Kevin Kendrick
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Kevin Kendrick (born April 21) also known as Kevin Kendrick(s) Poor Black Hobo and the Black Mozart, is a pianist/keyboardist, composer, record-producer, singer and voice-over talent. He is best known for recording, touring, producing and writing for some of the top artist in the world including Outkast, Tyler the Creator, Madonna, Cameo, Gwen Stefani, and Kelis.[1][2][3][circular reference][4] [5][6][7]
Early Life[edit]
Kevin was born in Indianapolis Indiana. He is the second child of Claudia Kendrick(d.2004)[8] a devoted mother that retired from DFAS at Ft. Harrison after 30 years as a Pay Examiner, and father Marion Scott Kendrick(d.1979), a 100% disabled WWII army veteran[9]. Both parents loved music. In fact, his mother was an excellent pianist and as early as first grade, there were always guitars around the house. However it was the piano that fascinated Kevin from the moment he was introduced to the instrument. It was one of Kevin's teachers Mr J.C Cork, that secretly phoned his mother to tell her that Kevin had been staying after school and cleaning the chalk boards for all the teachers on his floor in exchange to practice on the piano that was in the classroom. Shortly afterwards, his mother purchased a brand new Baldwin piano for the home, and at the age of seven the piano became the most important part of Kevin's world, and the Kendrick's home was a place where musicians hung out and there were many jam sessions. [10] [11]
Music Career[edit]
At the age of fourteen Kevin left home to play piano for the late great Betty Wright and traveled all over the world with her doing shows both locally and abroad with her show-band, including on the Bob Marley Survival Tour, where Betty was the opening act. Betty was like a big sister to Kevin and together they wrote, recorded and performed several songs for various projects. Kevin also performed piano on her platinum Betty Wright Live album which included her hits Clean Up Woman and Tonight Is The Night.[12] During this period and up and to the late teen years, Kevin also toured with other great blues artist including Clarence Carter, Millie Jackson, Denise LaSalle, as well as other notables including KC and the Sunshine Band,[13][14]Gwen McCrae[15] and many others. In the late seventy's Kevin was asked to join the Dazz Band by Bobby Harris the groups leader. At that time the band was unsigned but after working hard recording and rehearsing together the group landed a record deal with Motown. Kevin played keyboards and co-wrote many songs for the Dazz Band including the title cut from their second album titled "Let The Music Play", " Sooner Or Later" "What Will I Do Without You" and several more. The Dazz Band became one of the hottest bands in the country at that time and the groups mega hit "Let It Whip" won them a grammy award. In the early eighties kevin joined the renowned funk group Cameo[16]. Kevin played piano, programmed and played synthesizers on most of the groups albums from 1983 forward, including their mega hits "Word Up" and "Candy". Kevin also co wrote "Attack Me with Your Love"[17] the hit single that established the groups more progressive and synth based sound from the renaissance period after some personnel re-vamping, and he also co-wrote "Back and Forth" another mega hit from the popular group which featured precision keyboard work and progressive sounds that made it a DJ favorite across the world. In the late eighty's Kevin was referred to Madonna by long time friend and Michael Jackson drummer, Jonathan Sugarfoot Moffett. After auditioning Madonna hired Kevin to play piano and keyboards on her "Blond Ambition Tour".[18][19]Kevin was also featured in her movie Truth or Dare and on the tour Madonna and Kevin did a duet together where she sings on top of the piano as he plays Stephen Sondheim's musical composition "Sooner or Later" from the Warren Beatty Dick Tracy Movie. Madonna and Kevin got along quite well and Kevin signed as a writer to her Maverick publishing company for a couple years after the tour. In the early ninety's, Kevin opened a recording studio in Georgia. It was at his studio he ran across Xscape, a female R&B group that was just getting started with their career. He wrote and recorded several songs with the group and helped develop their talents in the studio. Shortly afterwards the group was signed by Jermaine Dupree on his So So Def Label. Kevin landed a song on their sophomore album Off The Hook titled Love's a Funny Thing,[20] the album climbed to number 3 on billboards top R&B/Hip Hop charts and the group went on to become one of the greatest female groups of the nineties and beyond. In the early 2000's Kevin was introduced to Andre 3000 of the group Outkast by way of Aaron Mills of Cameo. Kevin and Dre had a good synergy from the start and Kevin became one of Andre's most frequently used recording musicians in the studio. Kevin played Keyboards and synth bass on the mega hit "Hey Ya!" and piano and synth bass on the hit song "Roses". Kevin played keyboards on most tracks on the album titled "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" and he co-wrote several songs on the diamond album including "Love Hater", "She's Alive" and "Church". Kevin also played piano and keyboards on the Tyler the Creator grammy award winning IGOR CD.[21][22]
Awards[edit]
- Key to the city of Indianapolis Indiana
- Bounce Trumpet Award 2018
- Bachelor of Computer Science Kennesaw State University 2018
References[edit]
- ↑ https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/41513/1/outkast-speakerboxxx-the-love-below-15th-anniversary-retrospective
- ↑ https://genius.com/a/tyler-the-creator-reveals-all-the-credits-for-igor
- ↑ Blond Ambition World Tour
- ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100089/fullcredits
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/QSCAudioProducts/photos/from-outkast-and-cameo-keyboardist-kevin-kendrick-qsc-speakers-make-my-job-easie/3026982600677170/
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/loveangelmusicbaby-mw0000258810/credits
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Kelis-Tasty/release/498258
- ↑ "Claudia Kendrick Obituary (2004) - Indianapolis, IN - The Indianapolis Star". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
- ↑ "Indianapolis Recorder 12 May 1979 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
- ↑ [https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/indystar/obituary.aspx?n=claudia-m-brunt-kendrick&pid=144199519
- ↑ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INR19790512-01.1.7&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
- ↑ Betty Wright Live - Betty Wright | Credits | AllMusic, retrieved 2023-04-07 Kevin Kendrick listed as Keyboardist on the CD.
- ↑ Pianoking777 (2023-04-07), English: Kevin Kendrick performing on keyboards with KC and the Sunshine Band as a teenager, retrieved 2023-04-07
- ↑ "About – kevinkendrick.org". Retrieved 2023-04-07.
- ↑ "GWEN MCCRAE-MELODY OF LIFE". dereksmusicblog. 2013-06-17. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
- ↑ "Cameo (band)", Wikipedia, 2023-03-26, retrieved 2023-04-07
- ↑ "BMI | Songview Search". repertoire.bmi.com. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
- ↑ Vanmaele, Bart. "Blond Ambition Tour crew - Madonna's tour band, dancers & collaborators | Mad-Eyes". www.mad-eyes.net. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
- ↑ "Blond Ambition World Tour", Wikipedia, 2023-04-03, retrieved 2023-04-07
- ↑ "Off the Hook (Xscape album)", Wikipedia, 2023-03-24, retrieved 2023-04-07
- ↑ Tyler, Creator. "Tyler the Creator talks about working with Kevin Kendrick on his IGOR album". Kevin Kendrick Enterprise. HOT 97/YouTube. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ [citation to reliable source, print or e, goes here]
External links[edit]
- https://kevinkendrick.org
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC__P9RcNmvtgdqPPG1MeI4g
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_2Rv84GsU49D0Ahk8hex2g
- Useful website link and name
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