Kemp Harris composed for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, performs for radio and films, and can tell a story that will have you leaning forward so you catch every word.
He defies categorization. He is a singer and songwriter, a master weaver of American musical styles. Kemp is also an actor, activist, author, and storyteller, and an award-winning educator who has taught young public school students in Massachusetts for more than 40 years.
Born in North Carolina, Kemp taught himself piano and was writing songs at age 14. Kemp honed his powerful, intimate performance style in Cambridge’s coffeehouses, developing into a magnetic frontman who has shared stages with artists such as Koko Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, and Taj Mahal. He has composed original music for Complexions Contemporary Ballet, established a songwriting residency at Boston’s Wang Theater, and recently delivered a series of master classes at Berklee College of Music on the subject of Artists as Activists.
Everything he makes is built on a foundation of social awareness and the desire to reflect the world as he sees and experiences it. Kemp’s powers of observation, his unique gift for shining a light on the modern world and what it means to be alive, have only deepened over a lifetime devoted to the most basic and profound of pursuits: human connection. Whether he’s in the classroom, on a film set, leading a workshop, or performing on the concert stage, “at the end of the day,” Kemp says, “I’m an old black man telling stories and spreading the love.”
