Kenna

Kenna Zemedkun (Ge'ez: ?? ?????), the Grammy Nominated artist, known professionally as simply Kenna, is an Ethiopian-born American musician. The eldest son of an immigrant family that relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio (and later raised in Virginia Beach, VA), Kenna began to express an interest in music upon receiving a copy of U2's The Joshua Tree. The way he was discovered and the obstacles he faced to land a record deal are briefly discussed in Malcolm Gladwell's 2005 book Blink. His track "Say Goodbye To Love" was nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in the 2009 Grammy Awards.

Career

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.

The album, which was co-produced by Chad Hugo of The Neptunes, contained elements of electronica, synth pop, post rock, and house music. Two singles, "Sunday After You" and "Freetime" followed the release of the album; the music video of the latter, along with "Hell Bent", appeared sporadically on MTV2. "Freetime" reached #19 on the U.S. Dance charts.

The story of Kenna's big-name supporters, test marketing, and ultimate lack of record sales is covered by a whole chapter in Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink, titled "Kenna's Dilemma: The Right - and Wrong - Way to Ask People What They Want"

Kenna's second album, entitled Make Sure They See My Face, also co-produced by Hugo, has faced delays, written over the course of three years, finishing in early 2007. The album was originally set to be released on , 2007, then pushed back to , 2007, finally being released on , 2007. Kenna, in an interview with Vibe magazine, cited the reason for delays as being over the video for the album's debut single. The inspiration for the album came from Kenna's attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the title, inspired from phone calls by Pharrell asking Kenna; "are you going to make sure they see your face?". Kenna's climb took him to 18,200 feet before he fell ill from taking a sulfur-based altitude medicine, to which he had an unknown allergy. On , 2007, the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 20 Heatseekers Chart.

An unrelated song from his second album, "Face the Gun", was released to appease his waiting fans, and initially was not to appear on Make Sure They See My Face, missing from early promos of the album. Ultimately, it was included in the final track listing. Kenna released a track from the album, entitled "Better Wise Up", in time for the Super Bowl; this track can be found on his MySpace page, as well. A remix of "Better Wise Up" featuring Audio Imagery has been circulating the internet since August 2007. There has been no official word from Kenna or from his label about this remix.

Kenna has also contributed to many other tracks by bands associated with Chad Hugo or The Neptunes, including but not limited to "Spiral" from William Orbit's album Hello Waveforms and "Red to Black" and "The Hard Way" off of The Rising Tied, the first album from Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda a.k.a. Fort Minor. "The Hard Way" is only available as a bonus track on the limited edition version of the album. Kenna also appears on Mark Ronson's album "Version" with a cover of the Ryan Adams song "Amy".

On , 2006, the world premier of "Out of Control (State of Emotion)", from Kenna's EP entitled Black Goodbye Ride, was played on East Village Radio on Authentic Shit with Mark Ronson; it became available on iTunes on , 2006.

On , 2007 Kenna opened the New Jersey portion of the Live Earth concert. He also toured with Nelly Furtado throughout various stops on her "Loose" tour.

Kenna was featured on Mae's third full length album Singularity on the tracks "Last Transmission II" and "Novocaine". Both tracks being bonus tracks on the iTunes Store.

Kenna has also been working with Ashlee Simpson and producing tracks for her third album "Bittersweet World".

Kenna has also worked with Lupe Fiasco on the remix of "Say Goodbye to Love" and the The Cool Kids on the remix of "Loose Wires."

Kenna has also teamed up with UK Grime artist Wiley for the track entitled "Summertime".

"Out of Control" appears in the soundtrack for the video game FIFA 08

Kenna currently work with pop singer JoJo and will producing tracks for her new album "All I Want Is Everything".

He also made a remix of the Kings of Leon song 'My Party' which was on the Charmer single as a B-side.

Kenna is featured in the latest string of Gatorade Commercials. He created, wrote and does the vocals on the Chad Hugo produced track, "Lock it Up", which plays in the background of the ad.

Kenna the featured celebrity in the HP You on You project advertisment.

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Original Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenna