As a teen, Kemp played in movie theatres, before forming his first band, 'The Merry Makers', at high school. Took up alto sax during studies at the University of North Carolina and then played with various campus bands. Led a popular 'sweet-style' dance band from the mid-1920's, noted for muted trumpets, vocals by Skinnay Ennis and arrangements by John Scott Trotter and Hal Mooney.