Kevin Skinner

Biography

These are happy times in Dublin, Kentucky, a hamlet of about 200 in the westernmost part of the state. Yes, the recession has hit here as everywhere and disposable income, always meager in this farming community, is a little shorter than usual. But Dublin resident Kevin Skinner was the big winner in the September 2009 America`s Got Talent. He and his wife Kristen returned from their triumph to find everyone celebrating this local singer-songwriter`s success.

Patrick Kevin Skinner was born near Dublin to Jacklin and Joe Skinner on Feb. 25, 1974. Music was a part of family life.

His mother Jackie, like her husband a guitarist, says she insisted that all four of the Skinner children get music lessons. "I told Joe the music lessons would cost him less than alimony," she says.

The lessons took. Oldest son Rodney is an accomplished acoustic and electric guitarist. Second son Michael went on to earn a master`s degree in piano at the University of Notre Dame. Daughter Jennifer sings beautifully and writes.

And then there`s Kevin, the fourth child. Kevin so loved singing and playing acoustic and electric guitar that he refused to give up on his dream of making a living with his music. So while he worked on farms, mowed lawns and caught chickens as day jobs, he worked nights, too. He formed a band, Skinner and Friends, and sang and played at Hill`s Bar-B-Que in Mayfield and Wrangler`s Campground at Land between the Lakes. He drove the two hours to Nashville to sing at open mic nights, hoping to get more jobs. While making a living for his wife and two children, he still performed his music.

All the while, he had the support, and often the participation, of his family.

When the NBC reality series America`s Got Talent held auditions at Harrah`s in nearby Metropolis, Illinois, Kevin answered the call. In Illinois, and later in Las Vegas and Hollywood, he made a lasting impression. Judges and audiences saw the plain man in the straw hat and jeans, heard the down-home dialect of western Kentucky, and prepared to dismiss Kevin. But that was before he sang and played.

Unpretentious and open, Kevin displayed a remarkable ability to move an audience with his songs. In the end, that quality garnered him millions of votes from viewers and the first prize. Fans took him to their hearts and their Facebook pages, even raising money to buy him an early 2009 Christmas gift: a $5,500 guitar.

Through it all, Kevin Skinner remains humble, still unaffected, still serious about his music, still hoping to share his talent with audiences all over the world.