Overview:
“Sometimes genius comes and goes without much notice or fanfare. Such is the case with the late Kevin Gilbert,” P “a musical prodigy” JS who “colleagues invariably called…‘the most talented musician I ever met.’” JS This little-known performer ranks as one of my favorite singers. When he died, he “left behind enormous unanswered questions about his potential.” JS
Kevin “Gilbert was a moderately important figure in Californian rock music in the 1980’s and 1990’s.” DN “He was an accomplished instrumentalist and composer, who played keyboards, guitars, drums, bass and cellos, as well as singing vocals. His talents also extended to producer.” WK He “spent several years on the edge of stardom [but] could never capitalize on his talents.” DE ” He “might be the most talented American musician to be involved with progressive rock, with the possible exception of Frank Zappa. Although all of his work contains a very strong pop element, there’s usually a lot of prog underneath it.” DN
I have said that if I were a musician, Kevin Gilbert best represents the kind of music I would want to make. His lyrics go beyond clichéd love songs and are infused with witticism. His musicianship showcase the tireless hours he spent in the studio perfecting his craft. It was a shame to lose such an astonishing talent at 29. His work, however, lives on and for those uninitiated in his music, I hope this post leads you down the same musical journey where KG’s music has taken me.
NRG/Call Me Kai (1984-87):
In the mid-‘80s, while still in high school, Gilbert released his first album, No Reasons Given, with the group NRG. Over the next few years, Kevin set a goal for himself to create a new album each year to give to his family and friends. Those works were collected and released in the posthumous Call Me Kai box set in 2021.
Giraffe (1988-89):
In the late ‘80s, he spent a year as a film student at UCLA and took a gig as Eddie Money’s touring keyboardist before launching the group Giraffe. Between the release of their two albums, the band entered and won a national unsigned-bands competition.
Toy Matinee (1989-92):
In the competition, Gilbert caught the attention of Patrick Leonard, a producer who had worked with Madonna and others. Leonard suggested a collaboration and the group Toy Matinee was born. Their only album was released in 1990 and produced two moderately successful album-rock tracks in Last Plane Out and The Ballad of Jenny Ledge.
The band lost momentum when Leonard moved on to other projects. However, Gilbert assembled a touring band, which included Marc Bonilla on guitar and a then-unknown Sheryl Crow on keyboards, to promote the album. Their 1991 performance at the Roxy was recorded and released posthumously as Toy Matinee Live. Gilbert and Bonilla also did radio interviews and performances in which they played cover songs and showcased their knack for wittiness and fun.
Session Work:
During this time, Gilbert also did session work for established pop musicians, including Madonna and Michael Jackson. He also produced Keith Emerson’s album Changing States. Throughout the ‘90s, Gilbert worked as “a producer, film scorer, and session musician.” DN
Tuesday Night Music Club (1992-95):
In 1992, Gilbert and Bill Bottrell, who’d produced the Toy Matinee album, assembled a loose collective of musicians dubbed the Tuesday Night Music Club. They gathered weekly at Bottrell’s studio to hang out and make music. Gilbert brought Crow, with whom he’d struck up a relationship, and the gang carved out what would become her multi-platinum selling debut named after the crew. Gilbert had co-writing credit on many of the the song’s albums, including 1995 Grammy Record of the Year All I Wanna Do. “Crow later acrimoniously split with most of the musicians in the collective…[The rest of the TNMC’ers] worked with singer-songwriters Susanna Hoffs and Linda Perry on two more albums.” WK
Thud/Tribute Work (1994-96):
Gilbert worked tirelessly to open his own studio and, in 1995, released a solo album called Thud. His 1995 live performance at the Troubadour was released in 2009 as a CD/DVD package called Welcome to Joytown: Thud Live at the Troubadour.
He also contributed songs to tribute albums of some of his favorite progressive rock artists as well – Genesis, Yes, and Gentle Giant. His cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” was bumped from the Encomium tribute album, but it was packaged as a CD single with some pressings of Thud.
In 1994, Gilbert performed Genesis’ rock-opera masterpiece The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway with a newly assembled version of Giraffe. Gilbert’s manager, Jon Rubin, “sent a copy of the recording to Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford who were searching for a new Genesis front man to replace Phil Collins.” WK Gilbert was rumored to be planning to fly to London to audition for the spot DE when tragedy struck.
Kevin’s Death (1996):
On May 17, 1996, Rubin found Gilbert dead at his home just outside of Los Angeles. KG was wearing only a black skirt and black hood over his head, which was “slumped against a leather strap chained to the headboard of the king-size bed in the sparsely furnished living room.” JS “The coroner listed the cause of death as ‘asphyxia due to partial suspension hanging.’ Friends and MTV more explicitly reported the cause as autoerotic asphyxiation” MA caused when people go a “step too far in depriving their brains of oxygen while they reach orgasm.” JS The Los Angeles County coroners’ office reports four or five such deaths a year.
One can only imagine the possibilities of what Kevin Gilbert could have continued to contribute to the music world. Rubin, who once fronted ’70s pop band the Rubinoos and is now the executor of Gilbert’s estate, says, KG’s “death was tragic, but his life was not a tragedy.” RS As friend Tim Van Den Berg said, “I would like to believe that he is now blessing another world with his beautiful music.” TV
Posthumous Releases:
At the time of his death, KG was working on a second solo album, the rock opera The Shaming of the True. It “was largely incomplete, but Gilbert’s estate asked Spock’s Beard drummer Nick D’Virgilio to complete it based on the extant tapes and Gilbert’s notes. It was released in 2000. In 2002, The Kaviar Sessions, which Gilbert was also working on in 1996, were released.
In 2009, a two-CD set called Nuts and Bolts assembled previously unreleased recordings from throughout Giibert’s career. The estate of Kevin Gilbert has reissued much of his work alongside other merchandise available at PopPlusOne.com.
Resources and Related Links:
First posted 11/20/2011; updated 6/5/2021. | 
