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Kevin Rowland

It's time for another '6 Degrees' journey.


Now, when I was coming up for a name for this - I knew I wanted to change the traditional Kevin Bacon, to a more musical version. In the end, I quickly narrowed it down to two - the final choice of Kevin Shields and this one - Kevin Rowland, lead singer of legendary 80s pop outfit Dexy's Midnight Runners.

Kevin Shields ultimately won the naming race, but Kevin Rowland gets his moment in the sun - and there are some cracking links along the way!


Kevin Rowland went solo after his time with Dexy's - the first release being The Wanderer in 1988. The album was produced by Brazilian, Eumir Deodato de Almeida. He is a pianist, composer, arranger and producer, known for his work in genres including pop, rock, Latin and bossa nova. But he also played his part in disco and funk...


Because he produced three of Kool and the Gang's legendary albums from their late 70's / early 80's funky prime; Ladies Night (1979), Celebration (1980) and Something Special (1981).


Lead singer with the Gang, was James "J.T." Taylor, who had a solo album called Master of the Game. This record included the song, All I Want Is Forever, a duet with Regina Belle.


Regina Belle is perhaps best known for A Whole New World, the lead song from 1992 Disney epic, Aladdin, that she sang with serial dueteer, Peabo Bryson. Who wrote the lyrics for Aladdin? Tim Rice, of course.


Tim Rice obviously wrote the music to about a million musicals - but he also wrote the tunes, The Fallen Priest and The Golden Boy, for Freddie Mercury's solo effort, Barcelona in 1992.


Now, probably Mercury's best known moment is that song Bohemian Rhapsody. It has been used plenty of times, but we are interested in its appearance in 1992's hit comedy Wayne's World (Party On!).


Also on that soundtrack was the song Loud Love by Soundgarden (although apparently it didn't feature on all released versions). Loud Love was on the band's second studio album, Louder Than Live in 1989.


Prior to recording that album, Soundgarden had been on the record label, SST - which had been formed by a young Greg Ginn, and was first used as a way to release early Black Flag records. But it went on to feature a number of seminal post-punk and indie bands, including Dinosaur Jr.


Dinosaur Jr appeared on the label between 1987 - 89, including the release of albums You're Living All Over Me (1987) and Bug (1988). But their 1997 album, Hand It Over, had a guest vocalist and producer for the first two tracks; I Don't Think and Never Bought It.....


Yes, of course, it was KEVIN SHIELDS.

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