During his years in Catholic grade schools, he sang with the choir.  ("Everyone had to!" he laughs.)  On frequent family vacations in San Antonio he was exposed to classic country music by the likes of Tammie Wynette, Hank Williams and Jim Reeves.  And, at the age of 13, he took up the clarinet in the junior high school band and his father introduced him to the great music of the Big Band Era.  (It was about this time that Ken discovered that his paternal grandfather, the late Albert Slavin, was an accomplished alto saxophonist and had been a San Antonio bandleader in the 1920s and 1930s.)  He also spent years collecting and listening to classic pop and rock 'n' roll records from the 1950s and early 1960s.  He even went through a disco phase in high school which culminated in a summer job teaching ballroom dancing at Fred Astaire Dance Studio.

"My musical tastes were -- and are -- pretty much all over the map.  I think they somehow coalesced into my own personal style," he recalls.

He gave up the clarinet in high school to follow what he believed (at the time) were "more serious educational pursuits" and eventually graduated at the top of his class, earning five scholarships to help pay for college.  At St. Mary's University, where he was editor of the school newspaper and yearbook and a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, Ken joined The Shoestring Players, eventually starring in several productions -- although he never landed a singing lead.  He took to the stage like a fish takes to water.  But he never thought he would pursue an entertainment career after graduation.  "It didn't seem practical.  Despite being encouraged by my parents and friends to do 'something' with my voice, I was also a very serious student.  I dismissed any thoughts of going into show business and focused on a communications career.  I thought I would become a journalist or a teacher."

Earning a bachelor's degree cum laude in English-Communication Arts and winning a student journalism award from the American Newspaper Publishers Association, his first job was as a reporter at the now-defunct San Antonio Light.  After a year, he tried his hand at public relations and found that he enjoyed that particular career path.  Over time, he also tried his hand at radio news announcing and travel writing.  But he always felt that something was missing.

"I was miserable.  Strangely, despite trying many different approaches to my communications career, I was afraid to take a chance with my singing voice.   Therefore, I had no artistic outlet for several years. It was an unhappy time in my life," he recalls.

HIS FIRST BREAK
Then fate stepped in.  In early 1989 he met bassist George Prado, leader of the Regency Jazz Band at Dick's Last Resort on the San Antonio River Walk ("I became somewhat of a groupie!") and after listening and getting to know him and his band over several weeks, eventually mustered up the courage to ask if he could sing a song.  George agreed, letting Ken sing "Mack the Knife." Encouraged, Ken sat in with George's band for about a year, strictly as a guest.  Then on Valentine's Day 1990, George hired him to sub for the band's lead singer.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Since his professional debut nearly 20 years ago, he has made up for lost time by working everywhere possible as much as possible, memorizing hundreds of songs, partnering with veteran players, studying the vocal techniques of his favorite singers -- and taking as many musical chances as he can.  He believes that being "older than average" created a sense of "now or never" and jump-started his suppressed desire to sing.  As a result, he has become one of San Antonio's most popular and respected entertainers.

"I am happier now than I have ever been -- singing is my one real joy," Ken says.

His unique style, something he calls "jazz crooning," incorporates the best qualities of traditional pop and jazz vocal performance.  He has honed his craft by learning "on the job" with many of San Antonio¹s most seasoned jazz bands ­ including the Regency Jazz Band and Small World ­ playing everywhere from hamburger joints and church socials to concert halls and the Alamodome.  He also has played in Dallas, Houston, Austin and on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Ken has worked with the city's most accomplished jazz musicians, including his first mentor Prado, jazz guitarist Polly Harrison, her husband Hank (of the Tennessee Valley Authority), drummer and vocalist Kyle Keener, the late piano legend Joe Piscatelle, pianist Morris Nelms, pianist John Sheridan and drummer Eddie Torres (both formerly of the Jim Cullum Jazz Band), sax player Morgan King, pianist Andy Langham, bassist Chuck Moses, trumpet master Al Gomez, jazz violin legend Sebastian Campesi, drummer Kevin Hess and the hipper-than-hip Jazz Protagonists -- just to name a few!
 
