Kevin Neil Hearn was born to Pat and Sue Hearn on July 3rd 1969 in Grimbsy, Ontario. Kevin has 5 other siblings. 3 brothers (Sean, Michael and Chris) and 2 sisters (Mary-Pat and Kathy). Kevin is sibling number 5.
There was a piano in their home and at age 5 Kevin began playing it. He had so much musical talent that in 1975 he was put in Toronto's prestigious St. Michael's Choir School. In grade 4 piano, Kevin started to really get into classical music and piano improvisation. Each day he would practice on an upright piano but before he'd practice he would do an hour of piano improv. This is also when he started to write his own music!
When Kevin wasn't performing with the Choir he would join or form rock bands. In the 80's Kev joined the "eclectic" rock group Look People. He recorded four albums, went on three European tours and was asked to play Lallapalooza 2 years in a row with them! After leaving the Look People, Kev did a few comedy theatre projects with his comedian cousin Harland Williams. They even played the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal.
In 1995 it was Barenaked Ladies' drummer Tyler Stewart who recomended Kevin to the other members of the band after original member Andy Creeggan left. They asked him to join right before they went on tour for Born on a Pirate Ship, giving him only 2 weeks to learn the songs.(He barrowed his older sister's copy of Gordon!) In between touring with BNL, Kevin found the time to write and record his first solo album- Mothball Mint.
In 1997 Kevin and BNL went into the studio to record their album Stunt. This is the first studio album to include Kevin in the recording process although he does appear on their 1996 live cd: Rock Spectacle. While recording Stunt Kev's health began to deteriorate. He had sudden weight loss, bad pains, night sweats, bloody noses...etc.
Kevin finally realized that something was seriously wrong. He flew back home to Toronto where he went to his doctors and found out that he had Chronic Mylogenic leukemia. He had to get into chemotherepy almost right away and then found out that he needed a bonemarrow transplant. Thankfully Kev's younger brother, Sean, was an exact match.(As was older sis Mary-Pat) While going through the transplant and recovery, Kevin had to be in isolation in the "H-Wing" of Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital. The only things he took in there with him were a few pictures and his guitar. Kevin wrote many songs while staying in the "H-Wing", songs that would later make up his album appropriately named H-Wing.
Clearly because of Kev's illness BNL had changed and in 2000 the "new" BNL went back into the studio to record Maroon which reviewers said was "Their most mature album to date." By this time Kevin was fully recovered and in 2001(with his band Thin Buckle which is made up of a few of Kevin's old friends from Look People) he released his album H-Wing, which of course, was written while Kevin was dealing with his whole cancer ordeal. H-Wing definately lets everyone get a glimpse into the things not many people live to talk about.
In 2003, after touring a bit and then taking time off to not only relax but write new songs, Kevin and BNL were back in the studio recording their album Everything to Everyone. BNL had evolved yet again by including the other members of the band in on the writing process. A few songs that Kevin had a big hand in writting were "Celebrity", "Second Best" and the very catchy song "Shopping." In December of that same year, Kevin and his partner Yvonne had a daughter whom they named Havana.
In his down time from touring with BNL back in 2002, Kevin found the time to write and record his second solo album with Thin Buckle tittled Night Light. This album is not as somber as H-Wing yet you can clearly tell that these albums are linked. Even though Kev wrote and recorded Night Light in 2002, it was not released until Spring of 2004.
In 2004 Kevin and Cousin Harland Willams released a CD/DVD intittled The Cousins-The Love Song Years. Kevin also appeared on Harland's DVD Enter At Your Own Risk. As for BNL, they released a Christmas album in October called Barenaked for the Holidays which feature's Kev's song "It's Christmas Time (Oh Yeah)"
Kevin still writes, records and tours with Barenaked Ladies and when he's not doing that he's doing the same thing with his own band, Thin Buckle. More recently Kevin and Barenaked Ladies are in talks to do a TV pilot for the Fox network in January of 2005!