KASANO grew up in South Minneapolis, also known as the Twin Cities, in the state of Minnesota. He attended Marcy Open School and South High School in Minneapolis. While attending both schools he was always a part of the theatre and dance community, and was a member of the high school jazz singing group. He appeared in school productions and continued on to study and receive his Bachelors degree in Theatre with a dance minor from the University of Minnesota, and also attended the study abroad program at University of Birmingham (UK).
KASANO has performed on stages in and around the Twin Cities as a current member of the Actor’s Equity Association, and has also performed as a company dancer for two local dance companies (Kinetic Evolutions, Contempo Physical Dance).
At the end of 2012 he was fortunate enough to be introduced to a local music producer by the name of Ben Obi (Savannah Street Music). They both had interest in teaming up to create what would end up being KASANO’s first ep States & Chapters. On October 26th of 2014 the rhythm and blues/pop ep was released, and it solidified a musical passion for KASANO within the recording industry.
He released one more single (“Do That”) with Savannah Street Music, then co-created a band called Kasano & The Vybes. The music genre slightly shifting from just rhythm and blues with pop to a sound that had a bit more funk. Now working with producer Drew Lerdal (In The Groove Music), Kasano & The Vybes released two singles in late September of 2017 (“Make Your Fantasy True” & “Full Speed Ahead”). A music video for “Full Speed Ahead” followed the release in December.
Two singles were also released in 2018 (“Beach Waves” & “Rut”) as the band experimented with a pop-funk sound versus a funk-soul sound. Kasano & The Vybes is currently working on a full-length album.
KASANO and Lerdal, during the band’s genre experimentation and separate from the band, played around with a sound. They called it swag-rock; A genre that uses soulful vocals dripping with attitude and passion, but then enveloped in the edgy and driving power of rock. It produced more than enough inspiration for the two to passionately develop music to match the genre. In October of 2019 “Back Down” was released as a single. It was created to be a swag-rock anthem that caters to those who value independence, and don’t seek validation.
Together they have created a nine-track swag-rock ep titled Pull It Together. The ep is set to release sometime in May of 2020 with “Back Down” being one of the nine tracks. Rumor has it that the title track will be released as a single prior to the full ep release.
