by John Bear
Daily Lobo
Reggae artist Kevin Lee Todman came to Albuquerque as a travel agent, setting up trips to the Caribbean.
Born on the island of St. Thomas, later moving to the United States, he made his money working in the tourist business and did reggae on the side. But the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, savagely affected the tourist industry dealing with the Caribbean. He said the airlines stopped paying commissions to travel agencies in St. Thomas and elsewhere.
So KevLee - as he calls himself on stage - began to focus more on his passion, reggae music.
He began his reggae career in Florida in 1995 but moved to Albuquerque in 2000, seeking a music scene that was less money-driven.
"Florida is a rat race," he said. "There are more people trying to do what I do, so, therefore, it turns into more capitalism than anything else. The talent is overlooked. Not as many people are willing to take a chance on you."
When he came to Albuquerque, he quickly hooked up with some other musicians and began recording, he said.
Though he could be labeled as a reggae musician, he said he only uses reggae as a foundation for his music, integrating it with different genres like hip-hop, soul and R&B.
He mostly sings, but also chants and occasionally raps. His live performances follow a hip-hop sensibility, with a DJ spinning the tracks as opposed to a live band.
"When we produce our music, live musicians produce it except for the drums and we make all that in a studio," he said. "So what I do in my shows and stuff like that is more like a hip-hop element of the DJ and two or three back up singers."
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He said his biggest influence is Bob Marley, but he draws from a wide and disparate palette of musical stylings - everything from hip-hop to '70s rock.
"I love '80s music," he said. "Anywhere from Prince to old Van Halen - you know what I mean, they used to be sick - Ratt, Bryan Adams, Chicago and - who's the other one - Tears for Fears. I don't know what they're doing nowadays."
His varied taste in music is somewhat reflected in the topics he chooses to sing about which include love, life issues and subjects ordinary people can relate to. Partying often comes to the forefront, which he attributes to his roots in St. Thomas where having a good time is done properly.
"It's different in the Caribbean as opposed to here," he said. "It's less restricted. One can be himself."
He said people on the islands can party until dawn but tend to be better behaved than their mainland counterparts, an occasional fracas notwithstanding. He gave Downtown Albuquerque as an example of here versus there.
His music also deals with spiritual matters and what he describes as conscious, a subgenre of reggae music.
KevLee dropped his album Genre in June. He said it differs substantially from what people generally expect from reggae music.
"If you're looking for your traditional, straight reggae album, this ain't the album," he said.
He said he wants to pioneer reggae music and tries to avoid sticking too much to one topic and making it too serious. He wants the music to be fun.
"For each style on the album, somebody anywhere can recognize, can identify with it," he said.
What he is trying to accomplish is an album anyone, reggae fan or otherwise, can listen to and enjoy. There are songs that have an easy listening feel and others that integrate classic rock stylings, among others.
"We have the traditional roots songs on there," he said. "We have traditional dance hall songs on there. We have something for the hip-hoppers."
