Brian Kennedy (singer)

Early life

Brian Edward Patrick Kennedy was born in Belfast on 12 October 1966, the son of Lily and Jim Kennedy. His older brother, Martin Christopher "Bap" Kennedy (1962–2016), was also a musician. The brothers grew up on Falls Road. As a child, Kennedy suffered from Osgood–Schlatter disease in both legs. He has described witnessing the violence of the Troubles while growing up, such as seeing a young man being chased and shot dead by a British soldier a few feet away from him. He would often harmonise with the sirens of police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks.

Career

Kennedy made his debut in 1988 as a chorus on the recordings of fellow Northern Ireland singer-songwriter Van Morrison. Kennedy came to prominence as one of Van Morrison's backing singers, appearing on a number of his albums, including A Night in San Francisco, Days Like This, The Healing Game and Back on Top and live in concert. Around this time, he also scored a minor UK hit album of his own with The Great War of Words (1990). This album featured the lead single "Captured" which was a minor hit in both the UK and Irish charts.

In 1991, Kennedy was joined by Mark E. Nevin, formerly of Fairground Attraction, to form the duo Sweetmouth. Their album, Goodbye to Songtown, was released in August 1991 and featured the songs written by Nevin for a second Fairground Attraction album which was never realised.

In the mid-1990s, pop manager Simon Fuller took on Kennedy, signing him to RCA Records for his second solo album which saw greater success. Released in 1996, the album, A Better Man, reached No.19 in the UK and spawned the hit singles "A Better Man" (No.28), "Life Love and Happiness" (No.27) and "Put the Message in a Box" (No.37), which also all became top 20 hits in Ireland. This was followed in 1999 by the album Now That I Know What I Want, which met with less success.

In 2001, he released his fourth album Get on with Your Short Life, which rendered only a No.81 placing for its title track in the UK. His version was released again in December 2005 and early the following year became his biggest hit, released as the EP "George Best – a Tribute" with Peter Corry. The single reached No.4 in the UK charts and No.3 in Ireland.

Kennedy was chosen as the Irish competitor for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, where he sang the self-penned "Every Song is a Cry for Love". His performance in the contest's semi-finals marked the 1,000th song performed in Eurovision history. Following qualification, he finished tenth in the finals on 20 May, with 93 points. The song also performed well in the Irish charts, becoming a No. 4 hit.

Kennedy performed at the opening of new studios for his local station Belfast CityBeat in 2006. In July 2008, he joined the judging panel of the Citybeat Young Star Search, Northern Ireland's biggest kids talent search.

On 23 August 2010, Kennedy played a version of 'Christopher Street' on a small Balcony overlooking Dame Street, Dublin for the music viral show BalconyTV.

Between 2011 and 2012, Kennedy was a coach on the first series of The Voice of Ireland. The series screened on RTÉ during the early months of 2012 and Kennedy mentored the eventual runner-up in the final, Richie Hayes.

In October 2018, Kennedy started presenting a weekly programme on radio station Tipp FM.

Personal life

Kennedy is gay.

Kennedy revealed in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with rectal cancer.

Discography

; Albums

; Singles

; Other Songs

• A cover of "Dry Your Eyes" by The Streets on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2 (2004)
• A cover of "Angel (Floating Round this House)" by Kirsty MacColl on The Concert for Kirsty MacColl (2013)

Writing career

• The Arrival of Fergal Flynn (Hodder, 2004), a novel
• Roman Song (Hodder, 2005), a novel

References

References

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2. "Captured By The Music And Life Of Brian Kennedy".
3. Larkin, Colin. (2006). "[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]". [[Oxford University Press]].
4. "Bap Kennedy facebook post". facebook.com.
5. Jarlath Regan. (30 December 2017). "Brian Kennedy". [[SoundCloud]].
6. [http://www.rte.ie/radio RTE Radio] {{Webarchive. link. (2 April 2019 On Playback, 19 April 2008.)
7. [http://www.briankennedy.co.uk/biography.html Biography] {{Webarchive. link. (3 March 2016 Brian Kennedy)
8. "BRIAN KENNEDY {{!}} full Official Chart History {{!}} Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company.
9. "The Irish Charts – All there is to know".
10. "Mark Nevin {{!}} The Strange Brew".
11. "a better man {{!}} full Official Chart History {{!}} Official Charts Company".
12. (3 December 2005). "Final farewell to football legend". [[BBC News]].
13. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/eurovision/8509143/Eurovision-2011-18-bizarre-facts-about-the-contest.html "Eurovision 2011: 18 bizarre facts about the contest"] {{Webarchive. link. (2 May 2018 , ''The Telegraph'', 13 May 2011.)
14. "Eurovision Song Contest 2006". The Diggiloo Thrush.
15. (29 July 2008). "Citybeat finds new stars".
16. "BRIAN KENNEDY – Video Archive". Balcony TV.
17. Finn, Melanie. (28 October 2011). "Bressie's in the hotseat in search for the Voice". Evening Herald.
18. (11 November 2019). "Life, Love & Happiness with Brian Kennedy".
19. (1 September 2009). "Brian Kennedy reveals his coming-out torment". Belfast Telegraph.
20. (11 December 2008). "At Home with Katherine McArdle". Hot Press.
21. "Official Charts Brian Kennedy".
22. "Irish Charts > Brian Kennedy". irish-charts.com Hung Medien.