Kevin Michael Seward (born October 22, 1985) is an American singer from

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Philadelphia metropolitan area (also known as the Delaware Valley) on the western bank of the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. ...

. He signed with Downtown Records, an imprint of

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

to release his self-titled debut studio album (2008).

Early life

Born in Chester, Pennsylvania, Michael grew up in a mixed-race family. His father is African-American and his mother is biracial. This had quite an effect on him as a child growing up and would serve as one of his main messages in later musical work. He is a self-taught vocalist with a five octave range. Kevin cites artists like

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

as some of his biggest musical influences. At the age of 16 he wrote his first song, and has continued writing his own material throughout the years. Kevin says he loves writing music just as much as singing it.

Career

Michael received attention from

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

while still a teenager, but ultimately signed with

and their Downtown Records imprint. His first EP ''Ya Dig?'' was featured only on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and the buzz single "We All Want The Same Thing" was highlighted on iTunes Store as the Single of the Week for May 8, 2007. "We All Want The Same Thing" featured rapper

Lupe Fiasco Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, record producer and Music education, music educator. Born and raised in Chicago, he gained mainstream recognition for his gue ...

and was featured in a Verizon Wireless V CAST Song ID commercial.''Modern Guitars'' article
Kevin Michael's first official single from his full-length LP was "It Don't Make Any Difference", both produced by and featuring

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean ( ; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, singer, and record producer. Born in Haiti, Jean emigrated to the Northeastern United States, United States as a child. He gained fame as a founding member of the Fugees, a Ne ...

. In the song Kevin talks about interracial relationships and the product of being a bi-racial adult himself. A video for the song was shot in Brooklyn, NY in May 2007 directed by video collective Syndrome (James Larese). The video and song was received well by both

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and VH1 Soul. Michael's performance was favorably reviewed on day two of the August 2007

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

concert in Chicago, describing Kevin as a "young singer with the towering

afro The afro is a hair style created by combing out natural growth of afro-textured hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" '' Ebo ...

and a voice that mixes the soulful side of

with a hip-hop edge." He has also performed at MTV's 2007 Video Music Awards at The Palms Casino Pool in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. The debut album '' Kevin Michael'' was released on October 2, 2007. He was on separate tours with

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...

, and then

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...

in 2007. In 2008, he toured with

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

on the Pepsi Smash Tour. He appeared in the 2009 romantic-comedy '' (500) Days of Summer'' as the wedding singer. His cover of

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer and songwriter. Starting her career in 1954, James frequently performed in Nashville's R&B clubs, collectively known as the Ch ...

' " At Last" was included on the movie's soundtrack. On June 10, 2010, Michael resurfaced under the alias KofTHEY (K being the initial for his name, and THEY being a group acronym standing for THE Youth) and released THEY's first single, "Areola" on their YouTube channel, KofTHEY. On March 14, 2011, Michael opened Twitter and Facebook accounts as KofTHEY. On March 16, 2011, he released the follow-up album '' International'' for a limited release in Japan. On April 5, 2011, he launched the TeamTHEY website and released two new songs under KofTHEY.TeamTHEY Official Site On July 1, 2011, Michael released ''Covers For You'', a nine-song cover album. The album also includes one track from his ''International'' album. In 2019, he published a new single "Sidenixxa".

In popular culture

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Soundtrack appearances

References

External links

Official website

Official Myspace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, Kevin 1985 births African-American male songwriters American people of Italian descent Atlantic Records artists Living people Musicians from Philadelphia American neo soul singers People from Chester, Pennsylvania Musicians from Delaware County, Pennsylvania Songwriters from Pennsylvania Singers from Pennsylvania 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers