Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,143,176 members, 7,780,228 topics. Date: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 11:08 AM

Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner - Celebrities - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Entertainment / Celebrities / Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner (33081 Views)

Sikiru Adepoju: Throwback Pictures Of A Two-time Grammy Award Winning Nigerian / Wizkid Has Been Nominated For A Grammy Award / Lekan Babalola - Nigeria's First Grammy Award Winner (2) (3) (4)

(1) (2) (3) (Reply) (Go Down)

Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 12:06pm On Jul 21, 2016
Source: https://gbengaogun.com/2016/07/20/from-medicine-to-music-heres-the-nigerian-who-won-a-grammy-by-drumming-with-his-mouth/


Name: Kevin Olusola

Born: October 5, 1988 (age 27)

Genres: Classical, pop, rock, jazz, a cappella

Occupation: Beatboxer, multi-instrumentalist, singer

Instruments: Beatboxing, cello, saxophone, piano, vocals

Years active: 2011-present

Labels: Madison Gate Records, RCA Records

Associated acts: Pentatonix Triptyq

Languages: English (Native), Chinese (Fluent), Spanish (reading proficiency), French (beginner), Yoruba (beginner)

beat·box/ˈbētbäks/ (imitate the sounds of a drum machine with the voice)






Continuing.....

14 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 12:14pm On Jul 21, 2016
TRAIL BLAZER




When it comes to breaking boundaries in the world of music, Kevin “K.O.” Olusola is no stranger.

He is best known as the beat boxer of the Grammy-winning vocal quintet Pentatonix. Pentatonix’s most recent release, the platinum selling album That’s Christmas to Me, was the #1 holiday album in the country and featured the title track written wholly by the group. The six videos in support of the holiday album have been viewed more than 64 million times.

The group has eclipsed 7 million YouTube subscribers (more than both Avicii and Beyoncé), with more than 800 million cumulative views. Their music video for “Daft Punk” has been viewed more than 100 million times and the medley earned the group their first Grammy win. To date, Pentatonix has released 5 albums, each landing in the top 15 of Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart and cumulatively selling roughly 1.7 million albums.






Continuing....

7 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 12:18pm On Jul 21, 2016
BEAT BOXER


Kevin Olusola is an American cellist, beatboxer, songwriter, record producer, singer, and rapper. Olusola is best known as the beatboxer of the vocal band Pentatonix. After the group won NBC’s The Sing-Off in 2011, they released five albums which all charted in the top 5 of the Billboard 200 charts, have sold over 2 million records and have amassed more than one billion views on their YouTube channel. Olusola has also been identified as developing the art of “celloboxing” (playing cello and beatboxing simultaneously).

His celloboxing version of Mark Summer’s “Julie-O” went viral in April 2011, which led him to become involved with Pentatonix. Olusola has performed at classical musical festivals such as the Amsterdam Cello Biennale and the Kronberg Academy Festival, opened the TED Conference in Vancouver, and was chosen by Quincy Jones to represent him in concert at the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival on the same program as Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea. Olusola is fluent in Mandarin.





Continuing....

4 Likes 1 Share

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 12:22pm On Jul 21, 2016
NAIJA BOY

Olusola was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, to Nigerian-born Oluwole Olusola, a psychiatrist, and Grenadian-born Curline Paul, a nurse. At that time, his father had just come from medical school in Nigeria and an internship in Trinidad and Tobago to Loma Linda University (a Seventh-day Adventist institution), where he met his wife while she was doing her MPH.


After they married, they moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania (where Kevin’s sister Candace was born) for a short period of time, and then to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for his father to finish residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center (where Kevin’s brother Kellon was born). Olusola started his education at Greater Philadelphia Junior Academy, but his family eventually moved to Owensboro, Kentucky where he was raised.





Continuing...

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by SpeedyConnect(m): 12:33pm On Jul 21, 2016
making us proud

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 12:37pm On Jul 21, 2016
HE WAS BORN THAT WAY


Olusola’s parents discovered his musical talent when he was six months old and decided to put him in music lessons. He started the piano at age 4, the cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He was heavily involved in music programs throughout grade school at Owensboro, Kentucky, in school and the community participating in jazz band, marching band, concert band, orchestra, and community youth orchestra. When Olusola was 12 years old, he was selected as the principal saxophonist of the United States Collegiate Wind Band and toured Europe during the summer for three weeks.

He was also the principal cellist of the Kentucky State Youth Orchestra and received the highest honor at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts. He soloed and performed in a piano trio at Carnegie Hall as the winner of the American Fine Arts Festival, and soloed a second time on alto saxophone for PBS’s special “From the Top at Carnegie Hall”.





Continuing...

