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I come from a big family, and everybody liked to sing and tell jokes and stories. I just got into it a little more deeply and kept at it longer than my older brothers and sisters.
I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. On my way home from Sacred Heart School when I was in second grade, I made up my first melody. It’s the melody I later used for the song "The Princess and the Pea," which is on my Lost Songs of Kenland CD. I loved drawing and sports and reading books.
When I was 10, my family moved to Mexico City, Mexico. That’s why I still speak in spanish sometimes in the middle of a concert! I loved my time in Mexico. That’s where I got my first guitar when I was 12 and in the sixth grade.
A few years later, we moved to the Madison, Wisconsin area. I went to middle and high school in Middleton. I liked forensics and theater and swing choir a lot, and got involved in those activities in addition to the usual sports kind of stuff. Plus I was all over my guitar! I started writing songs right away when I first got it, and I wrote all the time about everything—and I have ever since!
In college I sang at the “open mikes” at the Student Union. People started hiring me to sing in restaurants and clubs. Soon I was doing concerts. I worked for several years as The Minstrel for the Environment, writing and performing songs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade about nature and environmental awareness.
I wrote lots of musicals for CTM Productions, which specializes in theater for all ages. I got very busy. I made recordings, and people liked them! Newspapers said nice things about my work, sometimes.
And here I am! I
love what I do, and consider myself really lucky for that. I don’t
have an agent, or a record company, or national distribution.
It’s hard sometimes to have to be the writer, singer, engineer,
producer, booking agent, publicity specialist and financier of this crazy “business” I’ve
created called Kenland. But if doing all those things makes it possible
for me to dwell in my imagination and have fun singing to people—hey,
it’s like being a kid all over again for me!
That’s my story,
and I’m sticking to it... until I come up
with a better one!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Big
Kenland News
from the North Pole!
The Land's
End Company has asked Ken to help keep track of goings-on
at the North Pole!
Starting December 1, kids around the world can call 1-800-Hi Santa to hear daily updates on Santa's preparations for the holidays- including a mysterious musical concoction which just might turn out to be a brand new song, sung by a very familiar voice...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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