Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm<!-- Do not change to "lead" or "co-lead." He plays a solo on a few tracks here and there, but he is mostly the rhythm guitarist --> guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge and of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators alongside guitarist Slash. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, Kennedy has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released eight studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour. In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening. He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it." The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album World on Fire as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
thumb|left|230px|Alter Bridge performing in [[Hamburg in 2014]]
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.