Kevin Cadogan

Kevin Cadogan
Kevin Cadogan, via Twitter
Background information
Birth name	Kevin Rene Cadogan
Born	(1970-08-14) August 14, 1970 Oakland, California, U.S.
Origin	Berkeley, California, U.S.
Genres	Alternative rock
Occupations	Musician, producer, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, autoharp, sitar
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Elektra
Associated acts	Third Eye Blind, Kevin Cadogan, Radio Angel, XEB
Website	www.kevincadogan.com

Kevin Rene Cadogan (born August 14, 1970 in Oakland, California) is an American singer/songwriter, producer and rock guitarist. He is a founding member of the band Third Eye Blind.^[1] He performed with the band from 1993^[2] to 2000. Cadogan co-wrote some of Third Eye Blind's most notable hits, including "How's It Going to Be", "Losing a Whole Year", and "Graduate", He co-wrote 10 of the 14 songs on the self-titled Third Eye Blind debut album. Kevin Cadogan along with his co-writer Stephan Jenkins signed a recording contract with Elektra records in May 1996 which was later reported as the largest publishing deal ever for an unsigned artist and launched Third Eye Blind into stardom.^[1] In 2011 Cadogan was honored on the show "Pensado's Place" by successful record producer Eric Valentine. Valentine cited Kevin Cadogan as his favorite rock guitarist that he has ever recorded; "Kevin is such a pleasure to work with..his whole thing is just amazing."^[3]

Personal history

As a child, Cadogan spent two years in England while his father taught on sabbatical. Later, the family returned to the United States and settled in Berkeley, California. The Cadogan family maintains their Irish heritage, and Cadogan holds dual American and Irish citizenship. Cadogan's song "Waiting For Me" refers to his close ties to Ireland.

Cadogan attended Berkeley public schools up to his graduation in 1988. Cadogan later attended San Francisco State University, graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcast communications.

Kevin Cadogan lives with his wife and two children in Berkeley.^{[citation needed]}

Third Eye Blind

Cadogan began learning the guitar at age 12 and began playing in bands shortly after. Like many other guitarists, Cadogan was a student of guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. Cadogan was introduced to Stephan Jenkins, who would become his songwriting partner in Third Eye Blind, at a concert in San Francisco in 1993. The two began jamming together before starting to perform as Third Eye Blind in shows around the Bay Area. Cadogan won two California Music Awards for best songwriter along with bandmate Jenkins and was nominated three years in a row as best guitarist in California along with Kirk Hammett from Metallica and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.

According to a NY Times interview with Kevin Cadogan, it was his understanding that Third Eye Blind was an equal partnership.^[4]

Having signed to Elektra Records in 1996, the band released their self-titled debut album the following year. Cadogan co-wrote ten of the 14 songs on the album. The album spawned a number of Billboard Top 10 singles, and the album has sold in excess of six million copies to date. Cadogan was awarded, along with Jenkins, the award for best songwriter at the 1998 California Music Awards.

Cadogan co-wrote six of the 13 songs on Third Eye Blind's second album, Blue. Subsequently, Cadogan was awarded, along with Jenkins, the award for best songwriter at the 2000 California Music Awards.

In 2006 Third Eye Blind released A Collection on Rhino records. The collection included songs that were co-written by Cadogan from the first two albums. Cadogan was omitted from the band's history in the biography section of the liner notes, and credit for his work was falsely given to his replacement guitarist, Tony Fredianelli. The liner notes state: "As always the music profited between the interplay of guitarist Tony Fredianelli, Stephan Jenkins, Arion Salazar and Brad Hargreaves".^[5] Karen Ahmed from Rhino records served as the "project supervisor" for the album's release.^[6] Jude Gold from Guitar Player Magazine wrote in his review of the album that omitting Kevin Cadogan from the band's history: "It's like saying Guns N Roses music always profited from the interplay between Axl Rose and guitarist Buckethead".^[7]

In 2012 Enjoy Ride Records ^[8] claimed they would be pressing Third Eye Blind's self-titled album onto vinyl. Not only did label owner Ross Shotland not contact Kevin Cadogan about the release, but he didn't even get Stephan Jenkins' phone number from the label that originally released the record. ^[9] Ross Shotland defends his innocence/ignorance by claiming "I took all the legal steps to go behind the band's back." ^[10]

Departure from Third Eye Blind

Cadogan and Third Eye Blind "parted ways" in January 2000.

