< About | General Info | Pianist | Vocalist | Songwriter | Producer | Live Sound Engineer
Disclaimer
*Please consider the following before reading the information on this page:*
1. This page contains information about topics such as divorce, depression, bullying, and others that may be sensitive to certain individuals.
2. This page consists of all of the nonmusical biographical information about Woolbert and thus only covers a small amount of information about his music career. For more detailed music-related information, please visit the other About pages.
1. This page contains information about topics such as divorce, depression, bullying, and others that may be sensitive to certain individuals.
2. This page consists of all of the nonmusical biographical information about Woolbert and thus only covers a small amount of information about his music career. For more detailed music-related information, please visit the other About pages.
Birth & Visual Impairment
Bryan Woolbert was born at 4:44 PM on October 27th, 1998 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was born with an extremely rare genetic eye condition known as microphthalmia cataract syndrome. According to doctors at that time, there were only 22 known cases of this condition in the world, of which he and his mother accounted for 2. Due to his eye condition, Woolbert is a legally blind person. In Woolbert's particular case, his visual capability can best be compared to a sighted person's as follows: he can see out of (approximately) the bottom left quadrant of his left eye and only an extremely small spot in his right eye (to the point that it is not usable). Woolbert wears prescription glasses with extremely high magnification (around 20x) which slightly improve his visual capacity but not enough for him to be able to drive a motor vehicle.
Hometown
Woolbert and his family lived in Middlesex County, New Jersey until they moved to Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey when he was 6 years old. At age 10, Woolbert's father left his family (more on this to follow). Woolbert, his younger sister, his mother, and his grandparents subsequently moved into a home on the other side of town. The family still resides in that house located in Egg Harbor Township today.
Childhood
During his childhood, Woolbert participated in a vast majority of normal activities with his peers. At a very early age, he developed a passion for cars. Despite his inability to drive a vehicle, Woolbert discovered that his vision was sufficient enough to ride a bicycle at age 5. Shortly after learning to ride, he learned how to swim. By age 7, young Woolbert was jumping into the deep end of the family's 6-foot deep pool without assistance. He also enjoyed jumping on a trampoline, diving into the waves at the beach, boogieboarding, and using a swing set with his friends.
Gaming
At age 8, Woolbert discovered that his vision was adequate enough to play video games. His first gaming device was a Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP. He only played a couple of games on it before he received a Nintendo DS Lite with the infamous Mario Kart DS. While his sister was taking figure skating lessons at Young's Skating Center, young Woolbert would practice every track in the game and compete in races and battles with his friends. Woolbert also played several games on a Nintendo Gamecube, including multiple Need for Speed games, Animal Crossing, and others. As much as he enjoyed racing in the games, Woolbert loved to spend hours customizing cars to his complete satisfaction. He also enjoyed dozens of hours designing homes within The Sims 2 Pets game. Little did he know at the time that this would serve as a precursor to his future love of Minecraft. During his preteen and teenage years, Woolbert, his sister, and friends enjoyed playing many games on a Nintendo Wii. Among his favorites were Mario Kart Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Wii Sports Resort. Woolbert has also played hundreds of popular games for iOS over the years. Woolbert began playing Minecraft: Java Edition during version 1.5.2 and actively continues to play both vanilla and modded versions of the game during his spare time today. Woolbert has also been playing Magic: the Gathering since Magic 2015. He was an active participant in Friday Night Magic draft events for a period of time at Nerdvana Games & Comics before he formed a Commander playgroup with a few friends which he hosted at his home. The playgroup broke up shortly after Woolbert graduated from high school. He actively plays MTG Arena during his spare time today. Feel free to contact Bryan Woolbert if you are 18 years of age or older and would like to play either Minecraft or Arena online with him or if you are interested in having him join your Commander playgroup.
