In the first part of the interview, Passons described his upbringing in a conservative Christian community and how he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, after college. He met with Cunningham about joining the band in February of 1995 and, by that Thanksgiving, the group was opening the Young Messiah event, which was a “multi-artist arena tour.”
Other artists on the tour included Twila Paris, 4Him, Point of Grace, and Steven Curtis Chapman. Passons said Avalon received such a prime opportunity despite being unknown because management was invested in and fully supported them.
With the group’s success came a sense of imposter syndrome for Passons, as well as the challenges of fame. “You know, it’s difficult to not let it get to you when people are grabbing at your clothes, screaming your name,” he said.
“My ego could have been checked better when things started happening, but it was just a surreal experience because I grew up a nerd,” said Passons. “I grew up being the person that the cool kids didn’t want to have anything to do with. And so for me to be in a position now to where it’s a 180 experience, I was ill-equipped to handle it.”
“There is this pull,” he added. “It’s like, wait, we’re supposed to be here spreading a message of a belief system and a figure, Jesus. But yet people aren’t yelling Jesus’ name, they’re yelling my name. And so it was very difficult to reconcile all of that at times.”
The band “all had our moments where we were being very diva,” said Passons, although he said some Christian music stars he observed “were doing it right.” Twila Paris and CeCe Winans, for example, “had a very inspiring, humble spirit.”
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Another factor, said Passons, was that “I was dealing with hiding something that I knew would just blow it all up. And maybe I was hiding behind a little bit of ego to mask that.” An additional challenge was the “scrutiny” that comes with being in the public eye “even in small beans, Nashville Christian music.”
“If you become successful, there are people who will come after you just because you were successful. And I experienced that and that really would send me into panic mode many times,” he said. “When I would hear these stories of people in town trying to start rumors about me, I’m like, ‘Well, this could be career ending.’ And so I was dealing with those little mortar shells along the way before the big bomb went off.”
“What was the secret you were keeping?” Custer asked at the beginning of the second part of the interview.
“That I’m gay. And the fact that I say that without blinking an eye to you today is a major milestone in my life,” Passons responded. “But it’s something that I have come to accept and not have an issue with whatsoever. But that’s not Michael 20 years ago. I would have been in a cold sweat and avoided that question.”
Passons said he has known that he is gay since at least 7th grade, although he was in denial for a time. “By the time I hit college, I knew exactly what was happening. I just didn’t want to talk about it with anybody,” he said, “especially going to a Christian university and being in a Christian home and a somewhat conservative upbringing.”
