The Globe and Mail - Toronto

From stock star to rock star

After 15 years as a top-ranked consumer products analyst, Steve Holt is hoping to claw his way to star status on a different kind of chart. Mr. Holt -- who used to cover beer, cigarettes and other staples for Scotia Capital -- has released his debut pop/rock CD, called The Dream. "It is a whole different skill set," Mr. Holt explains, "but it is an endeavour that satisfies a different part of me." He also plans to donate a percentage of sales to a cancer research project at the Hospital for Sick Children.
Already an accomplished pianist, Mr. Holt managed to squeeze out four jazz albums over the years between the drone of earnings conference calls and the horribly uncreative valuation process. He finally quit the Street a couple of years ago, built a recording studio in his house and set out to prove to his former colleagues that this hankering was more than a midlife crisis. Mr. Holt's latest CD marks his first crack at crooning and features titles such as How Could I Know, When . . . and Empty Handed -- although none of them are about the markets.