Kenna facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kenna
Kenna at a U.S. Department of State reception honoring his Summit on the Summit initiative.
Background information
Birth name	Kenna Zemedkun
Born	(1978-10-30) October 30, 1978 (age 46) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Genres	Alternative rock electronic
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter musician producer
Instruments	Vocals keyboards
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Columbia Interscope Star Trak Godel Dim Mak

Kenna Zemedkun, known simply as Kenna, is an American musician, helper, and technology expert. He was born in Ethiopia. His song "Say Goodbye to Love" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2009.

Kenna started a project called Summit on the Summit. This project helps bring clean water to people. He also worked with Justin Timberlake to improve the social media site Myspace.

About Kenna's Life

Kenna was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He lived with his grandfather until he was three years old. His parents had moved to England and then America to escape problems. Kenna joined them in Cincinnati, Ohio when he was three.

He later grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia. There, he went to school with friends Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. These friends later worked with him in his music career. Kenna became interested in music after hearing U2's album The Joshua Tree. This album made him want to learn piano. He also studied singers like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. He liked groups such as The Cure and Duran Duran. Kenna met many famous musicians when he was young. These included Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

He was also mentioned in a book by Canadian writer Malcolm Gladwell. The book is called Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

Kenna's Music Journey

Early Music: New Sacred Cow

Kenna released his first song, "Hell Bent," in 2001. It became quite popular and gained him many fans. These fans were excited for his first album, New Sacred Cow. The album was delayed many times. It was finally released in 2003 by Columbia Records. After the album came out, Kenna went on a tour in North America. He toured with Dave Gahan, the singer from Depeche Mode.

Chad Hugo from The Neptunes helped produce this album. The music mixed different styles like electronica and synthpop. Two more songs, "Sunday After You" and "Freetime," were released from the album. The music video for "Freetime" was sometimes shown on MTV2. "Freetime" even reached number 19 on the U.S. Dance charts.

In Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, there's a part about Kenna. It talks about how hard it was for his music to become widely known. This was true even though music experts and other musicians loved his songs.

Second Album: Make Sure They See My Face

Kenna's second album, Make Sure They See My Face, was also produced by Chad Hugo. Kenna spent three years writing it. It was released on October 16, 2007. The album's release was delayed because of issues with the music video for its first song.

The idea for the album came from Kenna's attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. He had to stop climbing at 18,200 feet because he got sick. The album's title came from Pharrell Williams. Pharrell would ask Kenna, "Are you going to make sure they see your face?" When it was released, the album became number one on the Billboard Top 20 Heatseekers Chart.

A song called "Face the Gun" was released to his fans earlier. It was later added to the album. Kenna also released "Better Wise Up" around the time of the Super Bowl.

Land 2 Air Chronicles and Songs for Flight

In 2011, Kenna shared plans to release a series of three EPs. These EPs were called Land 2 Air Chronicles. They were meant to lead up to his third album, Songs for Flight. Kenna described this as a "first ever musical journey."

The first EP, Chaos and the Darkness, was released on April 26, 2011. The first song from it was "Chains." Kenna had to re-record all the songs for this EP. This was because of a technical problem with his computer files.

The second part of the Land 2 Air Chronicles series had three EPs. ..... Four songs were released with these EPs. These included "Relations (An Ode To You And Me)" and "Long Gone." Kenna directed the music video for "Long Gone." It was shown on MTV in October 2012. A remix of "Relations" with Childish Gambino also came out.

Kenna announced the third and last part, called Genius. He shared a demo song from it called "Something to Break."

A song titled "Sleep When We Die" was released on July 15, 2015. It was first played on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 Radio show. Then it became available to download.

Other Music Projects

In 2006, Kenna's song "Out of Control (State of Emotion)" was played on the radio. This song was from his EP Black Goodbye Ride. It became available on iTunes in December 2006.

Kenna performed at the Live Earth concert in New Jersey in 2007. He also toured with Nelly Furtado.

Kenna has worked with other artists too. He collaborated with Lupe Fiasco on a remix of "Say Goodbye to Love." He also worked with The Cool Kids on a remix.

The song "Out of Control" was featured in the video games MLB 08 The Show and FIFA 08.

Kenna and Chad Hugo produced a song called "Pretty Please" for JoJo's 2010 mixtape.

Kenna was also in an advertisement for HP.

An unreleased song called "Never Let Me Down" was included on a charity album. This album was called Download to Donate for Haiti in 2010. The money from the album went to Music for Relief, a charity by Linkin Park. This album also had "Resurrection," a song with Lupe Fiasco.

Kenna also appeared in the music video for "Life Change." This was a song he made with Pharrell Williams and Clipse.

In 2010, Kenna and Chad Hugo worked with Kid Cudi on a song for a Street Fighter game. It was never officially released.

In 2013, Kenna released his version of the U2 song "Gloria." He put it on his SoundCloud page to try and reach Bono from U2. Bono is one of Kenna's biggest music inspirations. Bono called him shortly after.

Other Important Work

Summit on the Summit

Kenna learned about the worldwide water crisis. This crisis even affected his home village in Ethiopia. So, he started the SUMMIT ON THE SUMMIT project. On January 7, 2010, Kenna and his friends climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. These friends included Lupe Fiasco, Jessica Biel, and Emile Hirsch. They did this to bring attention to the water crisis. A documentary about their climb was shown on MTV in March 2010.

A new song called "Turn" was available for free download for a short time. It was later released on the iTunes Store in January 2010. Money from this song's sales goes to the SUMMIT ON THE SUMMIT project.

Myspace

Justin Timberlake, a friend and fellow musician, encouraged Kenna to join Myspace. Justin also invested in the new Myspace. Kenna took a job as the Chief Vision Officer at the company. In April 2013, Kenna was featured in Details Magazine. They called him one of their "Digital Mavericks" for his work in technology.

Translator Company

Kenna has a company called Translator. This company helps manage all of Kenna's different projects. This includes his music, technology work, and charity efforts. In March 2012, Translator worked with Myspace to put on a concert. It featured bands like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Mumford & Sons. This concert was at the annual South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Over 12,000 people attended the event. More than 1.3 million people watched it online. Kenna continues to work on and advise many projects alongside his music.

Kenna's Music List

Studio Albums

• New Sacred Cow (2003)
• Make Sure They See My Face (2007)

EPs (Extended Plays)

• The Black Goodbye EP (2007)
• Land 2 Air Chronicles I: Chaos and the Darkness (2011)

Songs with Other Artists