Born and raised in Baltimore, Kadish began playing guitar at the age of 13. After graduating from Owings Mills High School, he attended Berklee College of Music and studied Film Scoring. In 1991, Kadish transferred from Berklee to the University of Maryland, College Park where he designed his own major, Music Management, through the Individual Studies Department. He graduated in 1993 with a B.S. in Music Management.
In 1998, Kadish signed a development deal with Republic Records as a solo recording artist. He recorded with the producer Steve Addabbo at his Shelter Island Sound recording studio in New York City but no album was ever released.[2]
In 2000, Kadish met record producer Matt Serletic who signed him as his "staff-writer" to Serletic's co-venture with Warner/Chappell Music. While under the wing of Serletic, Kadish co-wrote "Be There For You" and "Don't Fade Away" on Willie Nelson's album The Great Divide. He also co-wrote the songs "(There's Gotta Be) More to Life" and "Stuck" for Christian pop singer Stacie Orrico which appeared in the television shows The Simple Life and That's So Raven, as well as the
animated film Robots. These two hits have been featured on several compilations which have sold nearly 11 million copies, cumulatively. In 2005, Kadish received an ASCAP Christian Music Award for Stacie Orrico's "(There's Gotta Be) More To Life" for being one of the most played songs on Christian radio.
Also in 2005, Kadish collaborated with singer/songwriter Jason Mraz on his sophomore album, Mr. A-Z, producing and writing both singles ("Wordplay" and "Geek in the Pink") For his work on this record, Kadish was nominated for Best Engineered Album at the 48th Grammy Awards in 2005.
In 2006, Kadish received the SOCAN award for his No.1 "Flawed Design" by Stabilo. In 2007, the song also received the SOCAN award for greatest number of plays on Canadian radio in 2006.
In 2012, Kevin co-wrote and produced "Crazy For You" with Ross Lynch, "Rooftops" with American Idol winner Kris Allen.
In September 2013, Kadish co-wrote "All About That Bass" with Meghan Trainor.[3][4] The song became the third best-selling song of 2014,[5] and was also the 14th most-viewed YouTube video ever, with more than 2.5 billion views.[6] However, in September 2015, Kadish claimed to have earned just $5,679 as a result of the song being streamed to 178 million people, telling a meeting arranged by the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary: "That's as big a song as a songwriter can have in their career and number one in 78 countries. But you're making $5,600. How do you feed your family?"[7][8]
In 2016, Kadish partnered with producer and songwriter Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, etc.) to form an artist development company, Starts With Music. In 2018, the company's first sign with Brynn Elliott, signed to Atlantic Records, and her first single "Might Not Like Me" had enormous success at radio. The company has also signed country artist Jake Rose who is currently on tour across the country with various country acts.
In 2016, Kadish and collaborator Ben Burgess co-wrote "Whiskey Glasses" for up and coming country artist Morgan Wallen, which launched Wallen to superstardom. In 2019, it was the most played song on Country radio according to Billboard (magazine) after spending more than 20 weeks in the top 10. It is estimated that the song will receive a Diamond Certification (10,000,000 units in the US) by the end of 2023. This would be the second song Kadish has penned to reach this milestone.
More recently, Kadish co-wrote the certified platinum "Soul" for Country star Lee Brice, "Drinkin' It Wrong" for country singer Adam Doleac and has been developing singer/songwriter Sierra Carson with longtime collaborator David Baron.
Kadish co-wrote and produced "Rich Kids" for the band New Medicine's debut album Race You to the Bottom, released September 28, 2010, on PhotoFinish/Atlantic.
He also co-wrote "Narcissistic Boiz" on the 2011 J Records release from artist BC Jean.
Kadish's wife, Brandon Jane, is one-half of the duo Coldwater Jane. Kadish co-wrote and produced songs on their album Marionette.[10]
Kevin co-wrote and produced the song "Try Try Try" for Universal Germany artist Michael Squire. Kadish co-wrote this song with Jason Mraz for the album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., but it was not used on Mraz's album. "Try Try Try" was the first single from Squire's upcoming debut album Your Love Grows in the Sunshine. Kadish also produced the follow-up single for Squire, "Gimme Feeling".
