Schools

Emmy Award-Winning Songwriter Mentors LZHS Students

Kevin Briody spent time talking to the Bare Voices group Friday.

It's not every day that students get the chance to get advice from an Emmy Award-winning singer/songwriter.

That's exactly the opportunity the school's Bare Voices singing group was given Friday, as Kevin Briody mentored them in advance of their . Briody, 48, is an Emmy Award-winning singer/songwriter from Connecticut. He won two Emmy Awards for songs —Little Starr and We All Fall Down — that he wrote for One Life to Live.

A musician since childhood, Briody regularly visits schools as an artist-in-residence, teaching students how to write lyrics, choose a melody, rehearse and offer their work to the world. He often leads students through a workshop that takes them through those steps, ultimately resulting in the students recording a song on a CD.

At , Briody's goal was to answer students' questions as they prepared to compete in the Sing! competition, slated for Sept. 17 and 24 at Deer Park Town Center.

"I enjoy it," he said of talking to students.

Briody started playing music as a child, when he took up the trumpet. His dad played trombone.

Briody stopped playing music at about age 16, when his focus shifted to playing basketball and baseball. It wasn't until late in his college career that Briody started writing and then put music to his words. His wife, whom he met while in junior high, bought him a guitar when he was 26.

His attempt at writing music for television came while coaching Little League baseball. A player's dad asked Briody if he would write a song for a scene in One Life to Live, and he accepted the challenge. That song, Little Starr, was nominated for an Emmy, which Briody subsequently won at a ceremony in Manhattan.

"We were just like scratching our heads the whole day," Briody said, referring to the ceremony he attended with his wife. "It was a really cool little ride."

He repeated that ride the next year, when he won another Emmy for another song he wrote for One Life to Live.

Briody said that when talking to students, he occasionally brings one of his awards along. He tells students that while receiving the awards was an honor, he always tries to do his best work — even if it doesn't lead to an award.

"All I wanted to do was be a good enough guitar player to be able to tell some stories," Briody told the Bare Voices group. "It's been great."

Students' questions were varied. One asked Briody what type of guitar he plays (for the record, it's a 20-year-old Yuri). Another student's question led Briody to talk about his songwriting style.

"I don't sit down and write a song. I spend a month, basically, on a song," said Briody. "If I'm going to spend a month with it, it better be something I want to think about."

He added that his songs are "very demanding on their audience," and that the songs aren't "light and bouncy. They tend to be about something."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Lake Zurich