Ken Medema

For over four decades, Ken Medema has inspired people through storytelling and music. Though blind from birth, Ken sees and hears with heart and mind.

 Ken custom designs every musical moment of his performance with brilliant improvisation that defies description. With an ever-growing circle of friends worldwide, Ken's vocal and piano artistry and imagination have reached audiences of 50 to 50,000 in 49 United States and more than 15 countries on four continents.

From the time he was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ken has been unable to see with his physical eyes. His sight is limited to distinguishing between light and darkness and seeing fuzzy outlines of major objects. "As a kid, I was not widely accepted," he says, "and I spent a lot of time by myself. Because I have lived with some degree of being different all my life, I have some sympathy for disenfranchised people, whether they have been disabled or politically oppressed or whatever."

Music early became a significant component of Medema's life. "I started banging on the piano when I was five years old," he says, "making up crazy little fantasies on my mom's piano. When I was eight years old, my parents got me a wonderful teacher who taught me the classics with Braille music and taught me to play by ear." His teacher also taught him to improvise. "Every time I learned a piece, my teacher would tell me, 'Now, you improvise in that style.’ So, music became a second language."

After graduating from high school, Medema studied music therapy at Michigan State University in Lansing, where he concentrated heavily on performance skills in piano and voice. He worked as a music therapist in Fort Wayne, Indiana, returned to Michigan State for a master's degree (1969), then worked for four years as a music therapist at Essex County Hospital in New Jersey. It was while employed there that he began writing and performing his own songs. 

In 1973, Medema left his work as a therapist and began a performing and recording artist career. He recorded albums for Word and Shawnee Press; then, in 1985, he founded Brier Patch Music, an independent recording, publishing, and performance-booking company headquartered in Grandville, Michigan. To date, he has recorded over 40 albums, with his latest, Nothing Like the Rain, being released in CD and USB format.

 Ken and his wife, Jane, have been married since 1965 and live in the San Francisco Bay area of California. They have two married children and four grandchildren, Aaron and Sonya Medema (Charlotte and Henry) and Rachel and Dennis Gilchrist (Logan James and Fiona Lee).