Years active 1975–present Website kennylyon.tumblr.com | Name Kenny Lyon Role Music performer | |
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Origin Los Angeles, California, USA Instruments bass, guitar, keyboards Similar People Evan Dando, Juliana Hatfield, John Strohm, Bill Stevenson, Nic Dalton | ||
Kenny Lyon (born April 22, 1956, Florida) is an American guitarist, bassist, music producer, and author. He has performed and recorded with artists such as the Lemonheads, Jann Arden, NOFX, Mark Curry, Los Super Elegantes, Joel Virgel, Jim Bianco, and Brazzaville. He has also produced many kinds of music (including Chicano gangster rap, having produced some of the genre's biggest L.A. names: Mr. D, Sleepy Malo, Fank V., many of the original Southland Records cds..)
Life and career
Born in Coral Gables, Florida, Lyon spent his fifth and sixth years in the Belgian Congo, and twelfth and sixteenth in Seville, Spain (where he began playing guitar). Back in the United States, he attended Vero Beach Senior High School - where he played bass in the school jazz band, the University of Florida, and the University of Miami. In Vero Beach, he was active in a number of acts, one of which, Axehammer, was popular in local nightclubs. Lyon later moved to Los Angeles, CA, with percussionist and Vero Beach native, Michael Rogers, who also attended the University of Miami. He was in many bands during the '80's and early '90's, including Jim Ehinger's Los Angeles China Club band, which backed up artists as diverse as Rick James, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Herbie Hancock, John Entwhistle, Chaka Khan, and Joe Walsh, to name just a few of the many artists who came through Los Angeles' most notorious jam night. Lyon's first major tour was as keyboardist with the Australian band Divinyls during the 1986-87 Australian Made Tour with INXS and Jimmy Barnes, as well as several regional tours of Australia. Returning from this tour he spent thirteen months writing the novel Three Monkeys. During this time he also recorded with Paul Roessler and played in the band Twisted Roots, as well as with Priscilla and Rita Coolidge, David Baerwald, and others. After recording and touring with Mark Curry, recording with Jann Arden, and recording with Doc Lawrence, Lyon moved to New York, eventually recording and touring with The Lemonheads beginning in 1996. The association lasted until 2004. Brazzaville, formed with David Brown, David Ralicke, Mike Boito, Smokey Hormel, Danny Frankel, and Joel Virgel in 1998, recorded eight cds and spent years touring – still ongoing – in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Central Asia and the Caucuses, and China. In addition, the band backed up Los Angeles Peabody Award-winning spoken word artist Joe Frank. This turned into an association that has lasted until this day, involving many live performances and work on the recorded music for Frank's many radio and live shows. Lyon writes with and produces the work of solo artists Joel Virgel and Larkin Mclean, among others. In 2015 he toured as guitarist with Josh Haden and the band Spain. This led to being the producer of the new project by Spain, Carolina, and performing in its summer, 2016 European support tour. Lyon is also a founding member of Dangerbird Records recording artists The Night Sea, the improvisational music of which - coupled with stunning live visuals - is currently being performed - and filmed - in such interesting places as Joshua Tree, Death Valley, and the Masonic Hall at the Hollywood Forever cemetery. In addition to performing and producing music, and writing Three Monkeys, Lyon has written essays, screenplays, and short stories.