Episode 108 Kory Livingstone

Kory Livingstone, Juno Award nominee, composer, educator, pianist & vocalist was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, one of the world’s most culturally diverse cities and home to the Bluejays, Leafs, and Raptors. In his teens he discovered the great jazz innovators Thelonious Monk, Bill Evan; the rhythm of James Brown and the genius of Bach, Beethoven and Arnold  Schoenburg. These were who helped Kory make music his calling in life. "My first professional job as as musician was playing organ in an R&B band at a birthday party. We made two bucks each, which seemed a lot of money at the time. Man, it was a blast!” In Kory’s early career as a pro, he sang and played piano in the piano bars that accented just about every hotel and club in Toronto. This was where he learned the music business; performing 6 nights a week, in an environment of thick cigarette smoke and booze. As an entrepreneur, Kory founded the Toronto High School for the Performing - an independent school where students combined the study of academics and the performing arts. Graduates include Keanu Reeves (Matrix) Cree Summer Francks (Different World) and Karen Fox the youngest person ever to be accepted into Sarah Lawrence University. Recently Kory has returned to York University to realize his life-long dream of becoming fully bilingual in French. He also enrolled in an advanced composition course as well. His goal in this regard is to have access to the wealth of musicians, singers, choirs, and arrangers on campus, to experiment with in his compositions. He also expects to pick up additional tricks of the trade to add to his personal arsenal of composing skills. "Now is the time to start working on your goals because "The time will never be right.”" To learn more about Kory Livingstone and his work, please visit korylivingstone.com or email kory@korylivngstone.com.