Drummer and music producer Keith Harris says the thing he loves most about music is the freedom it gives him, and that it is the ultimate form of expression.
When thinking back over his 20-year career as a producer and drummer with the musical group the Black-Eyed Peas, he describes it as a global language, that transcends around the world.
Harris has produced hits for many musical artists like the Black-Eyed Peas, Will.i.am, Fergie, Estelle, Robin Thicke, Usher, Madonna, Chrisette Michelle, and many more. He also performs and produces music for his own musical act “The Keith Harris Experience.”
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The Keith Harris Experience will be performing in Los Angeles at the Tiny Room, on Monday, April 1 in Inglewood, located at 6819 West Blvd. Harris says he is also scheduled to release a new single in May, and an album in September.
Harris, who is originally from Chicago, IL, says he began playing drums in church at around ten-years-old, and he also attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He remembers church giving him the access to several different instruments and an opportunity to learn to play them, because his family didn’t have the finances to pay for them on their own.
“The great thing about church is that in one gospel song, you can go through seven styles of music from Bossa Nova to straight rock,” said Harris. “It really gives me a diverse sense of rhythm and playing. Church is very challenging, and the musical arrangements are not the easiest.”
He says when he attended Berklee, he was exposed to other genres of music by his classmates. “I had multicultural friends, and they would share what they were listening to, and we would all learn each other’s music, and that really expanded my musical palette,” said Harris.
He says of the many styles of music he listened to funk was his favorite, particularly James Brown, Parliament, and Funkadelic.
“Funk and soul really stick to my heart, especially being from Chicago,” said Harris.
After Berklee, Harris says he began working with the Black-Eyed Peas in 2003, following a meeting with their then musical director Printz Board. He remembers Board asking him to fill in for a drummer for his then band, Star 69, then two weeks later being asked to take over for the drummer of the Black-Eyed Peas.
“Printz Board called me and said, ‘hey, do you want to play for us [The Black-Eyed Peas],’ and I was like, ‘okay, yeah, I’ll do it no problem,”’ said Harris.
In addition to his drumming duties, Harris is a music producer and songwriter, as mentioned earlier. He says songs filled with messages of love and appreciation are his favorite.
“That’s who I am,” said Harris. “Everyone wants to feel love and accepted, and I think those are the songs that last.”
There are two songs, in his music catalogue, Harris feels has those messages, Fergie’s “All That I Got,” and Estelle’s “American Boy.”
“Those are universal songs, and everyone wants to feel those feelings,” said Harris.
Harris says in the future he would love to release more of his own music, and possibly even sing on a project. He even recalls doing some background vocals on his first album “The Keith Harris Project Volume I.”
“I would really love to continue to release my music as a producer, and just as a musician, and songs I feel I want to release, and that doesn’t have to follow anybody else’s category but my own,” said Harris.
For more information on musician, producer, and songwriter Keith Harris, and the upcoming Keith Harris Experience performance at the Tiny Room on April 1, visit https://www.keithharris.life.
