Like many musicians, Kerry started singing and performing when he was a kid in church. At age 7 he was singing solos in front of the entire congregation. Then came piano lessons to learn to read and write music. He really loved to sing though, so he concentrated on his vocals. He performed all throughout his school years, all the way up through college at George Mason University. The West Coast was calling him so in 1988 on a wing and a prayer he heads out to L.A.!! He settles in and meets some great musicians and starts to perform out there, singing in some experimental Rock bands like Acid Clown. In 1991 he came up with the concept of The Thrillbillyz and, along with the help of some great musician friends, was able to record a four song demo at Fox Studios in Glendale, CA and work with the owner/engineer Rich Fox. In 1993 ,after several years of performing around Southern California as The Thrillbillyz, Hurley moves back to the East Coast and his hometown of Roanoke, Virginia. Roanoke definitely is not as big of a market as L.A. but it has a growing music scene and Hurley jumps in head first. He re-forms The Thrillbillyz and starts playing shows like crazy. He continues to write and work on his originals and in 1994 takes his band into Flat Five Studios in Salem, VA and records the album “Romp!” and releases it in 1995. Ten of the eleven songs are originals and a few of the songs (Franklin County Moonshine & Sweet Leaf) wind up on the radio in regular rotation on the area’s biggest Rock station 96.3 WROV. The band played constantly in support of it’s record and through it’s association with Buzz Casey and WROV was able to open up for quite a few National acts like Government Mule, Storyville, Foghat, Loverboy, Johnny Winter, Matchbox 20 and many more!!! The band played and enjoyed success for the next 5 years and in 2000 everyone went their own musical ways. Hurley had been singing on the side for a Blues band called Blues Hangover from 96 to 98 and traveled quite a bit with them, winning several Blues Contests and traveling to Memphis, TN in 97 to compete in the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge. It was a great learning experience. In 2001 Hurley wound up joining The Fat Daddy Band and that very same year went down and won the Charlotte Blues Society’s contest and in 2002 went to Memphis again to represent them at the IBC and made it to the finals (one of ten bands out of 150). For the next 14 years he would front that band and continue to write songs. He put out 2 cd’s with The Fat Daddy Band - “From The Soul”(2003) and “Live & Lovin’ It!”(2005).
