Musicians - Darais Kemp

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	Musicians - Darais Kemp

Darais James Kemp (b. April 6, 1977 - d. December 31, 1999) was an underground alternative rock singer of the late 1990s. Kemp was on the verge of a mainstream breakthrough with his debut album, Sweet Sweet, but died of a heroin overdose a week before the record was due to be released. Sadly, because of this, Kemp's music is virtually unknown aside from a few vigilant file sharers on MP3 trading services.

The only major interview he conducted during his lifetime was with the now-extinct Babydoll fanzine. In the interview, Kemp revealed that his father abandoned his family at the age of three, and that his mother was never around because she worked several jobs and attended college to get a law degree. A quiet child, he took solace in books, devouring every printed word he could obtain; the works of Roald Dahl and Judy Blume, then later, Oscar Wilde and George Orwell, were particular favorites.

At the age of ten, a family friend purchased Darais a Fernandes Stratocaster electric guitar, and he quickly became a competent guitarist, teaching himself to play songs by his then-favorite bands, The Beatles and The Cars. In 1988, inspired by indie-rock bands such as Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, and the Pixies, Kemp began writing original songs. After becoming a social pariah during high school when he was revealed to be bisexual, Kemp threw himself even more into his music, learning how to play piano and becoming a major force in the Los Angeles underground punk scene. He was known for his violent, feedback-drenched live performances.

Though mainstream success eluded Kemp for much of the 90's, by 1998, he began to receive a smattering of attention, including a brief mention on the BBC. By this point, his sound had softened somewhat, and a heady mixture of hardcore punk, dream pop, noise pop and psychedelia had begun to gel. In the spring of 1999, Kemp began recording what was intended to be his debut album, and spent much of that year in the studio. After the record was completed, Kemp began making plans to release the album himself. Unfortunately, Darais (who had been a drug user since the age of fifteen) died in his Los Angeles apartment before a single copy of Sweet Sweet was ever pressed.

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