Kevin was bitten by the Reggae bug early in his life. And for 30+ years he has been designing t-shirts, posters and album covers that express his love and devotion to the music and it’s culture. Here is an excerpt from an interview that did recalling his Bob Marley connection:
“Sinbad’s Reggae Records was opened in Athens by a guy named Phil Alloy, must have been in the late 70′s. One of the first Reggae record shops this side of the Mississippi. Phil and his wife Valerie were into Reggae before anyone knew what Reggae was. Image Graphics was right down the street and when Phil landed a contract with Bob Marley to do t-shirts and merchandising for Bob’s US tours, he had us do the art and printing. I was really blessed with the opportunity, they liked my stuff and we ended up doing a lot of work for not only Bob, but Rita Marley, The Melody Makers, Tuff Gong, Neville Garrick and more. Phil and I designed the original Bob Marley Museum logo, which is still in use today and our t-shirt “Tribute to the King” is part of the centerfold collage on Bob’s Legend Album. I could go on and on, but I have spent some great time in Jamaica, met most the Marley Family and still work with Phil today.”
Legend was the twelfth album by Bob Marley & the Wailers released in 1984. It is the best-selling reggae album of all-time, with over 14 million copies sold in the United States and approximately 25 million copies sold globally, the album was ranked number 46 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. So, if you think about it, there are literally millions of people who own an image of Kevin’s artwork. Pretty cool.
On the inside cover, in the compilation of the Bob Marley merchandise, you can see Kevin’s design which appears on a t-shirt that was designed for Sinbad Reggae Records and Tuff Gong. The image, “Tribute to the King”, was produced to commemorate the one year anniversary of Bob’s passing.
Here is a picture of the “Tribute to the King” t-shirt being worn by a concert goer at Reggae Sunsplash in 1981. If you look real close you can see the stage backdrop that Kevin also created.
