Biography
Vocalist K Darling and guitarist D Finocarro are the artistic forces that ignite this rock duo.
After meeting at a 1980 cover band audition, K and D realized they shared a passion for rock music, had mutually enhancing talents and creative chemistry on many levels, plus a burning desire to develop their own style and perform their original song material —
And the rock duo K DARLING was born.
K Darling
A native of Long Island, New York, K Darling was inspired by rock and roll artists like The Shirelles, The Ronettes and The Shangri-Las and started her music career as a 15-year old vocalist and founding member of the 60s-style girl group, The Ideals.
A few years later K's recording career got off to a promising start when Avco-Embassy Records signed her rock band Flesh in 1970 and released their now-rare cover version of The Easybeats song "Heaven and Hell" in the USA and Spain; but creative differences led to their record producer leaving the record company — along with the prospects of completing a Flesh album. Yet, that early brush with near-success fueled her ambitions.
Not long after K caught the ear of Broadway theater producer Joe Kipness who was impressed with her vocal abilities and invited K to perform at his annual Pier 52 street festivals. Although the prospect of performing in musical theater was on the horizon, K's heart was in rock and roll. Following her instincts K actively pursued studio work and recorded vocal demos of early Hall & Oates songs for future mogul Tommy Mattola in the famous Brill Building in NYC. K also recorded professional backing vocals for major recording artists including Bo Diddley and Ben E King.
In the mid-seventies K became the singer-songwriter Calico and was a regular on the Long Island club circuit performing her own song material on piano and keyboards. Over time she acquired backing musicians and evolved into the band Calico; and then into the rock band Survivor — where she met guitarist and kindred spirit D Finnocarro.
Although K studied clarinet in school, she is self-taught on the guitar, keyboards and saxophone, and cites The Beatles, David Bowie, and Heart as influences and is an admirer of the late Amy Winehouse.
D Finocarro
A fellow native of Long Island, New York, guitarist and songwriter D Finocarro was inspired by rock and roll artists like Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers and the guitar-oriented instrumental group The Ventures and started his music career by forming his own rock trio know as The Majestics.
At the age of 15, D's music career advanced when he was invited to join Jimmi Hood's boyhood band The New Breed, a precocious rock and roll group cited for its professionalism and showmanship that more often than not took the #1 spot at local band battles.
The New Breed soon became one of the more popular house bands at Hullaballoo, a teen nightclub in Northport, NY where D played the stage along with national acts like Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, Vanilla Fudge, and The Vagrants featuring future Mountain guitarist Leslie West.
After attending the original 1969 Woodstock festival in Bethel, NY that featured iconic acts like Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Sly and the Family Stone, D was motivated to pursue his own music career and spent the seventies perfecting his skills as a lead guitarist and vocalist in a series of local rock bands that played the Long Island club circuit, including The Wanted, Vandetta, and Daedelus — a hard rock power trio that for the first time featured D performing his original song material.
Although he had achieved a high degree of mastery as a lead rock guitarist, D was also composing songs on the piano and keyboards and felt he needed an outlet for his more melodic rock material. That's when he began to entertain the idea of working with a female vocalist. Not long after, D answered a "guitarist wanted" ad and auditioned for the rock band Survivor — where he met vocalist and kindred spirit K Darling. Creative sparks flew and the duo K Darling began to transcend the sum of its parts.
A self-taught guitarist who doubles on piano and keyboards, D cites Jimi Hendrix, Cream and the Moody Blues as influences and is an admirer of guitarists Joe Bonamassa and the late Gary Moore.