Joe Keery may be known as the lovable Steve Harrington on Stranger Things — but to others — he’s a crazy talented musician! The artist, who goes by music alias Djo (pronounced “Joe”), has been making solo music since 2019, but recently blew up on TikTok for his song “End of Beginning.”
Keep reading to find out everything we know about the rising singer.
Who Is Djo?
Joe, now 32, dropped his first single “Roddy” under the stage name in July 2019. Prior to that, he was part of the psychedelic rock band Post Animal while living in Chicago, and released multiple albums and EPs until leaving the band in 2019.
Along with creating an alias, Joe also wears a long-haired wig while performing as a means to separate his music and acting career.
“I had a little pipe dream that it would be an Andy Kaufmann sort of thing where, if you know, you know. But then, I kind of figured that the word would get outm” Joe admitted to Paste Magazine in March 2024 of his alias. “But my main intention was that, if people could hear the songs for the first time — or maybe the first two times — without the full onslaught that it was this dude from Stranger Things, then they could listen to it with an open mind.”
After the success of his first single in 2019, Djo shared his track “Chateau” the following month, which also blew up on TikTok in 2022. It appears that every few years fans realize that the singer behind their new favorite song is, in fact, Steve Harrington from Stranger Things.
One user wrote at the time, “JOE KEERY IS DJO BRUH IVE BEEN LISTENING TO STEVE MOTHERF–IN HARRINGTON FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS WITHOUT KNOWING.”
The singer would release his first solo album Twenty Twenty in September 2019, and dropped his sophomore album Decide in 2022 which earned many positive reviews.
In 2024, Joe is facing yet another wave of popularity on TikTok, as his track “End of Beginning,” from his Decide album has become a trend on the video sharing platform. The song has been used in over 1.4 million videos and is just the ~beginning~ of his long solo career in the industry.
Was Joe Keery in the Band Post Animal?
Prior to his acting career, Joe joined the Chicago-based rock band Post Animal in 2015. There, the actor served as a guitarist and vocalist, and the group collectively dropped three albums and three EPs.
Due to his commitment to Stranger Things and his blossoming acting career, Joe stepped away from the band in 2019.
“Those guys are such talented musicians… I think it’s important that they’re hitting the pavement for a while and making a name for themselves and it’s not necessarily associated with Stranger Things,” he told Alternative Press in 2018.
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