The Howard University experience was a musical awakening for Kev.O. While working on his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music he became enamored with the works of both legendary musicians like Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, the Clark Sisters, and Patti LaBelle as well as new-school phenoms like Brandy, J. Moss, Kim Burrell, Nikki Ross, Van Hunt, Bilal, P.J. Morton, Rahsaan Patterson, Beyonce, and India.Arie. As a Washington, DC resident and student of The Howard University, Atlanta, GA native Kev.O was not much for down time. In fact, much of it, both then an after college, was spent working with artists like Mya (Motown Records), Kim Burrell (Shanachie), and Mario (J Records) and independent artists YahZarah, SolEdler, and The Young Lions. Kev.O is also a product of Howard’s premier jazz vocal ensemble AFRO Blue, which won two awards from DownBeat Magazine in 2003 and 2004, including one for “Best Vocal Group”, earned a feature performance at the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) Annual Conference in 2005 and 2007, and has performed alongside living legends like Ben Verene, Geri Allen, Nneena Freelon, and Ron Carter In addition to his current career as a solo artist, since 2004, Kev.O has performed regularly with Reverb, the Washington Area Music Association’s “Best Gospel/Inspirational Group/Quartet” for 2006 and 2007. Since 2007, this group has performed on several occasions for the Washington Nationals (MLB), Washington Mystics (WNBA), and Washington Wizards (NBA) games as well as the District’s finer galas.