Kevin Olusola: From Medicine To Grammy Award Winner

Name: Kevin Olusola

Born: October 5, 1988 (age 27)

Genres: Classical, pop, rock, jazz, a cappella

Occupation: Beatboxer, multi-instrumentalist, singer

Instruments: Beatboxing, cello, saxophone, piano, vocals

Years active: 2011-present

Labels: Madison Gate Records, RCA Records

Associated acts: Pentatonix Triptyq

Languages: English (Native), Chinese (Fluent), Spanish (reading proficiency), French (beginner), Yoruba (beginner)

beat·box/ˈbētbäks/ (imitate the sounds of a drum machine with the voice)






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TRAIL BLAZER When it comes to breaking boundaries in the world of music, Kevin “K.O.” Olusola is no stranger. He is best known as the beat boxer of the Grammy-winning vocal quintet Pentatonix. Pentatonix’s most recent release, the platinum selling album That’s Christmas to Me, was the #1 holiday album in the country and featured the title track written wholly by the group. The six videos in support of the holiday album have been viewed more than 64 million times. The group has eclipsed 7 million YouTube subscribers (more than both Avicii and Beyoncé), with more than 800 million cumulative views. Their music video for “Daft Punk” has been viewed more than 100 million times and the medley earned the group their first Grammy win. To date, Pentatonix has released 5 albums, each landing in the top 15 of Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart and cumulatively selling roughly 1.7 million albums. Continuing.... BEAT BOXER Kevin Olusola is an American cellist, beatboxer, songwriter, record producer, singer, and rapper. Olusola is best known as the beatboxer of the vocal band Pentatonix. After the group won NBC’s The Sing-Off in 2011, they released five albums which all charted in the top 5 of the Billboard 200 charts, have sold over 2 million records and have amassed more than one billion views on their YouTube channel. Olusola has also been identified as developing the art of “celloboxing” (playing cello and beatboxing simultaneously). His celloboxing version of Mark Summer’s “Julie-O” went viral in April 2011, which led him to become involved with Pentatonix. Olusola has performed at classical musical festivals such as the Amsterdam Cello Biennale and the Kronberg Academy Festival, opened the TED Conference in Vancouver, and was chosen by Quincy Jones to represent him in concert at the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival on the same program as Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea. Olusola is fluent in Mandarin. Continuing.... NAIJA BOY Olusola was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, to Nigerian-born Oluwole Olusola, a psychiatrist, and Grenadian-born Curline Paul, a nurse. At that time, his father had just come from medical school in Nigeria and an internship in Trinidad and Tobago to Loma Linda University (a Seventh-day Adventist institution), where he met his wife while she was doing her MPH. After they married, they moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania (where Kevin’s sister Candace was born) for a short period of time, and then to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for his father to finish residency at Albert Einstein Medical Center (where Kevin’s brother Kellon was born). Olusola started his education at Greater Philadelphia Junior Academy, but his family eventually moved to Owensboro, Kentucky where he was raised. Continuing... HE WAS BORN THAT WAY Olusola’s parents discovered his musical talent when he was six months old and decided to put him in music lessons. He started the piano at age 4, the cello at age 6, and alto saxophone at age 10. He was heavily involved in music programs throughout grade school at Owensboro, Kentucky, in school and the community participating in jazz band, marching band, concert band, orchestra, and community youth orchestra. When Olusola was 12 years old, he was selected as the principal saxophonist of the United States Collegiate Wind Band and toured Europe during the summer for three weeks. He was also the principal cellist of the Kentucky State Youth Orchestra and received the highest honor at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts. He soloed and performed in a piano trio at Carnegie Hall as the winner of the American Fine Arts Festival, and soloed a second time on alto saxophone for PBS’s special “From the Top at Carnegie Hall”. Continuing...