The Early Years

Kevin Mark Trail was born and raised in North West London. Trail's music is a mix of soul, reggae, hip hop, R&B and garage, influenced by U.S. R&B and Jamaican reggae. His mother introduced him to reggae and soul from his childhood and lists the likes of John Holt, Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs and Toots & The Maytals as some of his reggae influences as well as Millie Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway as his soul influences. His influences from today include Cassandra Wilson, OutKast, Jill Scott, N*E*R*D, The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest and Sting.

At 15 years old, Trail obtained an Atari and began developing sketches in his bedroom in Wembley. Later, he attended a weekend arts college in Camden, where he gained experience in composition, performance and musicianship, all of which shaped his debut album Just Living. He was mentored by two tutors, Rachel Bennet and Julie Dexter who taught him to keep his sense of British identity.

Trail first shot to fame after passing a diploma in music production and business, when he collaborated with The Streets. He provided vocals on The Streets' hit single "Let's Push Things Forward", and also on "Same Old Thing" from his Original Pirate Material album. The "Let's Push Things Forward" single peaked inside the UK top 40 singles chart at #30, spending two weeks inside the top 40. The single was his first taste of chart success and remains his biggest hit to date. Kevin commented at the time, "Mike Skinner is a talented guy - I rate him, man. I hadn't heard anything like it before, and that's what attracted me to the project." Skinner also invited Trail to tour as part of The Streets' live experience. [1]

[edit] Just Living Era

It was not until 2004, that Trail signed to EMI and released his first solo single, "Perspective", which peaked at #126 in the UK singles chart. His second single, "D Thames" was released in February 2005 and faired better but still underperformed, peaking at #96 [2]. Trail collaborated with UK rapper Estelle on the single's remix, which was featured as the single's B-side.

On 7 March 2005, Kevin released his debut album, Just Living. He commented at the time that the album was about "all the stuff I experienced, just an album about life. I just write about what I experience, what's going on round me." For example, in "D Thames", he talks about a moment of clarity, in "Perspective", he talks about everyday anxieties and "Bread" discusses the pleasure and politics of when food was served on his family's dinner table. Trail wrote, demoed and produced the tracks in his bedroom first and then arranged them and performed them with a band in the studio. Kevin commented that "It's about trying to better yourself as a person, trying to achieve and give back. You're always facing new things and rising to the challenge, so it's a constant battle. You've got to keep moving forward and stay positive." [3]

As well as touring with The Streets, Kevin performed at venues including the Jazz Café in London. Also, as well as collaborating with The Streets, he collaborated with Nitin Sawhney on the track "Eastern Eyes", taken from his album "Human", after he watched one of Trail's live performances. The collaboration received positive reviews, with Time Out magazine comparing his vocal performance to Donny Hathaway, one of his major influences. Shortly after the release of Just Living, Kevin toured with UK soul star Beverley Knight on her "Affirmation" tour, to which he received favourable reviews [4]. On the tour Kevin previewed a brand new song, "Last Night", which would be released shortly after on a re-release of Just Living. The album was re-released on 4th July 2005, with another new track "Ticket Line". "Last Night" was the lead single, however, the single was subsequently cancelled and Kevin announced on his official messageboard that he had been dropped from his record label, EMI.

[edit] Present

Kevin is currently working on tracks for his second album, whilst also searching for a new record label. He has also debuted new songs on his MySpace page including "Friend Of Mine", "My Gun", "Poison", "Super Confident" and "Trouble" as well as remixes of Just Living album tracks "Ego City" and "Vibe". Trail is still touring with The Streets and has just finished recording the acoustic EP "Sketches".

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