John Kim Faye

As one of the only mixed-race Asian American frontmen to sign a major recording contract in the 90’s heyday of alternative rock, John Kim Faye released two albums on A&M Records with his band the Caulfields, landing a lucrative publishing deal with Warner-Chappell, and touring nationally and internationally.  On the strength of the top-40 modern rock radio hit “Devil’s Diary” from the band’s debut album "Whirligig," the Caulfields traversed the globe in 1995, performing throughout the US, Canada, and Australia, regularly appearing alongside the biggest names in 90’s rock. A 1997 sophomore album - "L " - saw the band standing on the precipice of a major breakthrough in America.. until the firing of the band’s A&R man, corporate mergers, and interpersonal issues broke up the Caulfields six months after the release of the album. John Faye was at the most important crossroads of his life and it might have been understandable if he decided to pack it in, but, instead, he made the decision to press on and he forged a prolific, meaningful career as an independent artist that continues to this day. John has seen the music business from every conceivable angle - not only from the cusps of identity, race, and fame, but from deep in the trenches of DIY guerrilla warfare. With more than 15 official releases over the span of his 30+ years as a professional musician, Faye sees it like this: “It’s OK if I don’t become a household name,” he declares. “It’s way more important that I continue using my voice to write and sing about the things that mean something to me.” In addition to being a band leader, multi-instrumentalist, and advocate for the “musical middle class,” John has been a producer, a vocal coach, a rock school band coach, an open mic host, and a songwriting professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he shared his experiences and mentored hundreds of aspiring musicians for 16 years. It took almost six years for Faye to take his memoir "The Yin and the Yang of it All" from its conception through to publication. As he reflects back on that crossroads in the 90’s when he decided he was a music “lifer,” he realizes that his was a journey of discovering and using his voice in a world where he so often felt invisible and silenced as a kid. "My musical life could have been over after my proverbial "fifteen minutes" was up, but I’ll take the life where I get to make fifteen records - that give my voice a place to flourish - over fifteen minutes of fame any day.” John Kim Faye is a father of two and lives in Jenkintown, PA, just outside of Philadelphia.