Kev.O

Official Biography (courtesy of Kev.O) 

The Howard University experience was a musical awakening for Kev.O. While working on his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music, he became enamored with the works of both legendary musicians, like Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, the Clark Sisters, and Patti Labelle as well as new-school phenoms like Brandy, J. Moss, Kim Burrell, Van Hunt, Bilal, P.J. Morton, John Mayer, Rahsaan Patterson, Beyonce, and ColdPlay.

As a Washington, DC resident and a student of The Howard University, Atlanta, GA native Kev.O was not much for down time. In fact, Kev.O is a product of Howard's premier jazz vocal ensemble AFRO Blue, which won two awards from Downbeat Magazine in 2003 and 2004, including one for "Best Vocal Group", earned a feature performance at the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) Annual Conference in 2005 and 2007, and has performed alongside living legends like Ben Verne, Geri Allen, Nneena Freelon, and Ron Carter. Any other time was spent continuing the juggling act with artists like Mya (Motown Records), Kim Burrell (Shanachie), and Mario (J Records) and independent artists Purple Saint James (aka YahZarah) and Sol Edler. He has even shared the stage as an opening act for Raheem DeVaughn and Chrisette Michele.

In addition to his current career as a solo artist, since 2004, Kev.O has performed regularly with Reverb, the Washington Area Music Association's "Best Gospel/Inspirational Group/Quartet" for 2006 and 2007. Since 2007, this group has performed on several occasions for the Washington Nationals (MLB), Washington Mystics (WNBA), and Washington Wizards (NBA) games; performed as the opening act for the Family Stone Project; and performed for the many of the region's finer galas and festivals.