Stranger Records will be releasing the debut EP by Bo Keeney, out on the 9th of December.
Bo, named after his parents’ favourite guitarist, is a multi instrumentalist and music obsessive who grew up in Southern California and first got in to music aged 4 when his dad took him to see his mum’s band play. She was a hair stylist by day and a singer and guitarist by night who hung out with the likes of Kiss, Van Halen and Guns n Roses. She also sings backing vocals on ‘Don’t You Worry’.
After the gig Bo became fanatical about the drums and initially started practicing using spoons. His parents then bought him a toy drum kit, which he played with sawn-off drumsticks and when he outgrew that a full size kit. When he was 11 the family relocated to Winchester in England and soon after Bo wrote his first song, then saved up his lunch money, bought a guitar and taught himself to play.
A bit of a loner he became obsessed with instruments and went on to learn bass, harmonica and piano by sneaking into the music room at school and practicing on his own for hours on end. He spent the rest of his time absorbing music of all genres.
Age 16 Bo entered the British Academy of Songwriters and Composers under 18′s competition and rather than sending the required one song, he sent an album’s worth of self-recorded material – he won. Bo went on to co-write with Grammy winning songwriter Jimmy Hogarth who would eventually sign him to his publishing company.
With his advance Bo rented a shipping container on a trading estate in Winchester, turned it into a studio and recorded his album in isolation. The resulting songs are written, arranged and produced by Bo.