Kyle Vincent

Kyle Vincent
Background information
Genres Pop, soft rock
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer
Instruments Vocals, piano, guitar, saxophone
Labels
Website www.kylevincent.com

Kyle Vincent is an American singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, and entertainer, labeled as the "crown prince of soft pop,"[1] by Goldmine. His debut single, "Wake Me Up (When The World's Worth Waking Up For" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.

Barry Manilow has called Vincent, "One of the best singer-songwriters to come along since the heyday of Tin Pan Alley". Along with being a classically trained vocalist, Vincent plays saxophone, piano and guitar.

He was born and raised in Berkeley, California, U.S.A..

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 took jazz sax lessons with famed Bebop saxophonist Hal Stein. Vincent studied voice with master vocal coach and opera singer Claudine Spindt for several years, and took bass lessons from legendary guitarist Joe Satriani. After moving to Los Angeles, Vincent studied with renowned vocal coach Seth Riggs, his lessons being sandwiched between Barbra Streisand's and Phillip Bailey's.

One of Vincent's first jobs upon moving to L.A. was working for two years as personal assistant and driver for legendary rock n' roll producer Kim Fowley. Vincent also performed on several of Fowley's recording projects.

Vincent was the lead singer in the seminal teen power pop band, Candy, which recorded one album, "Whatever Happened To Fun..." on the Mercury/Polygram label, and included future Guns n Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke. The album was produced by Jimmy Ienner (Raspberries, Bay City Rollers, Eric Carmen), and featured Wally Bryson of the Raspberries as "musical director". The video for the title track was in rotation on MTV. The band toured extensively and is cited by many groups as an influence. Candy still has a strong following in Japan, and when Vincent performs there he does Candy songs with a Japanese backing band called, "Candyrocks!". He also enjoys popularity as a solo artist in Japan.

While recording demos as a solo artist in an L.A. studio, Vincent began co-writing a song entitled "Nature Girl", with eden ahbez, writer of the classic "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. Vincent's session work included backing vocals for The Ventures (The Ventures Play Southern All Stars), Kill For Thrills, The Runaways (reformed version), The Rubinoos, and many more. He also did some projects with famed video director Nigel Dick, his neighbor at the time in Hollywood.

Signed to MCA as a solo artist, he recorded the album, Trust, and toured as the opening act for Barry Manilow on his "Greatest Hits and Then Some" tour. The Trust album was produced by Vincent, Clif Magness (Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson), and Steve Levine (Culture Club, Beach Boys), and featured co-writes with Magness and Steve Kipner, writer of "Physical" and Genie In A Bottle. Gerry Beckley from the group America played keyboards, guitar, and sang vocals on the album. Beckley would also appear on Vincent's next 2 solo efforts.

For his next album, Vincent signed with Disney's Hollywood Records which released the album, Kyle Vincent, and 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.) Robert Lamm from the band Chicago sang background vocals on 2 songs. In 1999, Vincent released Wow & Flutter on SongTree Records, (repackaged version with 2 bonus tracks released on SongTree/Varèse Sarabande in 2001). Legendary photographer Henry Diltz shot the album cover. "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 reformed Bay City Rollers, featuring x-Roller Ian Mitchell. The band toured the U.S. and had a month-long engagement at the Riviera in Las Vegas. Vincent left the group in November, 2008. In addition to his solo career, Vincent sometimes sings lead for Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods.

Vincent is one of a select few recording artists in history to have been signed to and recorded with six major record companies at different times (Curb/MCA, Mercury/Polygram, MCA, Hollywood, Varese Sarabande/Universal, UMe Digital).

In 2010, Vincent teamed with his longtime songwriting partner, Parthenon Huxley, and released a single, "Dirty Girl", as the duo Huxley & Vincent. The song quickly went into the Top 10 on Amazon's Glam Rock charts.

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. Of his house concerts, Vincent has said, "They're kind of like musical Tupperware parties".

Other

Vincent is the grandson of renowned California painter Louise Noack Gray, about whom he wrote the song "One Last Ride On The Merry-Go-Round", featured on his "Don't You Know" album.

Vincent was a pitcher for the Berkeley High School Yellowjackets baseball team.

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. Also in 1995, Vincent took part in the In Harmony With The Homeless project, in which professional songwriters collaborated with individuals living in shelters on L.A.'s skid row.

A lifelong San Francisco Giants baseball fan, Vincent has performed the National Anthem live at San Francisco's Candlestick Park and AT&T Park before Giants' games, as well as at several minor league parks around the U.S. In commemoration of the Giants leaving Candlestick Park in 1999, Vincent wrote, recorded and released a special song/CD called, "Tell It Goodbye-An Ode To Candlestick Park". Vincent donated proceeds from the sales of the CD to the Giants Community Fund, which helps inner city youth.

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 former 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, and is an officially sanctioned presenter of Gore's climate crisis presentation, as seen in An Inconvenient Truth. Vincent's version includes the impact diet has on the environment. In June 2010, Vincent attended the latest training sessions, taught again by Gore in Nashville, and sponsored by The Alliance for Climate Protection and The Climate Project.

In 2010, Vincent was a featured performer at the Hiroshima Peace Concert in Hiroshima, Japan, in commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the bombing.

Vincent was elected to public office in Western Massachusetts in 2010 as a councilor on the Hampshire Council of Governments. He was re-elected in 2012.

Vincent is an advocate for a plant-based diet, citing concerns for the environment, world hunger, personal health, and animal welfare.[2] To this end, he was an official celebrity endorser of the 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.

Discography

Chart Success

Singles

Year Title U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3] U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under U.S. Billboard AC U.S. Billboard HOT AC U.S. Radio & Records AC U.S. Cashbox AC Album
1997 ""Wake Me Up (When The World's Worth Waking Up For"" 101 1 20 26 18 19 Kyle Vincent

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result
2014 Hollywood Music In Media Awards Best Male Vocal Kyle Vincent Won

Some of the artists Kyle Vincent has appeared or recorded with include:

References

  1. ↑ Borack, John (April 2010). "Rave On". Goldmine. Retrieved June 2011.
  2. ↑ Kyle Vincent Interview, Save A Scream, archived from the original on 2011-07-16
  3. ↑ "Kyle Vincent Album and Song Chart History". Billboard.

External links