KEN TODAY
Jim Beal, arts writer for the San Antonio Express-News, says Ken "has no peers" and that he is "quite possibly the city¹s top saloon singer" because of his intimate approach to his craft.  National and international reviewers have also been full of praise:  "Slavin is blessed with a haunting, broken-hearted baritone that reaches beneath the skin, crawling its way into the deepest recesses of your soul." (SHOTGUN REVIEWS); "His voice is stunning . . . Brimming with passion and soul, Slavin is not trying to sing like it's 1940; he simply sings, letting the emotional weight of every word, either lovelorn laments or unrestrained giddiness, leap from his silky throat." (ADAM HARRINGTON, BASED IN THE U.K.); "One of today's most exciting singers." (CD  BABY); "During an era when male jazz singers are few and far between, a new recording by Ken Slavin is a welcome event. . . Slavin loves to sing songs written long before he was born, standards from the 1930s through the 50s. Based in San Antonio, he (has) become established as arguably the city’s top jazz crooner or saloon singer." (SCOTT YANOW, LOS ANGELES JAZZ SCENE.)
 

In addition to many long-running gigs at local hotels and nightspots, Ken has appeared at most major concert venues in the city, including the historic Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, the Majestic Theatre, the Carver Cultural Center, the Ruth Taylor Concert Hall at Trinity University, the Josephine Theater and the Church Bistro & Theatre at King William.  He also has enjoyed recent success in Austin, billed as "The Music Capital of Texas," where he headlined for a year and a half at the swanky III Forks Restaurant and Lounge in the heart of the trendy Second Street District.

He has appeared eight times at the city's nationally renowned jazz festival, "Jazz'SAlive" at Travis Park (including three main stage appearances), and he has played many other notable outdoor events, including "Concert Under the Stars" at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, "Sunday Jazz at the Witte Museum" and the Fiesta Oyster Bake at St. Mary's University.

Ken has opened for jazz legends The Four Freshmen, David Sanborn, Chico Hamilton and Eddie Palmieri and pop legends The Platters, and many other famous musical acts.  He also has given private performances for recording stars Vikki Carr and Helen Reddy.  Through the years, he has even met and talked with some of his singing idols, including jazz singers Joe Williams and Kurt Elling, as well as the late great Bobby Short, the renowned cabaret star.

Local charities and non-profit organizations often enlist his talents for fundraising events, including the American Heart Association, the Leukemia Society, the USO, the Rotary Club, the San Antonio Public Library Foundation, the Children's Bereavement Center, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Any Baby Can and the YMCA.  He also has entertained thousands from floats on the San Antonio River Walk during the nationally televised Fiesta River Parade and the Christmas River Parade.

Over the years, Ken has starred in many self-produced concerts (including a six-year series benefiting the San Antonio AIDS Foundation), appeared on numerous TV and radio programs, and is in strong demand for galas, private parties, wedding receptions and other special events. 

Ken's CDs are included on numerous local radio play lists, including Trinity University's KRTU-FM and San Antonio College's KSYM-FM, and can be heard on select jazz stations around the country.  He has produced and released four critically acclaimed albums:  Fascinatin' Rhythm in 1992; Tender is the Night in 1996 (which raised thousands of dollars for the San Antonio AIDS Foundation); The Song is You in 2001 and I'll Take Romance in 2007.  His version of "Mack the Knife," recorded in 1992 and with which he regularly ends live performances, is featured in a 36-track, two-CD set, Música San Antonio, produced by the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau to market the Alamo City's eclectic music scene around the world. 

While he loves his adopted home town of San Antonio, he hopes that continued hard work, practice and seasoning will help him to eventually spread his musical wings beyond the Alamo City.  At the age of 47, he still contemplates going on the road one day, landing gigs on the two coasts and even overseas.  "I want to keep growing as a singer -- and see where it will take me," he says.