With a seat at rock’s top table, it’s perhaps fitting that Myles Kennedy shares a surname with a former US president. More admirable than Kennedy’s steady ascent through rock’s echelons, though, is the way he’s managed to do it all with genuine, unassuming charm. Only recently he told us that world domination doesn’t appeal to him – and you can take his word for it. Still, best known as the prodigiously talented frontman with American hard-rock flagbearers Alter Bridge and a co-Conspirator in Slash’s band, he hasn’t really had a say in the matter.
Kennedy’s career has been as diverse as it has impressive. Long before he became one of rock’s leading voices, he made his start as an accomplished guitarist in jazz-fusion group Cosmic Dust, and then Citizen Swing, an experimental outfit combining funk, soul and blues. Heavier times followed fronting alt.rockers The Mayfield Four, who released two albums on a major label, but the band struggled to leave a lasting impression and eventually disbanded. In 2002 Kennedy went back to teaching guitar, putting his dreams of a career in music on the rocks.
When post-grunge giants Creed split two years later (estranged from singer Scott Stapp), Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall found themselves without a gig. The trio joined forces with Kennedy as Alter Bridge and released their debut album, One Day Remains, in the summer of 2004. By the late noughties, Kennedy’s vocals were in demand, and, credit to his rising stock, he was invited to a once-in-a-lifetime jam with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham, following Led Zeppelin’s one-off reunion in 2007.
More rock royalty called in the form of Slash, who had Kennedy sing on two tracks on his debut solo album. For Slash’s second he invited Kennedy, along with bassist Todd Kerns and drummer Brent Fitz, to form a permanent line-up, with the notso-snappy moniker Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators.
It would be reasonable to describe Kennedy as a late bloomer (he’s now in his fifties), but the cream always rises. Not that he’d change a thing, in all likelihood. And with Alter Bridge, SFMK&TC and a quality body of solo work, his legacy continues to grow. Ask any rock fan about their favourite singers of the 21st century, and the name Myles Kennedy won’t be far from their lips.
...and one to avoid
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