Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelvin Thomas.
Kelvin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Arlington, TX but moved to Groveton, Tx in 2000 when my grandfather grew sick. Terrible to say, but I was raised by a single mother that did the best she could. I was raised going back and forth between Houston and Groveton and finally rested in Groveton and graduated in 2014. I moved to Dallas the day after I graduated to chase whatever dream I could think of. I lived with various family members, getting tied in with the wrong people, sex, late nights, broke, no car, no stable job and no one I felt like I could trust till I gave up and had the realization of, “Man, I really have nothing to live for.” I then made the decision to run to the military in 2016 and was shipped on April 11, 2017, and thats when my relationship with Christ began.
I absolutely BALLED my eyes out the first night I spent at base. God and I had a long talk, and I realized that I was not in the right place by any means and was not in the will of God. Thankfully I was blessed with health issues. I had G6PD/Anemia and the sickle cell trait which gave me a clean out of the military. I was released on May 11, 2017, came back to my guitar and strummed a Cmaj7 and cried. Since then, I’ve had a firework of a music career. That summer, I opened up for Leon Bridges at a secret show at Drugstore Cowboy before it shut down, did my first solo gig at Opening Bell Coffee, opened for Northern National at The Rustic, and for my birthday December 29, 2017, I released my debut EP “Love, Faith and Heartbreak.”
In 2018, life and music were extremely slow moving. I faced homelessness. None of my family and few of my friends knew of course. I spent MANY nights in the back of a beat up ’97 Honda Accord and didn’t know how I was going to get out of the situation. November came around and I found my dream job at Soar Creative Studios, music picked back up, and I’m happily in a home. Through everything, somehow music was the one thing I couldn’t let go of. It’s now April of 2019, and I can say that not giving up on what God has promised and music is the best decision I’ve ever made.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Moving to Dallas was hard for me, being a country boy and all. The city never slept and neither did I. I was living so fast trying to catch up to everyone else around me. It took a toll on my relationship with God for sure. I stopped going to church, stopped having faith, and for a while, I completely stopped praying and hearing His voice. Music wise, the hardest part was not seeing fruit in the beginning. It was super discouraging thinking, “My big moment is going to happen any minute now,” and it never comes along. Learning patience and knowing that my music career wasn’t for me to be worried about in the first place was and is the hardest thing I had to learn.
We’d love to hear more about your work
Well, I am a musician. My genres are R&B, Soul, Folk/Americana, and Soft Rock. My music is something that people don’t have to guess at. When you hear it, its an almost instant emotional journey.
What were you like growing up?
I was an emotional kid who could be read like a book. I always wanted the approval of my peers so I’d go out of my way just to make anyone like me at the sacrifice of my own comfort. In turn, I wanted to go pro in football like my late cousin Rodney Thomas. Surely enough, I grew out of it and wanted to be a math and sciences wiz. Girls came around and so that changed to being a musician to pick up chicks (heed my warning, 99% of the time it does NOT work starting out), which later turned into a passion.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 6823514734
- Email: kedebe1@icloud.com
- Instagram: kelvinthomasmusic
- Facebook: Kelvin Siringi Thomas-Edebe
Image Credit:
Jennifer Sopp Photography, Drewlio Photography, Barbara Brands Photography. Alexandra Thomas Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