Educational Background
Woolbert attended Kids Corner Cooperative Nursery School (which is no longer in operation) before taking kindergarten at Mill Lake Elementary School in Monroe Township, New Jersey. The family then moved to Egg Harbor Township where Woolbert attended Slaybaugh Elementary School from grades 1-3. He then attended the Dr. Joyanne D. Miller School during grades 4 and 5 before going to Alder Avenue Middle School from grades 6-8. Woolbert attended CharterTech High School for the Performing Arts from 2013-2017. He was an Instrumental Major who also doubled as a Vocal Major for his senior year. He then studied as a Worship & Music major at Cairn University from the Fall 2017 semester through the Spring 2019 semester. Woolbert made a transfer to Rowan University in time for the fall 2019 semester where he became a Music Industry: Technology major. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Music Industry: Technology in May of 2022.
From elementary school through college, Woolbert took his academics seriously and always strived for excellence. He earned Merit Roll and Honor Roll throughout his elementary education and was later inducted into the National Junior Honors Society at the end of 8th grade. Woolbert maintained an iron-strong academic record through high school and graduated as salutatorian in 2017. His academic success continued through college until he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rowan University in 2022. In third grade, young Woolbert made the decision to complete his work going forward by using computers and technology rather than by learning to read braille. Woolbert discovered at a young age that he not only possesses Chromesthesia; he also has Grapheme-color Synesthesia (he perceives slight tints of color for each respective character [letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and other symbols] while reading). Due to this condition, it is generally easier for Woolbert to read light text on a dark background rather than the opposite as it is much easier to perceive the tints that distinguish each character. An example of the colors that Woolbert perceives while reading text can be seen in the graphic below:
From elementary school through college, Woolbert took his academics seriously and always strived for excellence. He earned Merit Roll and Honor Roll throughout his elementary education and was later inducted into the National Junior Honors Society at the end of 8th grade. Woolbert maintained an iron-strong academic record through high school and graduated as salutatorian in 2017. His academic success continued through college until he graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rowan University in 2022. In third grade, young Woolbert made the decision to complete his work going forward by using computers and technology rather than by learning to read braille. Woolbert discovered at a young age that he not only possesses Chromesthesia; he also has Grapheme-color Synesthesia (he perceives slight tints of color for each respective character [letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and other symbols] while reading). Due to this condition, it is generally easier for Woolbert to read light text on a dark background rather than the opposite as it is much easier to perceive the tints that distinguish each character. An example of the colors that Woolbert perceives while reading text can be seen in the graphic below:
Parents & Unitarian Universalism
Woolbert's mother was born visually impaired but tragically lost all of her vision after an eye surgery when she was 18 years old. She most recently worked as a rehabilitation teacher for The New Jersey Commission for the Blind & Visually Impaired until she retired in 2023. Her 18 years of service changed hundreds of blind and visually impaired people's lives (including her son's) throughout southern New Jersey. Woolbert's father owns a successful computer programming business called Phoenix Consultants Group. He also followed in the Woolbert family line of carpenters and has completed many beautiful woodworks for family and business clients alike. Though he has tried to coax young Woolbert into the field by bringing him into his wood shop to work on a couple of projects, the art never really peaked Woolbert's interest. At the same time, his mother has encouraged him to consider working in the field of accessible technologies for the blind and visually impaired, but he was never enthusiastic about that concept either. Woolbert's visual impairment, Chromesthesia, and Grapheme-color Synesthesia were genetically passed down to him from his mother. His perfect pitch, spontaneous ability to improvise harmony, and natural knack for technology were genetically transmitted to him from his father. Woolbert's father has also given him considerable amounts of technical computer knowledge over the years. Given that traits that he was born with and his undeniable passion for the art, Woolbert firmly believes that God has designed him to make music while using advanced modern technologies in the process.
