Keb' Mo' Artistfacts

October 3, 1951
Keb' Mo' was born Kevin Roosevelt Moore in Compton, California. The South Los Angeles neighborhood was also home to many other musical luminaries, including the rap group N.W.A., who released their famed debut album, Straight Outta Compton, in 1988, which Mo' calls "a freakin' masterpiece."
He's most proud of the songs "Henry," "Change," and "Marvelous To Me," because they all use optimism to deal with social issues, which is his favorite way to write.
His diverse musical influences came from cruising the streets as a teenager and listening to all sorts of different genres on the radio, which, he says, was the norm in the '60s when music wasn't categorized as tightly. He also credits his mother, Lauvella Cole, who sang in church and had an affinity for jazz records, for instilling him with a love of gospel and blues music.
He started his recording career as a member of Papa John Creach's (of Jefferson Airplane) backing band in the '70s.
He worked on his 2022 album, Good To Be, during the coronavirus lockdown, which inspired his pandemic-themed single "The Medicine Man."
He agrees with the not-guilty verdict for Kyle Rittenhouse - the 17-year-old who fatally shot two protesters and wounded another with an AR-15 style rifle in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020 - on the grounds that Rittenhouse was a juvenile, but he thinks the parents should have been held accountable.

How does this relate to his music? Mo' is big on accountability: "My aim is to express things with love and, first of all, take responsibility myself and to encourage others to take their own responsibility."

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