Kansas co-founder Kerry Livgren suffers stroke

Legendary musician and composer Kerry Livgren suffered a stroke Tuesday morning. Livgren was a founding member of Kansas, and has been a tireless creative force since the early 70s. Currently he is a busy solo artist and producer, and manages his own label, Numavox Records.

Kerry is currently hospitalized near his home in Topeka, Kanasa, where surgery was performed to remove a blood clot in his brain. Kerry's nephew and Proto-Kaw bandmate Jake Livgren has stated the family continues to be encouraged by signs his uncle is giving following the stroke he suffered Tuesday morning.

Currently Livgren is working on a cantata based on the life of Lazarus, and will soon make his screen debut in the film The Impostor. He will also appear on the upcoming Kansas anniversary concert DVD Know Place Like Home due to be released in October.

We at the DV wish Kerry a full and speedy recovery.

Kerry Livgren suffers stroke

October's Daily Vault Retrospective: Kansas

This month our Daily Vault retrospective spotlights one of the most underappreciated bands of their era, the boys from Topeka, the group called Kansas. Known mostly for late '70s AOR staples like the driving "Carry On Wayward Son" and the haunting #1 hit "Dust In The Wind," Kansas was (and is) much more than those two famous songs. They were in fact the first homegrown American prog band, as their first three albums attest. And while, like many of their musical peers, they tasted commercial schlock-dom in the early '80s, they recovered nicely later in the decade and continue touring and making new new music to this day. Read more about it here and here.