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The youngest of four Friedman children in Long Island, NY, Kenny was
born into a house filled with music. His parents and his sisters and
brother were all musical - if nobody was actually playing music,
somebody was listening to music. By the age of three, Kenny was sitting
at the piano figuring out melodies by ear to songs that he heard around
the house. People ask his parents and siblings if they had to drag him
over to the piano and make him play. "Actually," recalls
Kenny's sister Joy, "We had to drag him away! He'd be down there at
6 AM banging away and waking up the whole house!"
Kenny's musical destiny became apparent pretty early on. "When I
was in 8th grade, a drummer friend and I went out on the stage of our
Junior High and played Billy Joel's 'Allentown' together," recalls
Kenny. "It was the first time I had ever played music with another
person other than band class. It was such an amazing high for me!"
Everything he did after that pointed towards the goal of becoming a
professional musician. Kenny's high school guidance counselor suggested
Kenny attend the Cultural Arts Center in Syosset, NY. There, Kenny would
be surrounded and supported by other talented musicians with similar
goals and teachers who had musical backgrounds. The Cultural Arts Center
prepared Kenny for Berklee College of Music in Boston where he completed
his Professional Music diploma in 1991. Over the years Kenny had become proficient on all of the different
band instruments. He'd often wondered what it would sound like if he
could play in a band with himself. "When I was about 11, I used to
record myself on our little red Panasonic tape recorder playing the
drums," Kenny recalls. "Then I'd run into the living room with
the tape and play piano over the drum track I'd just played."
Perhaps the seedling of an idea for the Invisible Band! In 1993, Kenny joined Jane Doe - a cover band that played the current
Top 40 and alternative music and played steadily around the Tri-State
area with them for 3 ½
years. In 1996, Kenny joined the Harris Lane Band at Hank Lane Music, a top
band in the club date industry. He was now playing upscale affairs
around the New York Metro area and at the finest Hotels in Manhattan.
Kenny still works for Harris Lane and is the musical director for the
band. "Harris has taught me not only how to be a great entertainer,
but also how to run a party with class and elegance as well. I've
learned more about this business from him than anybody else," says
Kenny. The Invisible Band is a culmination of all of Kenny's performing
experiences. "I've always had a very idealistic view of what a band
should be and what they should sound like. I'm now able to do it on my
own terms" |