Near Woolbert's 10th birthday, his father broke the news to him that he would be transitioning into a woman and that he would be moving out of the family's home. This devastated young Woolbert. Within a few weeks, his father moved into an off-season rental in Ocean City, New Jersey and began dressing in women's clothing as he attended the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northfield. Several months later, young Woolbert and his sister began to visit their father (who they would call "Naunny" going forward) every other weekend at his new home in Princeton, New Jersey. When he was home with his mother, Woolbert attended Mission Point Kids 2 at Mission Point Church on Sunday mornings. When he was at his father's house on the alternate weekends, he was made to attend the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton. It was here that Woolbert was forced to take an intense sexual education class over the course of a few months. He was forced to read and view graphic images within the book "It's Perfectly Normal". His worst experience occurred when a female student approached him during class in a sexually seductive manner while students were laying on the floor in a dark room. Due to his lack of maturity at the time, young Woolbert was terrified. He suppressed the emotions of this experience as he was afraid of his family's response. It also shattered his confidence when talking to girls until he gradually rebuilt it during high school.
Around this same time, Woolbert's father had a gender reaffirming surgery and physically changed into a woman. In September of 2011, Woolbert's parents were officially divorced and his mother was given full custody of both children. When Woolbert was asked questions pertaining to how he felt about his father's decision to transition into a woman by a therapist, his honest answers were recorded in writing and sent to his father via email. Young Woolbert was then severely berated by his father when he arrived at his Princeton home later that same day. Despite the fact that he has secretly suffered through periods of depression at times, Woolbert has refused to see a therapist ever since due to this breach of confidentiality. Woolbert and his sister gradually began to visit their father less and less frequently over time. Once they entered college, visitation became scarce as they focused on their respective studies. They see their father at a home in Northfield, New Jersey only on a rare occasion today.
Near Woolbert's 10th birthday, his father broke the news to him that he would be transitioning into a woman and that he would be moving out of the family's home. This devastated young Woolbert. Within a few weeks, his father moved into an off-season rental in Ocean City, New Jersey and began dressing in women's clothing as he attended the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northfield. Several months later, young Woolbert and his sister began to visit their father (who they would call "Naunny" going forward) every other weekend at his new home in Princeton, New Jersey. When he was home with his mother, Woolbert attended Mission Point Kids 2 at Mission Point Church on Sunday mornings. When he was at his father's house on the alternate weekends, he was made to attend the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton. It was here that Woolbert was forced to take an intense sexual education class over the course of a few months. He was forced to read and view graphic images within the book "It's Perfectly Normal". His worst experience occurred when a female student approached him during class in a sexually seductive manner while students were laying on the floor in a dark room. Due to his lack of maturity at the time, young Woolbert was terrified. He suppressed the emotions of this experience as he was afraid of his family's response. It also shattered his confidence when talking to girls until he gradually rebuilt it during high school.
Around this same time, Woolbert's father had a gender reaffirming surgery and physically changed into a woman. In September of 2011, Woolbert's parents were officially divorced and his mother was given full custody of both children. When Woolbert was asked questions pertaining to how he felt about his father's decision to transition into a woman by a therapist, his honest answers were recorded in writing and sent to his father via email. Young Woolbert was then severely berated by his father when he arrived at his Princeton home later that same day. Despite the fact that he has secretly suffered through periods of depression at times, Woolbert has refused to see a therapist ever since due to this breach of confidentiality. Woolbert and his sister gradually began to visit their father less and less frequently over time. Once they entered college, visitation became scarce as they focused on their respective studies. They see their father at a home in Northfield, New Jersey only on a rare occasion today.
Christian Youth Group & Camp Experiences
During the summer of 2006, Woolbert stayed at The Hellen Diller Vacation Home for the Blind for the first time (he would attend this camp annually until age 15). From grades 6-8, Woolbert became part of Oneighty Student Ministry at Mission Point Church. He participated in several of the youth group's events and began learning about the Bible. At age 12, Woolbert accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior on a car ride home with his youth pastor. Although he was shy due to his family situation and picky eating habits, Woolbert was able to bond with other students and occasionally even form a friendship. He continued to attend the youth group during high school and led worship before a few sermons. Woolbert also went with the group on two trips to camps hosted by LIFT Ministries that were held at Cairn University. These incredible experiences greatly strengthened Woolbert's faith in God. On one evening, Woolbert was given the opportunity to play and sing his original worship song "Sin's Ender" before the entire Lift Camp (which consisted of nearly 500 people). He also got to meet one of Cedarville University's traveling worship bands from "HEARTSONG". Shortly before Woolbert graduated high school a couple of years later, his grandparents drove him out to Cedarville University where he attended their Worship Camp and was mentored by HEARTSONG members. When he returned home after this wonderful experience, Woolbert served as a keyboard player on Mission Point Church's Sunday morning worship team a few times before hie was replaced by another keyboardist.
