With a career spanning more than 60 years, Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne is one of the finest pianists on the scene today. Though boogie-woogie is central to his work, Kenny is a master of many styles.
Born and raised in the US, Kenny has made his home in Canada for over 20 years. He now resides in Calgary.
Over the years Kenny has performed with and shared the stage with many of the world’s most influential blues and rock pioneers, including Jimmy Reed, Pinetop Perkins, Johnnie Johnson, Big Joe Duskin, Joe Louis Walker and Floyd Dixon, and as a guest performer with well-known rock and soul artists that have included Ike Turner, Sly and the Family Stone, Delaney and Bonnie and members of Santana and the Doobie Brothers. As a touring performer, he has played to knowledgeable and appreciative blues audiences on four continents and has been profiled by music journalists in Europe and North America.
Kenny has released close to a dozen recordings and received many accolades, including seven Maple Blues Awards for ‘piano player of the year,’ three keyboard awards from Living Blues magazine, a Juno Award for Best Blues Album, and in 2017, he was inducted into the Boogie–Woogie Piano Hall of Fame while performing at the Cincy Blues Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was named 2021 Blues Artist of the year by the Western Canadian Music Awards and the Washington State Virtual Showdown. In 2023 he received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Jus Blues Music Foundation in Atlanta, and in 2024 he received the ‘Pinetop Perkins Piano Player’ award in Memphis at the prestigious Blues Music Awards.
The Blues Boss has been on many covers of blues magazines worldwide including the most recently the Living Blues Magazine 2022 June/July issue.
This concert is a proud Calgary Arts Community Co-Presentation with:
Calgary Blues Music Association and the Calgary International Bluesfest 2026