Conspirator
Kevin Hearn
Keyboardist of Barenaked Ladies, and Lou Reed’s keyboardist and musical director from 2007 to 2013. We played in Lou’s band together from 2008.
Kevin Hearn (born 1969, Grimsby, Ontario) is a Canadian keyboardist, guitarist and composer based in Toronto, a member of Barenaked Ladies since 1995 and of Rheostatics, and leader of Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He joined Lou Reed’s live band in 2007 and was Reed’s keyboardist and musical director until Reed’s death in 2013; their friendship began in 2001 with a phone call from Reed during Hearn’s treatment for leukemia. His solo records include Mothball Mint, H-Wing and Days in Frames, which carries “Floating,” a song about time spent with Reed in the hospital, recorded with Reed band members Fernando Saunders, Tony “Thunder” Smith, Mike Rathke and Aram Bajakian.
Rob Wasserman’s upright electric bass, Kevin Hearn’s string/horn patches, Sarth Calhoun’s invisible Macbookery, and guitarist Steve Hunter’s fiery if decidedly inside-the-box solos.
Jesse Jarnow, The Village Voice, May 6, 2008, on the Highline Ballroom show
Lou Reed’s band
He was in the band around Lou at the first rehearsals at SIR in New York in April 2008: keyboards, mandolin, accordion and backing vocals on the spring 2008 U.S. tour, keyboards at Lollapalooza 2009, and keys in the eight-piece band on the 2011 European tour. On March 2, 2023, Lou Reed’s 81st birthday, we played a guest performance together at the Brookfield Place Winter Garden with Shahzad Ismaily and Laurie Anderson, against Lou Reed’s Musical Drones performed by Stewart Hurwood.
The creditKevin Hearn and Sarth Calhoun played together in Lou Reed’s band: the spring 2008 U.S. tour, Lollapalooza 2009 (on the DVD Lou Reed Live at Lollapalooza 2009), the 2011 European tour, and the Winter Garden guest performance for Reed’s 81st birthday, March 2, 2023.
Left to rightRob Wasserman, Mike Rathke, Lou Reed, Sarth Calhoun, Tony “Thunder” Smith, John Zorn, Steve Hunter, Kevin Hearn. Highline Ballroom, May 5, 2008. Named by Sarth Calhoun, September 23, 2026. Photo: Mark McGauley.
My thoughts
The profile is from public sources, linked where they appear. What we made is the record on this site and the sources cited above.