Kyle Vincent is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and environmentalist.
Vincent was born and raised in Berkeley, California, U.S.A.. He received musical training in the Berkeley Public Schools. He currently lives in western Massachusetts.
Musical career
Kyle Vincent began his music career at the age of 8, playing alto saxophone in Berkeley school jazz bands. At age 11 he appeared on stage with Donald Byrd, taking turns improvising with the legendary trumpeter. He studied voice with master vocal coach and renowned opera singer Claudine Spindt for several years, and took bass lessons from legendary guitarist Joe Satriani. After playing bass in an S.F. Bay Area pop/punk band, he moved to Los Angeles to become the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in the teen pop band, Candy. The band featured Gilby Clarke who would subsequently join Guns N' Roses, Heart, MC5, and Rock Star Supernova with Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe. The group, originally signed to Curb Records/MCA Records, soon had their contract purchased by Mercury/Polygram which released their sole album, Whatever Happened To Fun.... The album was produced by Jimmy Ienner who had previously produced hit albums for the Raspberries and the Bay City Rollers. While in Los Angeles, Vincent studied with renowned vocal coach Seth Riggs.
One of Vincent's first jobs upon moving to L.A. was working for two years as personal assistant to legendary rock n' roll producer Kim Fowley. Vincent also performed on several of Fowley's recording projects.
While recording demos as a solo artist in an L.A. studio, Vincent began work on a song entitled "Nature Girl" with eden ahbez, writer of "Nature Boy," popularized by Nat King Cole. Vincent had met Ahbez in an L.A. stereo store where Vincent had been working, and Ahbez told Vincent that he reminded him of his deceased son, about whom he had written "Nature Boy". Ahbez died before the two could finish the song.
After leaving Candy, Vincent was signed to MCA as a solo artist and recorded the album, Trust, and toured as the opening act for Barry Manilow on his "Greatest Hits" tour. The Trust album was produced by Vincent, Clif Magness (Avril Lavigne, Wilson Phillips), and Steve Levine (Culture Club,Beach Boys), and featured co-writes with Magness and Steve Kipner, writer of "Physical" and Genie In A Bottle. He also did some projects with famed video director Nigel Dick, his neighbor at the time in Hollywood.
For his next album, Vincent signed with Disney's Hollywood Records which released the album, Kyle Vincent, which spawned the U.S. Billboard/Radio & Records Adult Top 20 single, "Wake Me Up (When The World's Worth Waking Up For)", co-written by vocalist/guitarist Parthenon Huxley. ('Wake Me Up' was featured in the Garry Marshall directed motion picture, The Other Sister, starring Juliette Lewis, Diane Keaton, and Tom Skerritt.) In 1999, Vincent released Wow & Flutter on SongTree Records, (repackaged version with 2 bonus tracks released on SongTree/Varese Sarabande in 2001). "Sweet 16" (2000), Solitary Road (2003), Don't You Know (2005), Gathering Dust (2006), released on SongTree Records. In 2006 Vincent was signed to Universal which released Invisible Man, a compilation CD on their UMe Digital label. In 2007 the DVD Live & Unlive Too was released. In 2009, Vincent released the CD, "Where You Are", giving the first copy off the presses to Barry Manilow backstage at Manilow's concert in Manchester, NH.
His songs have appeared on various television shows including MTV's :The Hills, Road Rules, The Real World, Daria, ABC's All My Children, and "Save the Planet: A CBS/Hard Rock Cafe Special".
Kyle Vincent's song "Sierra" was adopted by the Sierra Club and John Denver's Windstar Foundation. It was included on the Dear Earth double CD released Earth Day, 2007. Other artists on the CD include Gladys Knight, The Kingston Trio, Olivia Newton-John, John Denver, Melanie, and readings from the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.
Also in 2007, Vincent was chosen to be the lead singer of the Bay City Rollers; he left the band in November, 2008.
Vincent is one of the pioneers of the "Living Room Show" concept, in which artists perform concerts in people's homes. He currently plays countless living room shows each year, all over the world.
Other
Vincent is the grandson of renowned painter Louise Noack Gray, for whom he wrote the song "One Last Ride On The Merry-Go-Round", featured on his "Don't You Know" album.
In 1995, Vincent was a participant in the California AIDSRide 2, bicycling 540 miles in 7 days from San Francisco to Los Angeles, raising money for AIDS care facilities.
He was an official endorser of California Healthy School Lunch Resolution (ACR-16), which asked schools to offer a plant-based lunch option on the daily menu. The resolution overwhelmingly passed the California Assembly and Senate in 2003.
Vincent's song, "5000 Heroes" raised over $40,000 for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, and brought commendations from former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Senator Bob Dole.
In 2003, he was the featured performer at the inauguration of then Nebraska governor, and current U.S. senator, Mike Johanns.
In 2007, Vincent was one of a select group of people personally trained by former Vice President Al Gore in Nashville, Tennessee to be an official presenter of Gore's climate crisis presentation, as seen in An Inconvenient Truth. Vincent's version includes the impact diet has on the environment.
Selected discography
- Whatever Happened To Fun... - Candy (1985)
- Trust - (1994) (originally unreleased; eventually released in 2007)
- Kyle Vincent - (1997)
- Wow & Flutter (1999)
- Sweet 16 (Rare & Unreleased, Vol. I - (2000)
- Solitary Road - (2003)
- Teenage Neon Jungle - Candy (2004)
- Don't You Know - (2005)
- Gathering Dust (Rare & Unreleased, Vol II) - (2006)
- Invisible Man (released as download only)- (2006)
- Live (& Unlive Too) DVD - (2007)
- Where You Are - (2009)
Some of the artists Kyle Vincent has appeared or recorded with include:
References
External links
