Now I know why the G man sounds so hip. It's growing up in the inner city of Seattle that did it.
In many respects, where it took him was back to the beginning – the R&B of the early and mid-1970s that Kenny soaked up during his teen years at an inner-city Seattle high school, where he mixed with a culturally diverse student body at a young age. Inspired by the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire and Grover Washington Jr., he was only 17 when he landed a gig with Barry White and his Love Unlimited Orchestra at the Paramount Northwest Theater (now the Paramount Theater) in 1973.