4 Likes 1 Share

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by Ajewealth123(m): 12:38pm On Jul 21, 2016
Not trying to be a bigot but I noticed something so funny about this forum. When a nigerian commits crime, our NAME CHECKERS ASSOCIATION, and even the op reporting it will make it a point of duty to emphasis on the name,region and so on but when it comes to achievements,they are tagged Nigerians.every zone,region and tribes are prone to violence and crime so I don't get it when we decide to brand a certain region as criminals why we believe others try to claim legit.


















Let me take cover cos I know they will soon arrive in droves!

36 Likes 4 Shares

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 12:41pm On Jul 21, 2016

LIFE AT ANDOVER


He attended the Triplett School, a Montessori-based school, for a short period of time before his parents transferred him to the Owensboro Public School system for their accelerated math program that allowed him to take precalculus starting in the 9th grade. He applied and was accepted to Phillips Academy Andover, Choate Rosemary Hall, and Deerfield Academy for boarding school for 11th grade (upper year) but decided on Andover.


Olusola says that Andover taught him work ethic, tenacity, and discipline. He went from an average student to a high honors student in his senior year. He was involved in community service (directing a music program for elementary string students) and Spanish-speaking activities, where he led the Spanish language table and went to Costa Rica for four weeks to study Spanish. Olusola chose to attend Yale University, but was also accepted at Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University.





Continuing.....

4 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 1:15pm On Jul 21, 2016
YALE COMES KNOCKING

At Yale, Olusola planned to pursue medicine and finished all his pre-med requirements. He started as an academic music major, but decided to switch to East Asian Studies after being introduced to China through a 10-day Chinese government sponsored trip for 100 Yalies.

It was during his junior year when he started thinking about music as a career when, that previous summer in Beijing, he began working on “celloboxing”. One of his teachers at a Harvard summer intensive Chinese program suggested that he should try combining the two abilities. He won runner-up in Yo-Yo Ma’s “Celebrate and Collaborate With Yo-Yo Ma’ competition and opened for KRS-One at Southern Connecticut State University. Olusola says that, during that spring break, his pre-med mentor Brandon Ogbunugafor (who was MD/PhD at Yale at the time) helped him to make the decision to finally go into music, saying medicine would always be there.







Continuing...

3 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 1:19pm On Jul 21, 2016
AND HE GOES VIRAL

After Olusola’s academic stint in China, he spent the summer in Beijing working on his celloboxing version of Mark Summer’s “Julie-O” the summer of 2010 while living in a Chinese friend’s apartment in Beijing, China as a way to begin expanding his skills. He continued working on it throughout the year and decided to audition to music schools with it. He was accepted at New England Conservatory for their Third Stream Program and Berklee School of Music, but chose Berklee in the end.

During his spring semester of senior year, Olusola (along with YouTube sensation Sam Tsui) was nominated for a graduation-day prize and videotaped “Julie-O” with the help of YouTube star and Yale alum Jake Bruene. Olusola posted the video on April 14, 2011, and by the second week, the video had reached number 6 on Reddit, and had become a viral video on the Internet, garnering national and international acclaim.







Continuing...

2 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 1:25pm On Jul 21, 2016
PENTATONIX: GAME CHANGER


At the time the video was going viral, Olusola was contacted by Scott Hoying who was impressed by his musicality and beatboxing skills. Hoying was forming a group with Kirstie Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, and Avi Kaplan to compete in season three of NBC’s The Sing-Off and he wanted Olusola to join. The second weekend after Olusola graduated college, he met the group the day before the audition, and Pentatonix was born. After the taping of the show, Olusola did a brief stint as the cellist for Gungor on the David Crowder Band “7” Tour before returning with Pentatonix for the season finale.

The group won the Sing-Off title on Nov. 28th, 2011, which landed them a recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment and a $200K cash prize. The band immediately moved to Los Angeles to record their first album with producer Ben Bram, whom they met on the show. Their first EP, PTX, Volume 1, was released on June 26, 2012, charting at #14 in the US Billboard 200 chart and #5 on the digital chart. It sold 20,000 copies in its first week of release. They embarked on a fall 2012 and released their Christmas EP, PTXmas, on November 13, 2012.





Continuing....

2 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 1:28pm On Jul 21, 2016
HOW ABOUT A GRAMMY?


After their winter–spring 2013 tour, Pentatonix returned to the studio to finish their second EP, PTX, Vol. II, Olusola became more interested in songwriting and production, especially with how stomping and clapping could be used as an effective production tool for bolstering their a cappella tracks. Olusola co-wrote three of the songs on the album, Natural Disaster, Love Again, and Run to You. The album was released on November 5, 2013 and debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Independent charts, selling 31,000 copies in the first week. Olusola also released a solo EP in early 2015, titled The Renegade EP.


