Kevin Paul was born and raised in the city of Chicago, he left home as a teenager to pursue his love of music. The Chitlin’ Circuit in the 70’s was a...
Kevin Paul was born and raised in the city of Chicago, he left home as a teenager to pursue his love of music. The Chitlin’ Circuit in the 70’s was a virtual training ground for him where he developed a knack for playing inside the polyrhythms that were the basis for many grooves found in popular Funk music of the era.
Moving forward he landed with fellow Chicagoans Ted & Mitch Aliotta and John Jeremiah in the “Acme Thunder Band” replacing iconic guitar wizard Harvey Mandel. Next stop was as staff musician and writer for Jericho Productions and member of the original act “small idols”. Other Jericho artists Steve "Silk" Hurley and Shawn Christopher were experiencing commercial success and kp was tasked with writing and playing on numerous sessions for a number of artists.
kp logged many years playing with Chicago Blues Legend Bumble Bee Bob Novak throughout the club and festival circuit. He also took up residence in The Jan James Band touring Europe for the Provogue label on several occasions in the 90’s.In 1998 he helped form StikMen who went on to be selected as one of the Top Twenty Unsigned Acts in America in 2000. A publishing deal was procured with the Westwood Music Group and two Indie CD’s were released on that label. Harvey Mandel would reappear to contribute to the 2nd StikMen release livin’ proof. The band was courted by Original Muscle Shoals Swamper Jimmy Johnson but a deal to join a new forming label would never materialize. kp produced StikMen for Young Heroes Music Inc., co-writing all of the band’s originals and overseeing the company’s entry into Internet marketing which was quickly becoming a viable tool for Indie artists. StikMen’s songs were downloaded over a half million times in 2000. The track “More Than Money” from the first release was selected for inclusion in the recent documentary film Going Attractions.
Kevin Stik Paul soon became known as a producer and writer, in particular for his instrumental compositions. After StikMen he co-founded 1969, featuring updated classics from the Woodstock era. kp is also a founding member of the MP3.com Blues AllStars and contributed to what is considered the first recorded intercontinental Blues Collaboration "Rollin' Pin Blues" conceived and produced by prominent members of the site's talent around the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Each player's part was recorded and added to the original basic tracks and sent digitally to the next musician. In some cases the song was forwarded via post to the next waiting performer. All this done before high speed Internet was available.
Today kp performs with the dynamic show band Generation playing at premier venues and festivals around the midwest. He is currently in preproduction of an original project called "The Mind" which includes a concept album soon to be recorded in Muscle Shoals Alabama with various members of the famous Swampers. The album will feature 19 songs strung together in a musical journey about a child with a nod to the infamous Rock Operas from Rock's golden era. kp continues to compose and produce his own compositions and can be seen performing regularly at festivals, concerts, clubs and corporate events.