Kevin Chown (born December 24, 1969) is an American bass player best known for his work with Finnish vocalist Tarja Turunen, funk/rock/fusion quartet Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats, and progressive metal bands Edwin Dare and Artension.

In addition to the Bombastic Meatbats, he is a member of Steelheart, instrumental groups Cosmosquad and Der Elefant as well as L.A. blues rockers Bleeding Harp, and has performed and recorded with artists such as Paul Gilbert, Sebastian Bach, Uncle Kracker, Chuck Berry, Ted Nugent, Tony MacAlpine, Jeff Kollman, and Tiles.

He originally started out on drums but soon switched to bass guitar after hearing John Paul Jones and Led Zeppelin and began performing professionally at age 15 with a popular local band called Tyrant.

While attending the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA in 1991, Chown crossed paths with guitarist Jeff Kollman and soon joined his Toledo, OH-based progressive metal band, Edwin Dare.

Chown became the bass player for newly formed multi-national progressive metal group Artension, recording 2 studio albums, Into the Eye of the Storm (1996) and Phoenix Rising (1997) for Shrapnel.

He also recorded albums with guitar virtuosos Tony MacAlpine (Violent Machine, 1996), Jeff Kollman (Into The Unknown, 1996), and George Bellas (Turn of the Millenium, 1997), and contributed bass to two releases by progressive metal band Magnitude 9.

Chown moved to Los Angeles in 1997 and quickly became a much in-demand session player, re-teaming with his old Edwin Dare cohort Jeff Kollman on various projects, producing acclaimed drummer Mike Terrana's 1999 solo album, Shadow of the Past, guesting on vocalist John West's Earth Maker (2002), and playing on a long list of soundtracks for TV and film.

[citation needed] In 2005, Chown became the bassist and co-musical director for Ivan Kane's Royal Jelly, a burlesque show with a residency at Hollywood's Forty Deuce club; the troupe made a national TV appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The latter was documented via the Act I: Live in Rosario DVD (2012); Chown also appears on Tarja's three most recent studio recordings, Colours in the Dark (2013), which debuted Top 10 in half a dozen European countries, The Brightest Void (2016), and The Shadow Self (2016).

[citation needed] In late 2016, Chown, along with fellow Tarja band members Alex Scholpp and Timm Schreiner, released a three-song EP under the name Der Elefant, accompanied by a video for the song "Elefante".

[10] Chown and Kollman were also part of the Bleeding Harp line-up that recorded the 2018 release, Truth, which features a guest vocal appearance by Doug Pinnick of King's X fame on a cover of The Allman Brothers Band classic "Whipping Post".

On September 1, 2019, Chown announced that he would be leaving Tarja after a 9-year stint with the band and join former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach for a fall U.S. tour and that he had begun working with singer/songwriter Trevor Ohlsen in his hometown of Escanaba, MI.

Kevin Chown w/ Bleeding Harp w/ Cosmosquad w/ Der Elefant w/ Paul Gilbert w/ Tarja w/ Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats w/ JKB w/ John West w/ Mike Terrana w/ Magnitude 9 w/ The Original Moon w/ Tony MacAlpine w/ Artension w/ Jeff Kollman w/ Tiles w/ Edwin Dare Other appearances