This Artist Turned His HIV Diagnosis Into an Anthem
Singer-Songwriter Tony Enos. (Courtesy of the Artist.)
Twenty years ago, Tony Enos got a diagnosis two weeks before his birthday. Two decades later, the Philly-born singer-songwriter is still here, and he refuses to be shamed or silent about it.
His new record, The Boss, drops on his 20th poz-aversary and does exactly what the title promises: it puts Enos back in charge of a story that started out being told at him instead of by him. POLISH caught up with Enos about the album, the state of HIV conversation in 2026, and what it means to feel whole.
Marie-Adélina de la Ferrière: Tell our POLISHed Ones a little about yourself.
Tony Enos: My name is Tony Enos: singer, songwriter, producer, actor, writer, activist. But I'm a musician's musician, a musician first. I started my own local label in Philly in my early twenties, released my debut album, Did It Right, around 2008, 2009. Two weeks before my 22nd birthday, I was diagnosed with HIV. Today is actually my 20-year poz-aversary. I always say HIV has been living with me for the past twenty years — I'm the boss, I'll always be the boss. I have agency and autonomy over it, and those are things you can feel robbed of in the beginning. Twenty years later, here we are: a seventh studio album, The Boss, just came out last month. Really just celebrating that it's been a journey, a good one, an insightful one, a valuable one. I don't really have any complaints.
Congratulations on the new album. What was the inspiration behind it?
Every year, I do my poz-aversary. It's a way to recontextualize that day, reclaim it. Instead of being sad about it, I get to celebrate that I'm still going, still here, still doing this. On a 20-year poz-aversary, I'd be remiss not to mention the guys in the first wave who didn't make it two weeks. It was two weeks from diagnosis to the grave for a lot of them. Here I am, twenty years in. So it's for me, but it's also for them. I get to exercise that agency, that full personhood, for myself first. And of course, covering the Diana Ross 1979 classic "The Boss," because that song has kept me going all these years. It's been a safe place for me since I was a kid, on my ugly little Mickey Mouse record player, trying to get through growing up gay and then living with HIV. That song has been a cornerstone for me as a musician.
How has the conversation around HIV changed since your diagnosis, and what misconceptions do you wish people would let go of?
I have eighteen years in public health as an HIV tester, counselor, and case manager. I was doing a testing event at a church once, and an older woman told me she'd get tested because she'd heard somebody got it from getting in a pool. I asked if this is the hill I want to die on? In the food line? I told her, if that were true, we'd all have it. She was adamant. I said I'd be back there if she wanted to come get tested.
It's unfortunately still really rudimentary how people think HIV is transmitted. I wish everyone would take the onus of self-educating. People don't get the facts until they're diagnosed. We have no excuse, with Google and Alexa and everybody else, to educate ourselves. And there's the U=U piece now: Undetectable Equals Untransmittable. People who are undetectable and living with HIV cannot transmit it. That's our new frontier.
You’ve tied the knot recently. Congrats! Between the new release, performing during Pride, and getting married, what does Pride mean to you in 2026?
Thank you so much! It's interesting watching the atmosphere change over the years. I can only speak for myself, but it's a more holistic, healthy approach now. That's what Pride means to me: taking care of yourself, taking the initiative, exercising your fullest agency and personhood to honor and love all of yourself. The good, and the parts you're still growing into. It's a more mature place than just wanting to get out and make noise, which was fine too, and I still make noise. I guess I've grown into my pride over the years.
If your album, The Boss, had a signature cocktail, what would it be?
I was a bartender for two years in my early twenties, and if somebody couldn't make up their mind, they were getting a key lime pie martini. Vanilla vodka, pineapple juice, lime juice. I think that's it; a nice, refreshing, even-keeled cocktail.
What's something your fans would be surprised to know about you?
I'm such an open book. In the morning, when I do my prayers and meditation, I have what I call my earth box. It's just leaves I've collected, shells friends have given me. A friend just got back from France and brought me a shell from the Mediterranean. Little natural things like that. It's an opportunity to sit with whatever you call your higher power. I open it up and say, "Good morning, beloved." That's one of my little rituals.
What does living a POLISHed life mean to you?
Prioritizing being a whole person. The idea of dying not whole, or fragmented, really concerned me in my twenties and thirties. I did the work, and I can honestly say I feel whole now. I don't feel fragmented by the traumas that roamed the halls of those years. To me, polish comes from being whole. And you only get there through some really radical self-love and self-acceptance.
What's next for you?
Finishing out the year. Performances and engagements I've committed to. Then I want to do more film. I have several scripts, one in particular I'm really excited about. It’s a Christmas movie. I've always wanted to do more gay Christmas films, with more heart, more realistic characters, and lots of conflict. That's the one I'm working on now, and I'd love to see it through.
Finally, what message would you like to leave with the POLISHed Ones?
Love is the one thing you'll never run out of. There's nothing else to do with it but give it away. So don't be stingy with your love. I think more important than not feeling is the development of a generous heart, and that starts inside. You can't give away what you don't have, so make sure your cup is filled up first with that love, that radical love. Then don't be stingy with it: spread it around.
