About the Lift for Life Gym

In 1988, Marshall Cohen started Lift For Life Gym, then, a youth weightlifting team in the basement of Globes Drugs in downtown St. Louis. The purpose of the Gym was to offer impoverished youth constructive, recreational opportunities as an alternative to idleness, crime, drugs and violence.

What began as a simple weightlifting program grew over the next 28 years into a full service after-school youth activity center offering services that are designed to alleviate the burden of poverty and build a sense of resiliency that will help them archive success personally, academically, and professionally. Lift For Life Gym is now located at 1415 Cass Avenue and serves over 440 youth each year and provides over 30 different programs.

About Tolan Shaw

Tolan Shaw is an award-winning recording artist, a prolific songwriter, and an avid traveler. Based in Nashville but originally from southern California, Shaw is an acoustic troubadour with songs that are catchy and soulful, bluesy and melodic, poppy and sincere.

In the past few years, Shaw won “Best Singer-Songwriter” at the San Diego Music Awards, wrote a song recorded by Jason Mraz and Renee Dominique, became a Taylor Guitars official artist, and took a 4 month journey to Southeast Asia (endorsed by Taylor and GoPro) to write music and create a travel-music video blog called “Wandersong.” Shaw has shared the stage with international acts such as Gavin DeGraw, Nate Ruess (fun), Jason Mraz, and the BoDeans, toured nationally and internationally, and achieved success writing and licensing songs with various TV networks and music libraries.

In 2019, Shaw achieved his first major label songwriting credit with “Could I Love You Any More,” a duet by Filipino star Reneé Dominique and international superstar Jason Mraz, which quickly went to viral charts on Spotify and racked up millions of views on YouTube. He continues to write prolifically, releasing monthly “Living Room Sessions” live videos of new songs, penning songs for other artists and for film/tv, and performing his new release: “Let’s Go,” a travel anthem encouraging us all to get out and explore and push beyond our comfort zones.

About Kevin Babb

His guitar melodies range from simple acoustics to classic rock and roll and his voice tells a unique brand of story through music. Yet, even with the range and variety that make up theingredients for his songs, there’s one thing each one has in common: Kevin takes you to a place where everything makes sense, and once you’re there he aims simply to put a smile on your face.