman Peter Rivera.
Now a single father of three children, Savage continues to stay active in the community even after his tenure as a state committeeman ended.
Since 2012, he has released a autobiography, ‘Impulses, Urges and Fantasies’ and created an app on Google Play for blood pressure testing, the ‘Blood Pressure Testing Information App’.
He has even won an NAACP award in recognition of devotion of commitment and uplifting youth in the community. Along with continuing his non-profit, Savage also speaks at psychological clubhouses, uplifting those who suffering with mental pain just as he did.
“My story should be an example to all who are mentally struggling that it is possible for an individual to overcome their challenges and issues, no matter how severe these challenges and issues are,” said Savage. “I overcame a life of depression and disabilities, all by myself at that, so everybody should feel like they will be able to succeed and overcome. I only had myself, but in the end, that was all I needed.”