Harassment, Intimidation, & Bullying During High School
Woolbert was harassed, intimidated, and bullied frequently during high school. Other students often cursed him out about his faith in God, his political views (which he now only shares with those whom he trusts), his musical style, and more. Students discriminated against his visual impairment on a couple of rare occasions. In one incident, a student attempted to shoot a laser pointer in Woolbert's left eye. During music classes, students often harassed Woolbert about his perfect pitch and Chromesthesia by intentionally playing dissonant and out-of-tune intervals on their instruments. In another incident, a student created a fake Facebook profile in Woolbert's name and used it to curse at the school. Some teachers openly criticized Woolbert about his political views and musical style during classes. Woolbert was also rejected by multiple girls during high school which undermined the small amount of romantic confidence that he had developed. Though he acquired substantial amounts of valuable knowledge from his senior high education, Woolbert endured a dreadful experience in doing so.
Travel Experience & Concert Attendance
Since he was a child, Woolbert's grandparents have taken him on annual trips to their home on the Eastern Shore of Virginia during the summer. These vacations have given Woolbert appreciable amounts of creative inspiration for songwriting and much more thanks to the area's serene natural beauty. Photos from some of these trips can be seen on Woolbert's Instagram and elsewhere. It was also here that where Woolbert recorded a music video about a dream that he had involving "The Girl of his Future" (Woolbert's future wife).
Back in 2009, Woolbert's uncle took him to see Billy Joel and Elton John's Face to Face concert in Philadelphia. In the summer of 2014, Woolbert, his family and some close friends took a week-long trip to Walt Disney World. On one evening, the group got to sit in front-row seats at The American Idol Experience. After the show, Woolbert accidentally exited through a rear side door and met none other than Fantasia. During August of 2016, a friend took Woolbert to see Unspoken in concert at Coastal Christian Church (now called Landmark Church). During August of 2021, Woolbert's grandfather surprised him by driving him to Nashville, Tennessee. On the way there, they stopped at The Natural Bridge State Park. The next evening, Woolbert had the great pleasure of seeing The Isaacs in concert at The Grand Ole' Opry.
Back in 2009, Woolbert's uncle took him to see Billy Joel and Elton John's Face to Face concert in Philadelphia. In the summer of 2014, Woolbert, his family and some close friends took a week-long trip to Walt Disney World. On one evening, the group got to sit in front-row seats at The American Idol Experience. After the show, Woolbert accidentally exited through a rear side door and met none other than Fantasia. During August of 2016, a friend took Woolbert to see Unspoken in concert at Coastal Christian Church (now called Landmark Church). During August of 2021, Woolbert's grandfather surprised him by driving him to Nashville, Tennessee. On the way there, they stopped at The Natural Bridge State Park. The next evening, Woolbert had the great pleasure of seeing The Isaacs in concert at The Grand Ole' Opry.
Conclusion
Throughout his many life experiences thus far, Woolbert has gained tremendous amounts of knowledge, witnessed emotions ranging from great joy to brutal pain, and undergone significant changes that have transformed him into the pianist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, and live sound engineer that he is today.
Quotes
"Encourage someone, change a life, illuminate the future!"
-Bryan Woolbert
-Bryan Woolbert
"When you underestimate someone, you slash the very rope that connects them to their dream. When you encourage someone, you give them the strength to keep climbing the rope toward making their dream a reality."
-Bryan Woolbert
-Bryan Woolbert
"A teaspoon of common sense in everyone's coffee would make this nation a much better place."
-Bryan Woolbert
-Bryan Woolbert
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