According to Cadogan, he was ousted without warning because he didn't agree to a deal that would have yielded a $1 million advance to record an EP and start an Elektra Records imprint for which Stephan Jenkins would have full ownership and control.^[11]

The controversial circumstances of Cadogan's departure stem from his allegations that Stephan Jenkins and he were to be partners of the corporation named Third Eye Blind Inc. Instead, Jenkins directed the band's manager Eric Godtland and the band's attorney Thomas Mandelbaum to issue Jenkins 100% of the shares to himself making Stephan Jenkins the sole owner of all Third Eye Blind assets. Kevin Cadogan claimed that he was told by the band attorney that shares had not been issued to anyone. Cadogan told the NY Times in 1999 that he discovered 100% of the shares had in fact been issued to Jenkins as far back as 1996 when Cadogan and Jenkins signed the definitive record contract with Elektra. Cadogan states that upon learning that Jenkins owned 100% of the band he then refused to sign off on any more recording contracts and loans until shares were also issued to Cadogan. In 1999 Cadogan was asked to sign a 1 million dollar loan from Elektra records which would allow Third Eye Blind to record an EP and release it on its own label as a subsidiary of Elektra. Cadogan refused to sign the deal, citing the fact that he would not own or have any control over the assets acquired from the deal. In November 1999 Elektra records issued the funds to the Stephan Jenkins owned Third Eye Blind corporation without Cadogan's signature as Elektra had previously required. Two months later in January 2000, Cadogan and Third Eye Blind parted ways after a concert in Utah. Despite having received the $1 million from Elektra back in 1999, the band never delivered the EP which the funds were allocated for.^[12] Cadogan filed suit, alleging wrongful termination, adding that his production, recording, and songwriter royalties were withheld since being kicked out of the band.^[4] The lawsuit was settled out of court in June 2002, with the terms of the settlement undisclosed.^[13]

A major point of contention between Cadogan and Jenkins was an original understanding that Cadogan and Jenkins were to be equal partners in Third Eye Blind, but Jenkins established Third Eye Blind Inc. on the eve of signing the band's original record deal with Elektra Records in 1996. All payments were subsequently directed in the record contract to be paid to Third Eye Blind Inc., effectively cutting Cadogan out of any partnership and making Jenkins the sole "owner" of the band. Cadogan says several years went by before he realized that this change had been made in the contract.^{[citation needed]}

Third Eye Blind would later enter into litigation with the same people who helped Jenkins acquire 100% ownership. Jenkins and his former friend and manager Eric Godtland sued each other in 2007. Jenkins and former band attorney Thomas Mandelbaum sued each other in 2010. In the spring of 2011 Stephan Jenkins was sued by guitarist Tony Fredianelli.^[14]

New band and solo career

Kevin Cadogan released three solo albums titled Wunderfoot, 12 days in Studio A, and Thousand Yard Stare.^{[citation needed]}

Cadogan made a guest appearance on a recording of Third Eye Blind (album) closing track "God Of Wine" with Lovedrug for the band's fan-chosen covers album from the I AM LOVEDRUG campaign. The album, titled Best of I AM LOVEDRUG^[15] was released June 28, 2011.

On December 19, 2011, Cadogan and original Third Eye Blind bassist Arion Salazar reunited to perform on the television program "Backline". Cadogan and Salazar performed 12 of their original Third Eye Blind compositions under the new band name "XEB".

References

External links

• Surfacing Submarine: a Kevin Cadogan website