KMC (musician)
Ken Marlon Charles a.k.a. KMC (born January 5, 1971) is a soca artist from Trinidad. Famous for hits like "Soul on Fire", "Soca Bashment" and "Bashment to Carnival" KMC is signed to the US-based record label Sequence Records. Considered to be one of Trinidad's top soca artists, KMC has over sixteen years experience in the music industry. He has made a name for himself as a solo artist, songwriter, producer and frontman of the band Red, White & Black.
Early years
KMC is one of nine children. He was born and raised in the village of Rio Claro and then moved to Chaguanas, where he has resided for the past eleven years. The road to success for KMC has been filled with both high and low moments. Probably the lowest was the day when, strapped with hunger, he resorted to cracking open a dry coconut in the yard of his one-room home in Laventille, putting a milk pan on a kerosene burner and flavoring the coconut with only a little end of curry powder.
Career
KMC always had a passion for music. As a young child he used to sneak about and listen to the bands in his village. "At the age of seven, I used to go under the house by the band and when they weren't around I would play the drum set." As time marched on, the same energy and precociousness that brought the young KMC to the drum set also brought him to teach himself how to play music. "Music is something I was never taught. I was never taught to play the keyboard. I learned to do everything on my own. Love is what made me master it. Everything I do is by ear and not by reading," he proclaims.
