His mother, Leonie Ambuhl Kinsley, was a descendant of German composer Franz Abt.

Throughout his studies at the Yale music school, he worked as a vaudeville pianist, including at the former Poli's theatre of New Haven.

[7] Upon his return to the United States, Kinsley was appointed choirmaster and organist of St. Paul's Church in New Haven.

[18] This included an arrangement of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C sharp minor, Liebestraum by Liszt, and the popular songs "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" by Ernest Seitz and "Poor Butterfly" by Raymond Hubbell,[19] which debuted as part of "The Big Show" production at The Hippodrome in 1916.

[21] Kinsley was promoted by Edison Records during this time as "organist of New York's famous "big" theatre, the "Hippodrome".

Test pressings exist of both issued and a number of un-issued sides, such as a version of "Are You Lonesome Tonight,?"

recorded on December 24, 1927, survive at the Thomas Edison National Historic Park.

With the advent of sound technology in theaters such as Vitaphone, Frederick Kinsley abandoned silent film accompaniment and returned to becoming a church organist in Pelham Manor, New York.

[23] He was organist at Riverside Church in New York City from 1940 to 1946, preceding Virgil Fox.

[24] He was last the organist of Wesley Methodist Church in Worcester, Massachusetts from late 1946 until his retirement in 1960.