NAC Masters: Getting to Know Joey Kibble

NAC Masters

Getting to Know Joey Kibble

 

How did you end up at NAC?

 

I used to swim with HSA in Huntsville AL when I was in middle school. We would compete against NAC when Chas Morton was competing and used to dominate the sport. We were in the same age group, and unfortunately for me, I wasn’t as fast! After middle school, I lost interest and stepped away from swimming. I remember having to explain to the very fiery coach Fran Norris that I just didn’t want to do it. Years later, I would come to realize that I was actually living out my father’s desire to compete. I felt a lot of guilt about leaving swimming afterward, but I had not chosen to do it for myself. 

 

After graduating high school at Pine Forge in PA, I competed my Freshman year at Oakwood University before I was asked to replace one of the departing members of the vocal group, Take 6. I jumped at this opportunity because I’d always been a fan of Take 6, although my older brother is one of the original members, and because I had my own vocal group throughout high school. The group was signed to Warner Bros., Nashville division, so I had to move to Nashville where the group was based.  Once joining Take 6, and traveling the world for about 16 years, I decided that I wanted to do something beyond myself, like a triathlon! Lol. Setting that goal and working for it would cause me to readdress my love/hate relationship with swimming. 

 

It was while taking my young daughter to SwimAmerica that I found myself watching the Master’s Team practice that afternoon, and decided to get details about joining up. This move to swim again was MY decision. 

 

 

Where are you from and how did you come to Nashville?

 

I was born in Buffalo, NY. My father was a minister, so we moved around pretty often. We moved from Buffalo to Nashville, where I learned to swim at the Bordeaux YMCA. We moved to Huntsville, AL, and then to Dothan AL where I swam with the Dothan Dolphins. Then back to Huntsville swimming with HSA. As I mentioned earlier, I returned to Nashville upon joining Take 6. 

 

Tell us about your incredible musical background. 

 

Living in a minister’s household, we were exposed to music from the earliest age. Of course, it was the intent of my father that we listen only to sacred music, (with a few select secular artists that he personally enjoyed). But my older sister and brother were destined to sneak in Stevie Wonder, Sisters Sledge, Earth Wind and Fire and other records at the time. 

 

My older brother, Mark, has always been the lead arranger for his vocals groups, and I was there to listen to him bang out his tight, harmonic vocal arrangements there at home. I looked up to him. He taught me how to record vocal arrangements before we had access to a studio. We would take two tape recorders, and sing the first part into one. We’d play the first recorded part and sing the second part into the second tape recorder. We’d continue this process with the third, fourth, and any remaining parts. Although you could hear the vocal arrangement now, the end result of the sound quality was so bad from the noise of each recording, that you couldn’t play it for anyone but those that understood what we were doing and could appreciate it. Lol.

 

I practiced my skill with my own vocal groups, but I didn’t get started with these until later in life. I didn’t start singing in public until I was about 13 or 14, when Chas Morton was beating my socks off in swimming meets. But once I got to college, there was only so far I could go, because there was already a 6-member group called Take 6. But that’s when I was approached to replace Mervyn Warren, who was leaving the group to produce projects such as Handel’s Soulful Messiah, and the Sister Act movies. I guess the transition was fairly smooth for me, because my ear was already tuned to intricate harmonies. 

 

Take 6 went on to win 10 Grammys, 10 Dove Awards, NAACP awards. We’ve sung for 4 sitting US Presidents and have had the opportunity to meet many luminaries in the music industry such as Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, etc. 

 

What does swimming bring you? How does it help? What’s it like when you jump in? 

 

First, after having made peace with my swimming past, it felt great to come back to something that’s never left me. It was like closing a chapter on a stressful past that I felt guilty for leaving for many years. It took time to retrain myself, because although I retained muscle memory, I hadn’t retained muscle tone. Lol. Working in the pool helps clear my mind and refresh my perspective on life. The workout helps to release stress and release endorphins.

 

In training for a triathlon though, I had to make it work with the extensive travel that I have to do. That’s when I was turned on to  swimmersguide.com, which pinpointed any and all public and private pools in whatever area of the world I was traveling in. Now I had no excuse! 

 

Interestingly, jumping into the pool hasn’t changed since I was a child. There’s still the hesitation that it will be cold when I jump off the edge. But I’ve come to look forward to the jolt rather than loath it. As a life lesson, most new experiences or areas of business feel just the same. But just like swimming, your body will adjust and adapt as soon as you get in and get moving. You’ll find that there’s someone else who’s headed in a similar direction and you’re not alone in the pursuit of your goals. 

 

Biggest struggles during COVID? How has it changed your life? How has swimming helped?

 

Interestingly, COVID provided an environment of opportunities as much as it provided restrictions. How my life benefitted depended upon which I decided to focus upon. After having traveled for 30 years, I finally had to the opportunity to be at home with my family for an extended period of time. I’ve enjoyed touring, but the tour life can be very hard on the family unit. I found myself in later years not wanting to sacrifice my family for the means to provide for them. Once your kids grow up, you don’t get a redo. Covid let me know that I needed a few streams of income, and here was the opportunity to begin to engage them. The entertainment industry was hit hard just as every other sector was, and had to learn to adapt and adjust to the new temperature of society. But again, once you get in and get moving, even this industry can adjust. 

 

Swimming helped keep me focused on doing what’s best for my body and for my mind.  Before the pools opened up again with new protocol, I had to learn to make use of the opportunities that I DID have, and not focus on what I couldn’t have, even if it was to do an outside run, or inside exercise in my home. 

 

What thing about you would people be surprised to learn?

 

People are often surprised to hear the notable people we’ve been working with for years. Coach Ashley seemed intrigued by one story in particular. My brother and I co-own a studio in the basement of my house. At one point, we asked Stevie Wonder to play harmonica on a song we had arranged. But he was on a major world tour. We’re all friends, but he and my brother have been especially good friends through music collaborations. When he came through Nashville a few years ago, Mark, my brother, had asked that he come through the studio to quickly put down his part. Well, anyone who knows Stevie knows that his sense of time can be very different. His day often doesn’t center around the rising and setting of the sun as it does for those whose eyesight isn’t impaired, and he has a reputation for often being late. So when my brother let me know that he might be recording, my wife and I rushed to get the studio clean…not as though he would notice if items were out of place.We waited and waited, but fell asleep because Mark and his entourage decided to get food after the concert. It’s not uncommon for his session to be cancelled, or for him not to show up for one reason or another. But he did show up just after we gave up waiting for him. 

 

They recorded the whole part, took pictures and made jokes about being in my basement. I had about as much proof that he was there as I had of Santa coming down the chimney and recording in my studio. So I had a few choice words for my brother, who decided to let me sleep through it.