Kevin McKeever is a Music Editor living in Los Angeles California. Not one to be content with just one area of professional expertise, Kevin also works as a Composer, Arranger, Producer, Programmer and freelance Pro Tools Engineer, and has established himself as one of the most reliable technical troubleshooting gurus of greater LA when it comes to Macintosh computers and Music related software/hardware. Kevin was educated at the Berklee College of Music in Boston MA, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music.
Kevin grew up in the west counties of St. Louis, and began playing piano at age 6 after becoming intrigued by the instrument at a classical recital he attended in Washington D.C. His first teacher, Corey Weaver, helped him develop a phenomenal ear through the Suzuki method, and later in high school he began entering Regional, National and International piano competitions after working with teacher Marlita Weiss on more professional techniques and repertoire.
In 1991 Kevin entered the AMSA International Piano Competition, held that year in Cincinnati OH. After the initial round of performances, Kevin was selected to participate in a Master Class with Classical Piano Legend Andre Watts, and later was awarded 2nd place for his age division in the competition. As a result, Kevin was invited to participate in the Winners Recital held the following fall in New York City at Carnegie Hall, where he performed with the other 1st and 2nd place competition winners from around the world.
With the Carnegie Hall performance garnering him a minor amount of attention from the local press, Kevin was recruited by Six Flags over Mid-America performance department to work as an accompanist for their live cabaret show in the summer of 1992. After enjoying his first job as a professional, paid musician, Kevin returned for his senior year of High School where he would play guitar in the Jazz band, Harpsichord in the Orchestra, lead the Tenor section of the Choir, star as "Curly" in the school musical Oklahoma, start his first band ("Bone of Contention") and place 1st in the State of Missouri for Piano in the annual MMTA State Competition. After graduating high-school, Kevin returned to the Six Flags accompanist job for a few more summers while studying Jazz Performance part-time at Webster University in St. Louis and performing with local band Zignago.
In 1996 Kevin transferred to the Berklee College of Music in Boston MA where he quickly found an affinity in the Music Technology departments, including Music Synthesis and Music Production. While earning his degree at Berklee, Kevin also functioned as the Music Director for the Boston Baked Theatre, The Orange Show! and played keyboards for the Boston Rock Opera while also tutoring ESL students on Music Technoogy concepts and working at the Berklee Performance Center Box Office (which also happens to be where he taught himself HTML and web design on a 486 PC).
After leaving Boston for Los Angeles in January 1999, Kevin first worked as a Web Designer for the House of Blues corporation before taking a similar job at a subset of Virgin Digital then known as Radio Free Virgin. After quickly discovering his recording background, RFV promoted Kevin to Cheif Audio Engineer where he was responsible for creating hundred of radio liners and commercials, as well as recording live in-studio performances and interviews as well as often acting as Voice Over talent in addition to Producer, Engineer and Copywriter.
Following the nation-wide downsizing trend post-9/11, Radio Free Virgin dramatically scaled back their workforce, and Kevin began his freelance career doing contract work - first for his pals at Virgin, and eventually teaming up with several local Film and Television composers working in a number of facets.
In 2002 Kevin was hired by U.K. recording artist Julia Fordham for several tours in support of her Concrete Love album, and was also chosen to play with the "Superstar" band for Julia's 2005 DVD/CD release That's Live. The band was led by the multi-grammy winning producer/bass player Larry Klein, and also featured Vinnie Coliauta, Mark Isham, Dean Parks and India.Arie, and was released in January 2005 on the Vanguard label. Kevin has also worked and toured with Rob Dickenson (of the Catherine Wheel) and Ashely Parker Angel from the original VH1 "Making the Band" reality show.
It was in late 2006 that Kevin began working as a Music Editor on the episodic reality show Little People Big World produced by Gay Rosenthal Productions and owned by TLC/Discovery, working under composer Joey Newman, who also brought Kevin on board to Edit for the 2007 direct-to-video release Danielle Steele's Safe Harbor, from New Line. The music for Little People Big World was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008 for "Original Music Composition for Dramatic Series" and Kevin is thrilled to have worked on the nominated "Roloff Road Trip: Grand Canyon" episode. Kevin has also worked as a Music Editor for the 2008 edition of Disney Channel Games under Composer Scott Clausen, which featured The Jonas Brothers, The Cheetah Girls and multiple Disney Pop & TV stars from around the world.
In addition to Music Editing, Kevin has begun contributing original music to the Little People soundtrack, and he continues to work with local Artists and Singer/Songwriters in the Los Angeles area, producing demos and tracks for various TV, Film and album projects. |