San Diego Reader

Kevin Cavanaugh: Piano

Genre: Covers | Standards, Rock

RIYL: Burt Bacharach, Frank Sinatra, the Smiths, Marshall Crenshaw, Tom Waits, Sparks

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Related Links

• Blue Velvet website

• Kevin Cavanaugh MySpace page

Synoposis

Inception: San Diego, 1996

Influences: Burt Bacharach, Frank Sinatra, the Fifth Dimension, ABBA, the Human League, Julie London, the Killers, the Smiths, Marshall Crenshaw, B-52s, the Carpenters, the Icicles, Tom Waits, Sergio Mendes, Petula Clark, Carole King, Sparks

Background:

Retro lounge act Blue Velvet plays the music of performers like Burt Bacharach, Frank Sinatra, the Fifth Dimension, ABBA, and even the Human League.

The band formed in 1996, while founder Kevin Cavanaugh was writing and directing a variety dinner theatre show in Kentwood, Michigan called Expect the Unexpected. A last minute addition to the show featured Cavanaugh’s song “Out To Lunch,” staged by him with two female vocalists styled after Doris Day. After the show, the trio decided to launch their own act as Blue Velvet.

In June 2006, the band appeared on the NBC TV show America's Got Talent.