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Kevin Michael | |
|---|---|
 Michael in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kevin Michael Seward |
| Born | October 22, 1985 Chester, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Genres | Pop, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | www |
Kevin Michael Seward (born October 22, 1985) is an American singer from Chester, Pennsylvania. He signed with Downtown Records, an imprint of Atlantic Records to release his self-titled debut studio album (2008).
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, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder 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.
Michael received attention from Virgin Records and Columbia Records while still a teenager, but ultimately signed with Atlantic Records and their Downtown Records imprint. [1]
His first EP Ya Dig? was featured only on iTunes 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.[ citation needed ] "We All Want The Same Thing" featured rapper Lupe Fiasco and was featured in a Verizon Wireless V CAST Song ID commercial. [2]
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. 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 and VH1 Soul.
Michael's performance was favorably reviewed on day two of the August 2007 Lollapalooza concert in Chicago, describing Kevin as a "young singer with the towering afro and a voice that mixes the soulful side of Michael Jackson with a hip-hop edge." [3] He has also performed at MTV's 2007 Video Music Awards at The Palms Casino Pool in Las Vegas. [4]
The debut album Kevin Michael was released on October 2, 2007. He was on separate tours with Lily Allen, and then Maroon 5 in 2007. [2] In 2008, he toured with John Legend 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' "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. [5]
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. [6]
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".
| Song Title | Details |
|---|---|
| We All Want The Same Thing | |
| We All Want The Same Thing | |
| We All Want The Same Thing | Lincoln Heights (TV series) Season 2: Episode 4 |
| Weekend Jumpoff | Entourage (U.S. TV series) Season 3: Episode 16 |
| Philadelphia | Dance! Online |
| Stone Cold Killa | Dance! Online |
| It Don't Make Any Difference | EA Sports: NBA Live 08 |
| Weekend Jumpoff | |
| At Last (Etta James Cover) |
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [7] | US R&B [7] | US Heat [7] | FRA [8] | SWI [8] | |||
| 2007 | Kevin Michael
| — | 90 | 24 | 81 | 81 | |
| 2011 | International
| — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2011 | Covers For You
| — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2012 | LISA
| — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2013 | b r a i n w a $ h
| — | — | — | — | — | |
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Ya Dig?
|
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [7] | US R&B [7] | AUT [9] | FIN [10] | GER [11] | SWE [10] | SWI [9] | ||||||
| "We All Want The Same Thing" (featuring Lupe Fiasco) | 2007 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Kevin Michael | |||
| "It Don't Make Any Difference To Me (1 Love)" (featuring Wyclef Jean) | — | — | — | 17 | — | 19 | — | |||||
| "Ain't Got You" | 2008 | — | — | 64 | — | 43 | — | 74 | ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released. | ||||||||||||
| Song | Year | Other performer(s) | Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| "We All Want The Same Thing" | 2008 | Lupe Fiasco | Step Up 2: The Streets |
| "At Last" | 2009 | — | (500) Days of Summer |
| "Weekend Jumpoff" | 2010 | — | Just Wright |
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean is a Haitian rapper and record producer. At the age of nine, Jean and his family emigrated to Northeastern United States. He formed the New Jersey-based hip hop trio Fugees in 1990 with fellow musicians Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel, for which Jean served as lead guitarist and producer. The group released the albums Blunted on Reality (1994) and The Score (1996), the latter became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Following their success, Jean released his debut solo album, Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival (1997), which yielded the Billboard Hot 100-top ten single "Gone till November".
The Thrills are an Irish pop band formed in Dublin in 2001. The band was founded by lead vocalist Conor Deasy and guitarist Daniel Ryan, guitarist and bass player Padraic McMahon, pianist Kevin Horan and drummer Ben Carrigan. Their break came with their debut album, So Much for the City, which became an Irish number one and charted at number 3 in the UK. The band's sound has been described as "inspired by classic American pop of the late '60s and early '70s" by Rovi and "an ocean-soaked, harmony-heavy homage to California's dreamy dreams, shaking ground, and unrelenting sunshine" by Pitchfork Media.
"Burn" is a song by American R&B singer Usher, which he wrote with American songwriters Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox. The song was produced by Dupri and Cox for Usher's fourth studio album, Confessions (2004). A downtempo track about the breakup of a relationship, it was originally planned as the album's lead single, but "Burn" was pushed back after favorable responses for the song "Yeah!". "Burn" was eventually released as the second single from the album on March 21, 2004. "Burn" is considered to be one of Usher's signature hits.
"Confessions Part II" is a song by R&B singer Usher, produced by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox for Usher's fourth album Confessions. Written by Usher, Dupri and Cox, the song is a confession of a man to his woman about his impregnated mistress. This is a continuation of "Confessions Part I" which relates to a man's infidelity. Its personal content evoked rumors and early responses from the public even before its release, believing that Usher was asserting the truth; however, Dupri divulged that the story behind the album is about himself.
