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On November 27th, 1969, Myles Kennedy was born. To celebrate the rocker’s birthday, here are 22 things you might not know about him:
1. Myles’ birth name is Myles Richard Bass.
2. Myles was born in Boston but moved to Northern Idaho and then grew up on a farm in Spokane, Washington.
3. At age 4, Myles’ dad passed away. His mom remarried a minister and the family took his last name, Kennedy.
4. As a ten-year-old, Myles started playing trumpet. He’d go on to play it in his school’s marching band.
5. As a teenager, Myles was in an air guitar band, but he went on to give up the air and play an actual guitar, performing in his school’s jazz band.
6. The first group Myles was in was a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet.
7. After high school, Myles studied music and jazz at Spokane Falls Community College.
8. During his college years, Kennedy played guitar in a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band. They released an album in 1991 called Journey.
9. Myles took on his first role as both a singer and a guitarist when he joined the band, Citizen Swing. That group, which combined funk, soul, blues, R&B, and alternative, put out an album in 1993 called Cure Me With the Groove and one in 1995 called Deep Down.
10. In 1995, Myles taught guitar at a store in Spokane called Rock City Music.
11. In 1996, Myles became the frontman and guitarist for the group The Mayfield Four, which would go on to release albums called Fallout and Second Skin and support bands like Creed. The group broke up in 2002 after Myles felt burned out by the whole rock industry.
12. Myles appears in the 2001 film Rock Star with Mark Wahlberg. Producers needed a singer who could hit high notes and his name came up.
13. In 2002, Myles suffered from depression after being diagnosed with tinnitus caused by listening to music too loudly. Because of the ear issue, he gave up on making music and went back to teaching guitar.
14. While Myles was teaching guitar, a member of what would eventually become Velvet Revolver reached out to him, asking him to try out as their vocalist and submit a demo, but he didn’t ever really follow up.
15. In 2003, Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti had asked Myles to lay down some vocals to songs he had written. They wound up forming Alter Bridge.
16. In 2008, many people thought Myles was going to join Led Zeppelin, but those were just rumors. However, he did audition for a different project featuring members of the band.
17. In 2009, Myles began work on a solo project but it has never come out.
18. Kennedy loves to read. One of his favorite authors is John Irving.
19. Myles is interested in history and in his spare time enjoys learning about it.
20. Myles has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his upper right arm and two elephant heads on his chest.
21. Kennedy is a big proponent of wildlife conservation and often speaks out about the ivory trade.
22. Myles still lives in Spokane with his wife of 13 years, Selena.
Happy birthday Myles!