Contemporary soul singer T.K. Soul has built a loyal grassroots following for his music that mixes R&B traditions with modern-day attitude and hip-hop accents. Born Terrence Kimble in Winnfield, Louisiana on August 26, 1964, like most of us, Kimble from a young age had a keen ear for music, and soaked up the influences of soul, funk, and R&B artists ranging from Stevie Wonder, the Jackson Five, Al Green, Maze, Rick James and Prince. However when he was ten years old, Kimble picked up a guitar, and discovered he could easily play it by ear. Before long, he was also playing keyboards, drums, and bass, and by the time he was in junior high, he had already been recruited to play in the local high school’s band.
Music became the dominant force in Kimble’s life, as he juggled gigs with school bands, church choir, and local R&B acts. After a painful breakup with his girlfriend, he began writing songs, and while DJ’ing at clubs and parties, he began singing his own songs during breaks.
Kimble began looking for a record contract, but his inexperience in the music business kept him on the sidelines for close to a decade, after a while he began touring with R&B and funk acts as a sideman, and while performing with the band called Under 21 (who would later record for Motown under the name Profyle), he was scouted by the manager of the successful Houston-based vocal group H-Town. Kimble signed on to play keyboards with the group, while writing songs in his spare time.
After his run with H-Town ended, Kimble began serving as a musical director at a house of worship for a while before returning to the road when he was hired to play keyboards for soul-blues singer Willie Clayton, and it wasn’t long before Clayton was recording some of Kimble’s material, including “Wiggle in the Middle” and “Party Like We Used To.”
After five years with Clayton, Kimble decided it was time to strike out on his own. Adopting the stage name T.K. Soul, he cut his solo debut single, 2002’s “One Woman Man,” and released it through his own label, Soulful Records. Soul’s “One Woman Man,” and his 2003 follow-up, The Bad Boy of Southern Soul, helped generate a buzz about Soul on the soul-blues circuit.
In 2004 Soul recorded “Love Games” album which proved to be a breakthrough that generated several regional hits for him, including “Cheating and Lying” and “You Ring My Bell.” His next album, ‘Undisputed’ rose to number #85 on the R&B album chart, and peaked at number nine on the blues album chart. The Evolution of Soul album followed in 2009, as Soul continued to fill nightclubs and play festivals and theme cruises as a powerful live act. Soul also expanded his Soulful Records label, signing other artists such as Magic One, Nikita, and Rhomey.
Despite his burgeoning busy schedule, Soul remained prolific in the 2010’s, performing and releasing new albums including 2014’s ‘Ghetto Superstar,’ ‘Life After Love’ in 2014 and ‘The Legacy’ in 2016. Last year Soul dropped ‘Chocolate Jamz’
T.K. Soul has now followed up his ‘Chocolate Jamz’ collection from 2020 with the similarly-themed current album, ‘Strawberry Jamz,’ released early this year, this single,”Bring The Freak Out” is the first selection to drop from the album.
