Kevin Mark Trail

Kevin Mark Trail
Kevin Mark Trail performing at Parklife, Sydney 2011
Background information
Birth name	Kevin Mark Trail
Born	October 1980
Genres	R&B, soul, reggae, hip hop, Folk, Electronica
Years active	2003–present
Labels	EMI (2004–2005)
Website	www.kevinmarktrail.co.uk

Kevin Mark Trail (born October 1980) is a British R&B, soul, reggae and hip hop singer-songwriter producer. He rose to fame, by appearing on two tracks on The Streets debut album Original Pirate Material, including the hit single, "Let's Push Things Forward", which made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.

Trail was born and raised in North West London by immigrants from Jamaica. Trail's music is a mix of soul, reggae, hip hop, folk, and Modern Electro, influenced by US R&B and Jamaican reggae. His mother introduced him to reggae and soul in his childhood. Travelling back to Jamaica every summer helped him secure his roots and culture. He lists acts such as Bob Marley, John Holt, Gregory Isaacs and Toots & the Maytals as some of his reggae influences, and Omar, Sade, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway as his soul influences. His influences in modern music include Little Dragon, Outkast, Roots Manuva, Prince, Bon Iver and has now taken a great interest in the way music is used in film in theatre.

At 15, Trail obtained an Atari and began drawing 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 three tutors, John Mullon, Rachel Bennet and Julie Dexter, who encouraged his writing/sense of British identity. At the same time he also became aware of the British music scene, finding artist like Omar, Roots Manuva, Artful Dodger, and Nitin Sawhney.