With a bandleader grandfather and four jazz musician uncles, a life in music was all but guaranteed for Kevin from the moment he was born. Growing up in York, the accomplished guitar and bass player landed his first record contract aged 17 only to be dropped a year later. At the age of 19 his talents won a second deal with EMI, but history repeated itself and by the time he turned 20 the label had dropped him again. He did however gain valuable experience via 2 years of recording extensively at 10cc’s Strawberry Studios in Manchester. With a clear vision about his abilities, Kevin identified an opportunity when the punk scene started to explode and, embarking on a career as a fledgling record producer and songwriter, he moved to London in 1977.
In addition to continuing his studio and touring work as a session bass player, Kevin’s producing and writing abilities saw him working in France, Belgium, Germany and elsewhere in Europe on a number of hits. He extended his work into A&R in the mid 80’s, and started his own label. With further progression into Artist Management he signed and developed hit artists including Little Angels, who enjoyed 11 top 40 hits in the UK with Polydor, as well as a No.1 album in 1993, with Kevin producing and co-writing many Little Angels hits. Kevin’s dual role extended to other artists including It Bites frontman Francis Dunnery on the album “Fearless” with Atlantic Records in New York, and Kula Shaker, who signed to Sony/Columbia in 1995, achieved a 2m selling and number one debut album “K”, 5 top 10 hit singles, and won a 1997 Best Newcomer Brit Award.
That success drove Richard Branson to headhunt Kevin to establish a new management division at V2 Records and run the A&R dept, but despite more success in that role, the tragic death of Kirsty MacColl, who Kevin had signed to the label and also managed, prompted Kevin and colleague Sarah Clayman to reassess their careers, and make the decision to redirect their efforts into music education with an ethos of creating Academic Music Colleges for young musicians, run by musicians.
Teaming up again with Little Angels guitarist, Bruce Dickinson (who had already established the ACM), Kevin and Sarah launched the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) in 2002, starting with 180 students. By 2012, BIMM had grown to include campuses in four cities including Dublin, and with more than 2,000 students.
Having sold BIMM to Private Equity in January 2012, Kevin and Sarah have since built an international music education business by opening the Detroit Institute of Music Education (DIME) launched in Sept 2014, DIME ONLINE global distance learning courses, plus a new Detroit based record label Original 1265 Recordings, and Music Publishing Company 1265 Songs Inc. DIME Denver opened their pop-up space in November 2016, and classes will start in Fall 2017. Click here for more information on DIME Denver!
