Barry Manilow has called him, "One of the best singer-songwriters to come along since the heyday of Tin Pan Alley". In 2014 Vincent won "Best Male Vocalist" at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
He was born and raised in Berkeley, California, and for a time in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Musical career
Kyle Vincent began his music career at the age of eight, playing alto saxophone in Berkeley school jazz bands. At age 11 he appeared on stage with Donald Byrd, taking turns improvising with the trumpeter. He took jazz and bebop lessons for several years with saxophonist Hal Stein. Vincent studied voice with master vocal coach and opera singer Claudine Spindt for several years, and took bass lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani. After moving to Los Angeles, Vincent studied with renowned vocal coach Seth Riggs.
Upon moving to L.A., Vincent worked for two years as personal assistant and driver for Kim Fowley. Vincent performed on several of Fowley's recording projects, and was also a session vocalist on several other artists’ albums.
Vincent was the lead singer in the seminal teen power pop band, Candy, which recorded one album, ‘’Whatever Happened To Fun...’’ on the Mercury/Polygram label, and included future Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke. The album was produced by Jimmy Ienner (Raspberries, Bay City Rollers, Eric Carmen), and featured Wally Bryson of the Raspberries as "musical director". The video for the title track was in rotation on MTV, and the band toured extensively, including being the opening act on Rick Springfield's and Corey Hart's U.S. tours, and is cited by many groups as an influence.
While recording demos as a solo artist in an L.A. studio, Vincent began co-writing a song entitled "Nature Girl", with eden ahbez, writer of the classic "Nature Boy," popularized by Nat King Cole. Vincent had met Ahbez in an L.A. stereo store where Vincent had been working, and Ahbez told Vincent that he reminded him of his deceased son, about whom he had written "Nature Boy". Ahbez died before the two could finish the song.
Signed to MCA as a solo artist, he recorded the album, Trust, and toured as the opening act for Barry Manilow on his "Greatest Hits and Then Some" tour. Trust was produced by Vincent, Clif Magness (Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson), and Steve Levine (Culture Club, Beach Boys), and featured co-writes with Magness and Steve Kipner. Gerry Beckley from the group America played keyboards, guitar, and sang vocals on the album.
For his next album, Vincent signed with Disney's Hollywood Records releasing Kyle Vincent, which spawned the U.S. Billboard/Radio & Records Adult Top 20 single, "Wake Me Up (When The World's Worth Waking Up For)", co-written by vocalist/guitarist Parthenon Huxley. The song spent eleven weeks on the BillboardBubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, peaking at number one, went Top 10 in many cities, and was featured in the Garry Marshall directed motion picture, The Other Sister, as well as The Howling: Reborn. Robert Lamm from the band Chicago, and Gerry Beckley sang background vocals on the album and also on his follow-up 1999 release Wow & Flutter, for whichHenry Diltz shot the album cover. In 2009, Vincent released the CD, "Where You Are", giving the first copy off the presses to Barry Manilow backstage at Manilow's concert in Manchester, NH. In 2020, Vincent signed with Universal Music Group to distribute the album, Whatever It Takes.
Vincent's song "Sierra" was adopted by the Sierra Club and John Denver's Windstar Foundation. It was included on the Dear Earth double CD released on Earth Day, 2007.
Also in 2007, Vincent was chosen to be the lead singer of the reformed Bay City Rollers, featuring ex-Roller Ian Mitchell. The band toured the U.S. and had a month-long engagement at the Riviera in Las Vegas. Vincent left the group in November 2008. He has also done several concerts singing lead for Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, and was the lead vocalist on their 2015 compilation, Absolutely the Best of the 70s.
His song, "Forget You Girl" won "Best Pop Song of the Year" at the 2014 Dallas Songwriters Association Awards.
Vincent is credited as being a pioneer of the "Living Room Show" concept, in which artists perform concerts in people's homes. Of his house concerts, Vincent has said, "They're kind of like musical Tupperware parties.”
Other
Vincent is the grandson of renowned California painter Louise Noack Gray, about whom he wrote the song "One Last Ride On The Merry-Go-Round", featured on his Don't You Know album.
Vincent was a participant in the California AIDSRide 2, bicycling 540 miles in seven days from San Francisco to Los Angeles, raising money for AIDS care facilities. Vincent took part in the In Harmony With The Homeless project, in which professional songwriters collaborated with individuals living in shelters on L.A.'s skid row.
Vincent's song referencing September 11, "5000 Heroes", raised over $40,000 for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund, and brought commendations from former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Senator Bob Dole. The song went to number one in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska.
In 2003, he was the featured performer at the inauguration of then Nebraska governor, and former U.S. senator and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns.
In 2007, Vincent was one of a select group of people personally trained by former Vice President Al Gore in Nashville, Tennessee, sponsored by The Alliance for Climate Protection and The Climate Project, and is an officially sanctioned presenter of Gore's climate crisis presentation, as seen in An Inconvenient Truth. Vincent's version includes the impact diet has on the environment.
In 2010, Vincent was a featured performer at a Hiroshima Peace Concert celebrating teachers in Hiroshima, Japan, in commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the bombing.
Vincent is an advocate for a plant-based diet, citing concerns for the environment, world hunger, personal health, and animal welfare.[2] To this end, he was an official celebrity endorser of the California Healthy School Lunch Resolution (ACR-16), which asked schools to offer a plant-based lunch option on the daily menu. The resolution overwhelmingly passed the California Assembly and Senate in 2003.
Discography
Whatever Happened To Fun... – (1985) (as singer in Candy) Mercury/Polygram (re-released 2012 by RockCandy (UK)
Trust – (1994) (originally unreleased; eventually released in 2007) MCA
Kyle Vincent – (1997) Hollywood
"Wake Me Up (When The World's Worth Waking Up For)"-Single (1997)
Wow & Flutter (1999) SongTree
"Tell It Goodbye (An Ode To Candlestick Park, 1960–1999)" -Single b/w "The First Thing On My Mind"- (1999) SongTree
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