"Because of You" is a song recorded by American pop singer Kelly Clarkson for her second studio album, Breakaway (2004). It was written by Clarkson along with its producers David Hodges and Ben Moody, both from Evanescence. It was released on August 16, 2005, by RCA Records, as the third single from Breakaway. Clarkson originally wrote "Because of You" when she was 16 years old to cope with the emotional distress caused by her parents' divorce. She wanted the song to be included on her debut studio album, Thankful (2003), but her record label rejected the song. She then polished the song with Hodges and Moody before successfully convincing her label to include it on Breakaway.
"Yeah!" is a song by American singer Usher featuring American rappers Lil Jon and Ludacris. The song is written by the featured artists alongside Sean Garrett, Patrick "J. Que" Smith, Robert McDowell, and LRoc. The song incorporates crunk and R&B—which Lil Jon coined as crunk&B—in the song's production. The song was released as the lead single from Usher's fourth studio album Confessions (2004) on January 10, 2004, after Usher was told by Arista Records, his label at the time, to record more tracks for the album.
"Hips Don't Lie" is a song by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira, featuring Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean, released by Epic Records in 2006 as the second single from Shakira's seventh studio album, Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005). Shakira and Jean wrote the lyrics and jointly composed the music with additional co-writing by Shakira's percussionist Archie Pena. The song was produced by Shakira and Jean with additional co-production by Jerry Duplessis. "Hips Don't Lie" is a reworking of Jean's earlier single "Dance Like This", therefore it features additional composing credits by Omar Alfanno, Duplessis, Luis Días, and LaTavia Parker. The song incorporates samples from "Amores Como el Nuestro" written by Alfanno, and "Carnaval " written by Días.
"Ain't No Other Man" is a song by the American singer Christina Aguilera from her fifth studio album Back to Basics (2006). Aguilera co-wrote the song with Kara DioGuardi, Charles Martin Roane, Harold Beatty and its producer DJ Premier. "Ain't No Other Man" is a pop, funk and R&B song that incorporates elements of soul, blues and jazz music. Lyrically, the song was inspired by her marriage to Jordan Bratman in 2005.
T.I. vs. T.I.P. is the fifth studio album by American rapper T.I., released on July 3, 2007 through Grand Hustle Records, Asylum Records and Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took a year and a half to record towards early 2007, as T.I. stated and confirmed in an interview with MTV News. Production was handled by several record producers, including Kannon "Caviar" Cross, Just Blaze, Mannie Fresh, Lil' C, Wyclef Jean, Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis, Sedeck "All Hands on Deck" Jean, Keith "Lil' Wonda" Duplessis, Kevin "Khao" Cates, Timbaland, Bao Quoc Pham, Steve Holdren, Nate "Danja" Hills, The Runners, Tony Galvin, Eminem, Jeff Bass, and Keith Mack, among others. Notably, it is also his first album not to feature production from his frequent collaborator DJ Toomp.
Santi White, known professionally as Santigold, is an American singer and songwriter. Her debut studio album, Santogold (2008), received widespread critical acclaim for its cross-genre combining dub, new wave, and hip-hop. The album's second single "L.E.S. Artistes", reached the top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.
"Say Yeah" is a song by an American rapper Wiz Khalifa. Released as Khalifa's third single following his signing to Rostrum and Warner Bros. Records by Director of A&R Kenny “Tick” Salcido and VP of A&R Craig Aaronson, but third in overall, following his first single, "Pittsburgh Sound " and “Youngin On His Grind” as a second single. The song was written alongside producers E. Dan and Johnny Juliano. The song heavily samples the 1998 song "Better Off Alone" by Dutch Eurodance group Alice DeeJay.
Cage the Elephant is an American rock band formed in 2006 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They moved to England and settled in London in 2008, shortly before their self-titled first album was released. The band currently consists of Matt Shultz (vocals), his older brother Brad Shultz, Nick Bockrath, Matthan Minster, Daniel Tichenor (bass), and Jared Champion (drums). The band's first album was released to much success, spawning several successful radio singles and gaining the band a large following in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It was influenced by classic rock, '90s alternative, blues, punk rock, and funk music. Lincoln Parish served as the band's lead guitarist from their formation in 2006 until 2013, when he left on good terms to pursue a career in producing.
Dionne Julia Bromfield is a British soul music singer, television presenter and television personality. Her debut album, Introducing Dionne Bromfield, was released in 2009 by Amy Winehouse's Lioness Records label. She first came to public attention after performing on the British TV show Strictly Come Dancing with Amy Winehouse on backing vocals. She is known for being one of the former presenters on Friday Download. On 15 July 2021, Bromfield released the single "Silly Love", nearly 10 years after the death of her godmother Amy Winehouse.
No Mercy is the seventh studio album by American rapper T.I. Originally titled King Uncaged, It was released on December 7, 2010, by Grand Hustle Records and Atlantic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2009 to 2010. Production was handled by several high-profile record producers, including Kanye West, Polow da Don, The-Dream, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, The Neptunes, TrackSlayerz, Jake One, T-Minus, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Rico Love, Alex da Kid, DJ Toomp, Jim Jonsin, Danja and Dr. Luke, among others. The album also features guest appearances from several prominent artists such as Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Scarface, Chris Brown, Eminem, The-Dream, Trey Songz, Pharrell, Drake, Christina Aguilera and Rick Ross, among others.
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| International | |
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