ORIGINAL MUSIC    LYRICS     ORCHESTRATION

5-STRING BANJO    ACOUSTIC BACKING    DIGITAL ORCHESTRAL PROCESSING

   A.I. VOCAL SYNTHESIZER 

 

 

  Song Writer and Performer. 75 years young.

• MY MUSICAL STORY

   

  I spend a lot of time writing music. I always have.

   

  I wrote my first song when I was 12 years old. It was called “The King and Queen Cards Son” (The Joker).

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• I don’t recall ever sharing that with anyone, but I can still play it word for word, and hear the music in my head. Myrevelation at that moment—that music and words can combine to create a palpable emotion, and that we have the capability of hearing a song any time we choose in our imaginations—has never left me.

   

  I often wake up in the night with music in my ears. I hear songs throughout the day—in the shower. In my exercise class. Driving in my car. Reading a book.

   

  There is nothing unusual or unique about this. I certainly don’t have any special talent where “audio daydreams” are concerned. After all, we all hear words, thoughts and music in our minds.

   

  In my case though, I make it a point to write them down and often turn them into a tune.

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  In the 4^th grade, my teacher Mr. Chatfield showed us how harmony and counterpoint could take a simple melody and turn it into a remarkable, magical, musical masterpiece. I never forgot the feeling that swept through me as I learned this new and exciting “language”.

   

  I picked up a 5-string banjo of my brothers when I was 14, and as fate would have it, never put it down. It’s been my instrument of choice for performing since that day, and along the way, I learned how to use synthesizers and electronic composition as it evolved over the years, to create the orchestral arrangements that I heard in my head.

   

  I’ve been performing professionally since I was 22, and have been in 11 different music groups since then; all of them duos or trios. My music partner, Meg Chrysler and I, were invited to play a concert in Russia 1978. We traveled to tour with a jazz swing band to bring some of the original music of America to the Russian audiences, and performed on guitar and 5-string banjo. Back here in the states again, we worked in dozens of restaurant/lounges over the years, and on the Royal Caribbean and Princess cruise lines.

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• Later on, working on a national childrens television show I created, I was honored to receive an Emmy Award for a song I composed for the program.

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  I opened a small songwriting company in the Pacific Northwest. My intention was to make a living writing radio “jingles” for companies. I sold my first musical commercial to the city of Eugene, Oregon for the University of Oregon’s summer school advertisements and a couple of local businesses, while continueing to perform with my parnter in a variety of public venues.

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• Around that time,  the idea of “Singing Telegrams” took off in Las Vegas, and I met a gentleman who purchased the rights to open a company in San Diego. People hired a tap-dancing, or costumed character to deliver a 3 minute song for birthdays and special occasions, in homes, restaurants and businesses.

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• The idea took off and became a huge commercial success. I worked for his company for several years, and wrote all of the songs for various occasions, for the singing messengers to deliver.

   

  Singing Telegram companies began to spring up across California and I asked my boss to help me start my own company. He said “of course”, but only if I began my service in another city.

   

  Moving backto my hometown of NewportBeach,California,

• I opened up “Original Singing Telegrams”. We struggled for half a year until the next phone book was released and I purchased a ¼ page ad in the directory for $500 a month. The phones began to ring and I hired half a team of singing messengers to keep business thriving for the next decade.

   

  And for me, the musicnever stopped.  I continued writing and recording tunes for my own enjoyment. I was often asked to write birthday tunes for friends and special occasions, but most of the 200 or so songs I concocted were just for my own, creative pleasure.

   

  In later years I wrote two complete stage musicals, each with 10 original orchestral tunes. I was able to hire a sound studio and several professional singers to record all of the vocal tracks.

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  The biggest thrill for me in all of this was having professional vocalists interpret my songs. I hired a number of singers over the years, and the routine of hiring pro’s to bring my lyrics to life was both fascinating and exhilarating. It was also expensive.

   

  I have always had a sound studio in my home, and I began in earnest to compose with the new tools of digital recording.

• I often overlayed multiple tracks and recorded orchestral pieces (strings, horns,  etc.) adding many layers of music with my own vocals.

   

  Artificial Intellegence (A.I.) music composition exploded in 2025, as a wave of anxiety swept over the commercial music industry. Suddenly, anyone could write a few lyrics and let Artificial Intelligence pull billions of vocal and instrument files from the Internet and turn them into a remarkable, near-professional sounding tune.

   

  It soon became evident to me that A.I. was not only here to stay, it was rapidly creating an entirely new world that was about to alter the course of not only music, but humanity forever.

   

  I made the choice to study, learn and utilize A.I composition in my portfolio of 200 original songs, with the intention of keeping ONLY my original lyrics, arrangement and orchestration, and to use the magic of A.I. to remove and replace my vocals.

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• I also allowed the new technology to add limited additional instrumentation to kick my music up a notch.

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• And the result is what you’ll hear on these pages.

   

• Thank you for visiting and listening!

   

  Khevin Barnes     Age :75

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•        Musician           Lyricist            A.I. explorer.

 

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