Born on June 23, 1954 in Southern California, at the age of five years Locke moved north with his family, later to settle in South Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation in 1966. It was from his mother, Patricia Locke, his uncle Abraham End-of-Horn, mentor Joe Rock Boy, and many other elders and relatives that Kevin received training in the values, traditions and language of his native Sioux culture. Locke comes from a distinguished family. His great-great-grandfather was the famous Dakota patriot, Little Crow. His great-grandmother, Mniyáta Ožáŋžaŋ Wiŋ, was a renowned medicine woman. His mother, Patricia Locke, was an activist for Indian rights and recognition. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico for high school. He received a bachelor of science degree in Elementary Education from the University of North Dakota and earned a master's degree in educational administration from the University of South Dakota. He taught himself to speak Lakota, his ancestral language, as a young adult. Locke learned the hoop dance, which had nearly died out, from Arlo Good Bear, a Mandan Hidatsa Indian from North Dakota. When asked in 2012 about his mission in life, Locke said: "All of the people have the same impulses, spirits, and goals. Through my music and dance, I want to create a positive awareness of oneness of humanity."
Career
Since 1978, he has traveled to more than 80 countries to perform and has continued to perform, such as in September 2014 and most recently in March 2016. His performances usually consist of flute playing, singing Lakota songs, and demonstrations of the Sioux hoop dance, using 28 wooden hoops. Of his presentations, Locke has said "I see myself strictly as a preservationist.... I base my repertoire on the old songs. I try to show younger people what was there, and maybe some of the younger people will pick up from there and compose new music." Locke has served as cultural ambassador for the United States Information Service since 1980, was a delegate to the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil and was a featured performer and speaker at the 1996 United Nations Habitat II Conference in Turkey. He has recorded twelve albums beginning in 1982, and is an active member of the Baháʼí Faith. In 1990, he won a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest award granted to such traditional artists. In 2009 he won the $100,000 Bush Foundation Enduring Vision Award. In April 2006 he performed with Joanne Shenandoah in the photography exhibition "Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian" at Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall and MEB Sura Concert Hall in Istanbul. He is frequently cited as an ambassador of Native American culture to the United States and the world. He has also been active on the board of directors of the Lakota Language Consortium, a non-profit organization working towards the Lakota language revitalization. Locke is on the advisory board of the World Flute Society.
Lakota Hoop Dancer, with Suzanne Haldane and Jacqueline Left Hand Bull, Dutton Juvenile; 1st edition.
Real Dakota! : About Dakota by Dakotans! : The life, people & history of the Dakotas by the people who know and love it! by Kevin Locke, Tempe, AZ : Blue Bird Pub., 1988.
Films
Songkeepers. Directed by Bob Hercules and Bob Jackson. Produced by Dan King. Lake Forest, Illinois: America's Flute Productions. Five distinguished traditional flute artists - Tom Mauchahty-Ware, Sonny Nevaquaya, R. Carlos Nakai, Hawk Littlejohn, Kevin Locke – talk about their instrument and their songs and the role of the flute and its music in their tribes.
