Ken's Own Story

Straight From His Own Self!



     I come from a big family that liked to sing and tell jokes and stories. I just got into it a little more deeply and kept at it longer than my older brothers and sisters.

     I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. On my way home from Sacred Heart School when I was in second grade, I made up my first melody. It's the melody I later used for the song "The Princess and the Pea" which is on my Lost Songs of Kenland CD. I loved drawing and sports and reading books.

     When I was 10, my family moved to Mexico.     That's why I still speak in Spanish sometimes in the middle of a concert!  I loved my time in Mexico, and that's where I got my first guitar.

     A few years later, we moved to the Madison, WI area. I went to middle and high school in Middleton. I liked forensics and theater and swing choir a lot, and got involved in those activities in addition to the usual sports kind of stuff.  Plus I was all over my guitar!  I started writing songs right away when I first got it, and I wrote all the time about everything --- and I have ever since!

     In college I sang at the open-mics at the Student Union. People started hiring me to sing in restaurants and clubs. Soon I was doing concerts. I worked for several years as the Minstrel for the Environment, writing and performing songs for students in kindergarten through 12th grade about nature and environmental awareness.

     I wrote lots of musicals for Children's Theater of Madison, which specializes in theater for all ages. I got very busy. I made recordings, and people liked them! Newspapers said nice things about my work, sometimes.

     And here I am! I love what I do, and consider myself really lucky for that. I don't have an agent, or a record company, or national distribution.

     It's hard sometimes to be the writer, singer, engineer, producer, booking agent, etc. in KENLAND. But doing all those things makes it possible for me to share my imagination and sing with people --- it's like being a kid all over again!

     And that's my story.