On February 8, 2015, Pentatonix won a Grammy in the “Best Arrangement, Instrumental or a cappella” category for their song “Daft Punk”, a medley of songs by Daft Punk.






Continuing.....

5 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 1:31pm On Jul 21, 2016
RECOGNITION


Though Olusola went to Yale to study Medicine, He changed his focus to music after participating in a cello competition presented by Yo Yo Ma. “Medicine was a reliable and safe career, so it was a big leap of faith for me and my parents when I decided to pursue music,” Olusola told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “So it’s nice to have a recording contract!”

KO’s talent in music has been recognized by people like Yo-Yo Ma, KRS-One, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and he has graced the stages of Carnegie Hall, Shanghai World Expo, and also American and Chinese national television. Kevin has also performed at prestigious classical musical festivals such as the Amsterdam Cello Biennale and the Kronberg Academy Festival, opened the TED Conference in Vancouver, and was chosen by Quincy Jones himself to represent him in concert at the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival on the same program as Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea.








LAST BULLET :


Kevin Olusola may have been born abroad but He remains a Nigerian at heart. NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS.



Keep ‘repping’ bro!



SOURCE: https://gbengaogun.com/2016/07/20/from-medicine-to-music-heres-the-nigerian-who-won-a-grammy-by-drumming-with-his-mouth/

CC Lalasticlala mynd44 please lets promote one of our own. Thanks in advance..

13 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by 50scent: 1:40pm On Jul 21, 2016
Ajewealth123:
Not trying to be a bigot but I noticed something so funny about this forum. When a nigerian commits crime, our NAME CHECKERS ASSOCIATION, and even the op reporting it will make it a point of duty to emphasis on the name,region and so on but when it comes to achievements,they are tagged Nigerians.every zone,region and tribes are prone to violence and crime so I don't get it when we decide to brand a certain region as criminals why we believe others try to claim legit.


















Let me take cover cos I know they will soon arrive in droves!


Hmmmmm
Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by Edwardhead(m): 5:37pm On Jul 21, 2016
wow wow wow

1 Like

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by halfricanadian(f): 5:50pm On Jul 21, 2016
OMG i love this guy kiss kiss kiss kiss

5 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by KingRex1(m): 5:57pm On Jul 21, 2016
This pentatonix guy.. So he's even Nigerian?

Whoa, Lalasticlala coman see

4 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by virginboy1(m): 7:11pm On Jul 21, 2016
NCAN....Ebegda zone Lagos.

Yoruba's Always Making Nigerians proud in UK since time immemorial .

34 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by hpk(m): 7:12pm On Jul 21, 2016
STALE GIST!!!!

1 Like

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by ipledge10(m): 7:13pm On Jul 21, 2016
Wow...opportunity,he was born at right place

5 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by haibe(m): 7:14pm On Jul 21, 2016
This is stale na.. those of us that knew pentatonix several years back find it funny that this is a new to u

3 Likes 1 Share

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by seuncyber(m): 7:16pm On Jul 21, 2016
From pdp to apc
Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by magicminister: 7:17pm On Jul 21, 2016
This is great news. I wonder when Nigerians in Nigeria will get the platform to do great things in Nigeria and gain accolades from the world.
Besides, this guy is an American with a Nigerian Name.

If he was in Nigeria, i am sure his talent would have wasted.
If grammy was a Nigerian thing, i am sure he wouldn't be nominated because his father is not tinubu or buhari. Better still, he wouldn't be nominated because he is yoruba or igbo or hausa.
His talent would die along with his soul.

21 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by Nobody: 7:18pm On Jul 21, 2016
Tribal bigots everywhere

1 Like 1 Share

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by ferdison(m): 7:21pm On Jul 21, 2016
nigerians always doing great... Everywhere...nice one.

1 Like

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by mysticgal(f): 7:21pm On Jul 21, 2016
Sometimes I vex when he only beat box while others shine, I mean always undecided
.
.
.
.

.
.
.

I just look at him and think.... "your mates dey sing you the do mouth"

9 Likes

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by dipopooo(m): 7:22pm On Jul 21, 2016
Omo odua representing us well all over d world while flateeees are doing d opposite

14 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by seguno2: 7:22pm On Jul 21, 2016
How e epp Nigeria?
Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by Abeos(m): 7:22pm On Jul 21, 2016
Quite good
Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by deeway200(m): 7:24pm On Jul 21, 2016
If u know him very well, u will know he doesn't even know Nigeria.

1 Like

Re: Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner by dovetark: 7:26pm On Jul 21, 2016
I love music

(1) (2) (3) (Reply)

Police Arrest Lawrence Abrokwah, Afia Schwarzenegger’s Husband / Benita Okojie Celebrates Her Mother's Birthday / Olakunle Churchill & Rosy Meurer Celebrate 3rd Wedding Anniversary (Photos)

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 41
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.