Ken Skinner
| Ken Skinner | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kenneth Skinner Jr. |
| Born |
June 28, 1962 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist |
Kenneth Skinner Jr. is a jazz pianist, head of the group Ken Skinner and the jazzmongers!.
Skinner Jr. was born in Montreal, Quebec, on June 28, 1962. His father, Kenny Skinner, Sr. (1932–2006) was also a jazz pianist. Kenny Sr. played with Charlie Biddle, Dougie Richardson, Nelson Symonds and was the older boy keeping an eye on younger cousins Oliver Jones and Norman Marshall Villeneuve. Kenny Sr. also played with numerous luminaries of jazz legend as they passed through 1950s and 1960s Montreal.
Skinner Jr. studied briefly with Daisy Sweeney, who is Oscar Peterson's sister. Their brother, Chuck Peterson, was Ken's godfather. Skinner Jr. proved to be a prodigy moving through his lessons quickly and finishing his exams with honours. All signs were pointing to young Kenneth having a promising career as a concert pianist. This was cut short when Ken's parents separated in 1970. Not long afterwards, Ken's mother Ramona moved him and his brother Norman to Trenton, Ontario.
He began playing guitar at age 14, but did not study music until grade 11. While in high school, the music department needed a bass player, so Skinner learned to play it and joined the high school jazz stage band. He then joined local working bands, including the Frank Howard Dance Orchestra and Don Kennedy's Country Renegades.
Skinner used the guitar to re-teach himself to talk to his first love, the piano. By the time Ken had graduated high school, he had moved himself out of Trenton to nearby Belleville, Ontario, where he re-taught himself piano. His first performance on piano was in the local gallery, where he played his own score for the 1925 silent Charlie Chaplin classic The Gold Rush.
Ken became the house pianist at Dinkel's Restaurant in Belleville and formed a friendship with Paul W. Dinkel, best known at the time for his Yorkville club PWD's. It was good experience to help Skinner's ability to read a room and play into it. After 2 years Ken moved to Toronto.
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