- Name: Kevin Brost
- Year: Senior
- Major: Music Business
- Hometown: Cape Girardeau, MO
- Quirky Fact: Destiny’s Child will always and forever be my guilty pleasure. Also, I really want to bring back roller disco. That needs to happen.
- Favorite thing to get (food/drink) on campus: hot peppermint tea from the library
- Best movie you’ve seen recently: La La Land
- Favorite movie: The 007 James Bond films with Sean Connery
- Best book you’ve read recently: Eric Clapton’s Autobiography
- Favorite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- What you like to do on campus: This is really weird, but I sometimes sneak into Lovett Auditorium, stand in the middle of the stage and sing into the empty, quiet auditorium. There is just something about it that’s almost therapeutic in way.
Q&A
Tell us about yourself:
I was born and raised Catholic. I’m a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon. If I weren’t a musician, I would probably aspire to be the next Gordon Ramsay because I’ve really been getting into cooking. I love to play chess, and I want to start entering tournaments to see how good I am. I’m also the owner of a corgi mix named Leonardo Xerxes Maximus, who goes simply by Lenny. He’s a little monster, but he’s amazing.
What made you come to Murray State?
I guess I really wanted a place that had a sense of family. Where I went to high school it wasn’t uncommon for students to develop student-teacher relationships. Every time I go home, I like to meet up with my old teacher; we meet up for coffee and just talk. Coming here I really found that—not only in the music department, but throughout the community.
Who have you enjoyed working with?
Before coming to Murray, I always saw myself as a singer that happened to also play guitar. It wasn’t until I started working with the guitar instructor here at Murray State, Mr. Brent Webster, that I went from being a singer who also played guitar, to both a singer and a guitarist in their own respects. He not only taught me classical guitar, but he taught me the history of guitar. Dr. Todd Hill, who runs all of the jazz ensembles, provided me the opportunity to play in one of the jazz bands, which was totally outside my comfort zone. I had never played jazz guitar, and I was really intimidated when I showed up to the first rehearsal. But now I put some jazzy ideas into music that I create. It just made me a more well-rounded musician and opened my eyes to a lot of really good music. Dr. Christopher Mitchell, one of the voice professors, is someone I’ve gotten to know really well through the men’s choir and the a capella group, EQ Blue. He really helped me with my vocal ability, and through these ensembles I got to meet a lot of great people. Also there’s Karen Kane, my advisor in the music department. She’s done more than she needs to as her role as an advisor. Lastly, one of my best friends, Brandon Gleason. We have the same major, and he’s my right-hand man. We’re working on a record together; I see ourselves creating a lot of music together down the road, and I value our friendship.
Who inspires you in life?
My parents. My dad’s one of nine, my mom’s one of six, and they’re both from small towns. They grew up with nothing. My dad started a business, and my mom helps him with it. Now they have three offices and they work seven days a week to make the business happen. They really never stop; they’re just trying to provide the best life they can for me, for which I’m forever grateful. Nothing they ever had was given to them, so it’s really like the American dream. Also, I’m inspired by my older brother Will, who was a math major here at Murray. He’s super cool and one of my biggest supporters with music, and I value our relationship a lot. He also loves music, probably more than I do, in fact. Lastly, there’s my girlfriend Morgan, my number one supporter. It’s really awesome having someone like her to share such amazing life experiences.
What made you choose the major you did?
I don’t think there was really another option for me. There is nothing else that I would have really enjoyed. For a hot second I thought I might teach, but there is just something about the music business that I really wanted to pursue. I started out as a double major in music education and music business. My senior year of high school, I came to the Quad State Music Festival and I tried out for voice and I got in and received a scholarship. I came here for my first semester and I dropped the music education part of it, so that I was pursuing solely music business. During that time, a lot people asked me if this was really what I wanted to do, partly because I would be losing my scholarship. I understood why they asked, but looking back I know it was the right thing to do so I could focus all of my attention on music business. Without having made that choice, there’s no way I would be where I am today.
Work/projects related to your major?
This past summer I lived in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and worked for a guy named Gerald Murray. He used to manage some older country acts such as George Jones and Vern Gosdin and currently works with George’s daughter, Georgette Jones, as well as others. I was booking shows for his artist roster, routing tours, and handling logistics for such. While I was down there, I got to do some work at the historic Fame Recording Studio, which was a really cool experience. For the last six months I have been driving back and forth from Murray to Nashville while working at a place called Red Light Management, which is near Music Row. It’s one of the biggest artist management companies in the world. It was really cool to be there and see how it all really works. The other thing would be my artist career. This past summer, I got signed under a Nashville booking and management contract. We released a single along with a music video. It’s been on the radio around the US, and it’s been bought in a lot of countries around the world. That is something that I thought would never happen to me. If that ever happens again that would great, but if not, I can die happy knowing it happened at least one time.
Recent awards/ honors?
This column. Also, the Murray State News chose to do a cover story on me for their annual Gateway magazine, which was really cool of them. Mostly, I’ve just been focusing on my music.
Future plans:
Right now I’m working on an EP coming out in fall 2017 and what’s really cool about this record is that all the proceeds will go to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Music has always been like a medicine to me or like therapy, really. When I create music, I really want it to help other people; that’s the whole goal. I really wanted to take that one step further by allowing all of the blood, sweat, and tears put into the album to hopefully generate some kind of income that can be returned to people who really need it. As I continue to make records down the road, I’d love to work with other organizations such as Best Buddies and Autism Awareness to help raise money for them as well.
Here are some links featuring Kevin singing at Lovett Auditorium and also the music video for his single Stay:
College of humanities and fine arts 