What Music Fuels an Olympic Champion and Top Chef?

Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton was 50 cities into a 60-city tour when a doctor told him they’d found a mass.

But he was spent in ways that had nothing to do with cancer. He was always working, always on the road, bad at relationships, and longing for something he couldn’t name. He’d been skating to a dramatic ballad called “I Who Have Nothing” because the longing in the song matched something real in him. And now this.

The same night of his diagnosis he went out and skated it. Pouring everything into the routine, he set up his triple Lutz, the hardest jump in his program and maybe the last he’d ever attempt, and looked into the front row.

He saw a woman fixing her lipstick - impervious to the drama unfolding on the ice before her.

He burst out laughing and despite a wobbling leg he landed the jump. A good reminder that even as tragedies happen, the world (much like the figure skater himself) keeps spinning.

“The world’s gonna keep turning,” he thought. “Whatever comes next, I’m gonna do it better than I’m doing it right now.”

Three years later, after major soul-searching, and on the third anniversary of his diagnosis, he met his wife backstage after a show. Now they have four kids and he’s still going strong.

When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, Maneet Chauhan and her husband shut down four restaurants in a single day and laid off 250 people. They sat in the car on the drive home and looked at each other. They had worked so hard to get here - their version of the American Dream and it seemed to be crumbling.

She went into her closet and cried.

Around that same time, her then 7-year-old daughter had been playing “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten on repeat every morning in the car. Until that point the ever-present song was more of a nuisance than an anthem. Maneet had barely registered it until her daughter helped he recall the lyrics:

“I still got a lot of fight left in me.”

She got back of the mat and didn’t stop working until she figured out a path forward for her family, employees, and customers. Today her restaurants are thriving and her talent is known around the globe.

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These stories emerged during the third collaboration between TEDx Nashville and the Come Together Music Project when I asked for a song from a time when things didn’t go as planed. Scott and Maneet are both remarkable in the ways you’d expect — accolades, the TV appearances, the seemingly unshakeable success. But our conversation was a reminder that everyone experiences seasons when events don’t unfold according to our best laid plans and in some cases, they go horribly off track.

So how do we get through these moments?

With the support of those close to us and guidance from above. And a good soundtrack helps. During the rest of our time together we explored songs that tie us to our roots, to the people who encouraged us throughout life, and songs about legacy we’ll leave behind.

The full episode is live now at cometogethermusic.org and wherever you listen to podcasts, and I know you’ll enjoy it!