Kevin Mark Trail supplied the soulful vocals that helped define the Streets’ groundbreaking debut, Original Pirate Material, while also pursuing a short-lived yet widely praised solo path during the mid-noughties. Wembley, North West London, was his birthplace in 1980, where Jamaican parents raised him on the reggae sounds his mother cherished most—Bob Marley and Gregory Isaacs—alongside the soul stylings of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Mike Skinner brought him into the fold, placing his voice on two cuts from the Streets’ award-winning first album, “Let’s Push Things Forward” and “Same Old Thing,” a collaboration that secured Trail a solo contract with EMI in 2004. Dan Carey, known for his work with Sly & Robbie, produced the resulting record, Just Living, which earned strong reviews yet modest commercial returns; after Trail opened U.K. dates for Beverley Knight, N.E.R.D., and Massive Attack, the label ended the arrangement. He has remained part of the Streets’ touring circle and later contributed to “Eastern Eyes” on Nitin Sawhney’s Human album, before issuing his own acoustic EP, Sketches, independently in 2007.
