Kevin "Kiev" Connolly (born 5 April 1956) is an Irish producer, composer, songwriter, sound engineer, and musician with over twenty years of experience in the industry.
Born in Ballymote, County Sligo, Connolly has been writing songs, playing guitar and keyboard, and performing since finishing school in Cork. In 1978, he moved to Germany performing in folk clubs in Stuttgart and Heidelberg.
Moving to West Berlin in 1979, he became fluent in German, studied Music Theory at the Hochschule der Kunstler, and took a Sound Engineering Course, Recordland Studios, West Berlin. He went on to form the pop music groupThe Missing Passengers, securing a recording contract with Arista/Ariola, Munich. Achieving success with two original albums in the European Charts. In 1985, the group performed Kiev's hit song "Did She Tell You" on both the Extratour program Radio Bremen/ARD, and the Musik Convoy program on WDR/ARD.
In 1989, Connolly and The Missing Passengers represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lausanne, Switzerland with Kiev's song The Real Me. Yugoslavia won the Eurovision Song Contest that year.
In 2000, Kiev established Feature Music Studios. The Studio offers a complete Sound Design package including Dialogue, Music, Sound Effects, and Foley recording, editing and mixing. For many years he has been arranging and producing the Wolfe Tones' live performances and albums; including one of their top selling albums "You'll Never Beat the Irish". He arranged, produced and played keyboards for the following Wolfe Tones events: 'Into The Light' – The 1916 Commemoration Concert 'LIVE' at Citywest Hotel Dublin, 26–28 March 2016, The Wolfe Tones-1916 Commemoration Concert at City Hall, 1 May 2016.
Connolly performs regularly with his two-man wedding band, The UpSideDown Band.
References