BIO

John Kamys is an award-winning composer, songwriter, vocalist, performing and visual artist and creative consultant.

He has written and produced over one-hundred songs, one musical, composed numerous works for small ensemble - often as incidental music for dramatic theater, directed for video and the stage, and served a three-year appointment as composer and music director for the Goodman Theatre’s annual production of A Christmas Carol.  He has performed in films and video and on television; he has also toured internationally as a solo artist and with the band Jinx Titanic. As a creative consultant, his focus lies primarily within the Beauty, Fashion, and Fragrance Industries, and his extensive work in this area includes four years as Artistic Director and Show Producer for Sally Beauty Company, the world’s largest retailer of professional beauty supplies. 

He received his first Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Best Original Music for the play Cloud Tectonics (1996).  He subsequently won the award for Best Original Music for the play El Paso Blue (1998).

A 1999 Best New Artist GLAMA nominee, he has since released seven long-playing recordings of original songs, performing on six under the pseudonym “Jinx Titanic,” and several extended-play and single recordings, often with guest artists, under the moniker “Alpine Skiing at the 1952 Winter Olympics.” His recordings have received three OMA nominations and the OMA for Outstanding Production. Several songs from these recordings can be heard on feature film soundtracks, as well as in television programs.

The 2008 documentary short Stirring Water marked his debut as a filmmaker and subsequent foray into microcinema and multi-media. Shot on location in and around Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Stirring Water combined elements of classic newsreel/travelogue style shooting and silent-era intertitling, unified by a soundscape of field recordings and original music. It received its world premiere as a documentary finalist at the 2009 Washington, D.C. Independent Film Festival.

John Kamys was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is a graduate of DePaul University. He is a member of The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). His recorded works are administered through Big Dixie Publishing (ASCAP).