Kent Washburn (died October 2021) joined The Shadow Lake 8 Orchestra in the fall of 1960, and remained with the group, functioning as the leader from 1962 through 1967. He then began traveling, playing in various lounge acts in such places as the Stardust in Las Vegas, and Harrah’s Club in Reno and Lake Tahoe. He eventually became a successful record producer, cutting artists for RCA (Charles Drain and a girls group called The Love Set), Warner Bros (The Hypnotics), and Motown (Hi Inergy, Major Lance). He hit pay dirt with Hi Inergy when they topped the R&B charts in 1977 and their album “Turnin’ On” achieved Gold Record Status in 1978.
Kent left Motown in 1979 and started a Gospel label with Philip Nicholas. That label was called [l118606] and through the years garnered Billboard’s Album of the Year Award (Gospel) on the album “Dedicated”, recorded by the group Nicholas. His productions also received three Grammy Nominations, (“Dedicated” by the group Nicholas, This Is My Story” by Vernessa Mitchell, and “Worthy” by Rodney Friend.)
Kent lived in Los Angeles and worked for Milan Entertainment in LA as Senior Vice President of Finance and Royalties, and worked with [l206719] records in the United Kingdom to re-release record productions in Europe. The first release “I Got To Have You” by Otis Williams peaked at #3 on the Soul/R&B charts in England; the second, “One Way Ticket” by The Hypnotics, was released in 2012, and additional releases are scheduled for fall. Also in 2013, Kent’s entire Gospel catalog was re-released on his EmKay Records label, through Milan Entertainment, distributed worldwide by ADA, the independent label distribution arm of the WEA system.