1982–1989: Early years

Kevin Gilbert was an accomplished composer, singer, producer and instrumentalist who played keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, cello, and drums. In 1982, he and Jason Hubbard formed N.R.G. and in 1984 released the eponymous No Reasons Given album. Between 1984 and 1987 he self-released four albums as Kai Gilbert.^[2]

He toured with Eddie Money on his "Can't Hold Back" tour in 1986-87 before entering the 1988 Yamaha International Rock Music Competition with his progressive rock group Giraffe. Although Giraffe placed 2nd^[3] (winner was the Australian rock band Janz^[4][5]), Kevin was considered the popular winner of the night.^[6] Producer Patrick Leonard was impressed with Gilbert's performance at the competition and invited him to join him in forming a new band which became Toy Matinee. During this time, Gilbert worked on the projects of several established pop musicians, including Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Keith Emerson, acting as producer for the latter's album Changing States.

1990: Toy Matinee

The lone Toy Matinee album was recorded throughout 1989 and released in 1990 but received no initial promotion or support from the record label. Minus Leonard, Gilbert assembled a new backing band to play live shows to promote the album. This band included guitarist Marc Bonilla (whom Gilbert would work extensively with in the early 1990s), bassist Spencer Campbell, drummer Toss Panos, and his soon-to-be-girlfriend keyboardist Sheryl Crow. This band toured local Los Angeles area radio stations in late 1990, also where they established a great relationship with radio legends Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps of The Mark and Brian Show. Their first performance of this touring incarnation was the annual Mark and Brian Christmas Show on December 17, 1990. They then did a western U.S. concert tour in the spring of 1991, which ended because of a legal action taken by band co-founder Pat Leonard, who was unable to tour with the band because of his prior commitment of producing and recording Roger Waters' Amused to Death album in London, England. Gilbert was the only of the original Toy Matinee members who was able to or wanted to tour, partially for promotional reasons. His efforts resulted in the release of two successful singles, "The Ballad of Jenny Ledge" and "Last Plane Out."

1994: Tuesday Night Music Club

Later, Gilbert was part of the songwriting collective "The Tuesday Music Club" that met at producer Bill Bottrell's studio in Pasadena, California.^[7] Gilbert introduced his then-girlfriend Sheryl Crow to Bottrell and his fellow Club musicians and the sessions allowed Crow to workshop new material, leading to the recording of her breakthrough debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club. Gilbert co-wrote many of the songs on that album, including 1995 Grammy Record of the Year "All I Wanna Do". Crow later acrimoniously split with most of the musicians in the collective and only producer Bottrell and drummer Brian MacLeod were involved in her follow-up album. Meanwhile, the remainder of the collective worked with singer-songwriters Susanna Hoffs and Linda Perry on two more albums.

1995: Thud and reforming Giraffe

Gilbert continued to work in television and movie soundtracks (under the name Matthew Delgado^[8]), studio sessions, production, and eventually released his first solo album Thud (1995) as well as partially reforming Giraffe to perform the Genesis double album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway at Progfest '94. Gilbert's manager sent a copy of the recording to Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford who were searching for a new frontman to replace Phil Collins. According to Dave Kerzner in a 2020 interview (who now has a relationship with Banks and was also a member of Gilbert's band Thud and his "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" performance), the band said they were "amused" of the performance, but it did not progress anywhere beyond that.^[9]

1996: Final years

Throughout 1996, Gilbert would continue recording his The Shaming of the True album (which would be completed and released in 2000 by friend and bandmate Nick D'Virigilio and producer/engineer John Cuniberti). He also began a new project with former Toy Matinee bandmate, drummer Brian MacLeod. This project was known as Kaviar. It consisted of numerous collaborators, and was notably a sonic departure from Gilbert's previous work, consisting of darker lyrical topics and heavier musicianship. This band's recordings were released posthumously in the form of the album entitled "The Kaviar Sessions" in 2002, then released again on Vinyl and CD in 2022 with the new title as simply "Kaviar" (which also included some bonus tracks and remastering).

On May 18, 1996, Gilbert was found dead at his home just outside of Los Angeles. The coroner listed the cause of death as "asphyxia due to partial suspension hanging" and concluded the death was accidental and not a suicide. This manner of death is known as autoerotic asphyxiation, and the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office reports four or five such deaths a year.^[1]

1999–2014: Posthumous releases

Several albums of Gilbert's music have been released posthumously, beginning in 1999 with the live album Welcome to Joytown – Thud: Live at The Troubadour (consisting primarily of songs from Thud) and a compilation of Giraffe material that he had been working on.

Gilbert's second solo album, The Shaming of the True, (2000) was also released posthumously. The album was largely incomplete, but Gilbert's estate asked Nick D'Virgilio (a former member of Thud, the Giraffe Progfest '94 gig, Spock's Beard drummer and close friend of Gilbert's) and producer/engineer John Cuniberti to complete it, based upon the extant tapes and the album planning notes left by Gilbert.^[10] Following this, an "industrial" album of music performed by Gilbert's group, Kaviar, was released in 2002. Nick D'Virgilio performed the entire The Shaming of the True album in concert twice, first at the ProgWest festival in 2002 and again at Whittier College in 2012.^[11]

In October 2009, three new works were released; Nuts and Bolts (collectively a body of mostly unreleased songs and mixes, released as two individual CD albums) and Welcome to Joytown – Thud: Live at The Troubadour, a DVD/CD which expanded on the original 1999 release. A live performance from Gilbert's promotional group for Toy Matinee was made available in March 2010, and late 2011 saw a deluxe expanded release of The Shaming of the True with additional orchestration and engineering by Mark Hornsby. In 2012, the two Giraffe albums and 1984's No Reasons Given were re-issued with complete re-mastering from the original analog tapes. Late 2014 saw a similar expanded release of Thud and a one-time vinyl pressing.

2021–present: Call Me Kai

A box set of the Giraffe albums and a DVD with video footage of the band and their performances was released in early 2021, and also a vinyl release of The Shaming of the True. A 4-CD box set of Gilbert's earlier work, Call Me Kai, was released later in the same year, along with a CD collection of cover songs Gilbert had recorded over the years.

Studio albums

• Decent Exposure (1985)
• Sometimes Why (1986)
• Point Blank (1987)
• Thud (1995)

Posthumous studio albums

• The Shaming of the True (2000)
• Nuts (2009)
• Bolts (2009)

Live albums

• Welcome to Joytown – Thud: Live at The Troubadour (1999)
• Beer Jam 2 with Mickey Sorey (2022)

Compilation albums

• Mixed Bag (1987)
• Covers (2021)
• Thud Acoustic (2023)
• Thud Alternative (2023)

Box sets

• Call Me Kai (2021)

with N.R.G.

• No Reasons Given (1984)
• Live at Keystone Palo Alto, California 1982 (2022)

with Giraffe

• The Power of Suggestion (1987)
• The View From Here (1988)
• Giraffe (1999)
• A 20th Anniversary Performance Of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (2014)
• Giraffe (2021)
• Live At Cactus Club San Jose, California 1989 (2023)

with Toy Matinee

• Toy Matinee (1990)
• Toy Matinee Acoustic (2010)
• Kevin Gilbert Performs Toy Matinee Live (2010)

with Marc Bonilla

• EE Ticket (1991)
• "Mephisto" (1993)

with Sheryl Crow

• Tuesday Night Music Club (1993)

with Kaviar

• The Kaviar Sessions (2002; recorded 1996), rereleased with bonus tracks (2023)
• Demos, Outtakes & Alternative Mixes (2023)

Guest appearances

Films

Television