Kevin O'Regan

Early Days

"The first time I was excited by music was when my older sister played the first Bob Dylan album when I was eleven. I remember saying to her that it made me want to sing and to write songs. In fact I wrote my first song that day but fortunately it has not survived!" Kevin's father had no musical training but was a compulsive singer and whistler while he worked. Kevin sang anything he could get hold of.

Some two years after hearing Bob Dylan, someone gave his sister an old guitar and Kevin commandeered it. He worked out a few chords but did not know what they were. Similarly, he wanted to play the piano and his father bought an old one for £10. Knowing his parents could not afford for him to have lessons, Kevin bought a book in a jumble sale and set about teaching himself. "I found reading music far too lengthy a process, so I just worked out tunes and chords myself. I am sure that this sowed the seeds of my compulsion to write songs."

When he was fifteen, his sister started going out with a boy who played guitar and Kevin's guitar playing took off. He bought a second hand Echo Ranger 12, designed as a C&W guitar. He still has this guitar today and still uses it. "It is such a part of my life that I could not bear to part with it or to neglect it." He only used it as a twelve string in the first year or two he owned it because he found the sound limiting especially for blues. He began performing almost immediately in occasional gigs in his home town of Marlow in Buckinghamshire with various friends and solo, composing his own songs. He soaked up the richness of the folk blues revival.

The Middle Years

When he was 18, Kevin went to Exeter University where he studied English. There is no question that his skill in lyrical composition is influenced by his love of literature and poetry in particular. At Exeter , he performed in a duo doing mainly traditional folk much of it a capella with Nick Burbridge who later went on to write songs for the Levellers. After University, their paths separated. "I wanted to do more contemporary music and original material whereas Nick was committed at the time to traditional folk."

Moving first to Sussex and then Bedfordshire, Kevin was an active floor-singer, continuing to write and perform his own material. There was then a long absence from the folk world as Kevin did things like build a career in education. He also decided at a very ripe age to have the piano lessons that he had not been able to have when younger. He moved rapidly through the grades and practises daily. "I now play really very difficult classical pieces but I don't play in public as for some reason I become a gibbering wreck. I have a massive admiration for good classical pianists as the pieces they are playing are often ferociously difficult. Playing at home certainly keeps my fingers exercised though!"

Recently

"I had one of those periods in life when you take stock and I realised that I had always regretted not making a career in folk music. I decided that I would put that right." Kevin unleashed a remarkable burst of creativity that has produced some wonderful songs and has lead to performing in several venues in the Midlands . He lives in the most southerly tip of Northamptonshire, close to the borders with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Family

Kevin's parents come from County Cork . His father was born on a small island; the closest main town is Skibbereen and on a clear day you can see the Fastnet lighthouse. His mother was born in the hills right against the county border with Kerry some four miles out of Glengariff. Both families were small farmers. His mother came to England just before the War and went into service. His father came over just after the War, having served an apprenticeship as a carpenter. Kevin was the third of four children; he is married, has no children but has a dog.

Biography

Demo Songs

Early Days

The Middle Years

Recently

Family