Irish-born contemporary British pianist and piano teacher Brendan Kavanagh, better known as “Dr. K,” has more than 1.5 million YouTube subscribers. plays and promotes boogie-woogie, which is virtually fully improvised and frequently combines traditional Irish musical themes with jazz, blues, rock, and roll, among other genres. He frequently plays in public settings at pianos with bystanders or friends, occasionally with four hands.
Along with playing the accordion, he sings traditional Irish songs. In 2007, Brendan Kavanaugh established Dr. K Media Limited, a multi-platform interactive piano teaching business that offers lessons in the styles of boogie, blues, and rock and roll. Since that time, the business has altered its emphasis to include online teaching, sales, performances, and marketing of piano music, with a focus on boogie-woogie music.
He occasionally pulls practical jokes on people who are already proficient pianists by acting as a beginner, asking where the middle C is on the keyboard, badly playing a few notes, and then deftly improvising to create a comedic effect. In addition, he is infamous for not answering the question “what’s your name?” and instead asking “do you know boogie-woogie,” which has led to odd memes.
