Kenna (musician)

Kenna
Kenna at a U.S. Department of State reception honoring his Summit on the Summit initiative.
Background information
Birth name	Kenna Zemedkun
Born	(1978-10-30) October 30, 1978 (age 38) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Genres	Alternative rock, funk, indie rock, alternative dance
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician, producer
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Columbia, Interscope (Former) Star Trak, Godel, translator
Website	kenna.com

Kenna Zemedkun, known professionally as Kenna, is an Ethiopian–American musician, philanthropist and technology creative. His track "Say Goodbye to Love" was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in the 2009 Grammy Awards. Kenna is the founder and producer of the Summit on the Summit clean water initiative, and also partnered with Justin Timberlake to re-launch Myspace.

Kenna is the eldest son of an Ethiopian family that immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio. He was later raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, attending school with friends and eventual career-long collaborators Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. Kenna began to express an interest in music upon receiving a copy of U2's The Joshua Tree. The album inspired Kenna to teach himself piano while studying singers like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, as well as groups like The Cure and Duran Duran. Breaking into the music scene at such a young age and at an interesting time in pop history, Kenna met some of music's biggest names including Whitney Houston, Babyface, Blackstreet, Teddy Riley and Michael Jackson.

With the release of his first single in 2001, "Hell Bent", Kenna gained moderate popularity and an underground following of fans who eagerly awaited the release of his debut album, New Sacred Cow. After many delays and swapping of record labels, the album was finally released under the Sony imprint Flawless in 2003. A subsequent North American tour was launched in the Summer of 2003 with Depeche Mode front man Dave Gahan.