Captured By The Music And Life Of Brian Kennedy

Captured By The Music And Life Of Brian Kennedy

By Paul McCann

I was in Belfast listening to down town radio and heard the song “Captured: by Brian Kennedy that was lifted from his “War Of Words”  album which reached the number one spot on the Irish Charts. That song for me summed up the essence of what songwriting for me is all about . In my heart the lyrics told the story of where songs come from and the more I listened to the music and songs of Brian Kennedy , I found  a reason to celebrate the place where I grew up and then I became a big fan of Brian and his music . Brian Kennedy grew  in Beechmount on the Falls Road in Belfast and I grew up not far away in Ardoyne in  Belfast . I also listened to Brians older brother Bap Kennedy who also wrote some great songs and was in a band called “Energy Orchard “   Bap also was a gifted singer songwriter .

 I presented a radio show in Australia for 25 years called Craic With Mc and when I heard that Brain was coming to do a tour in 1997 called The Guinness celebration of Irish Music , I sought to get an interview with him .It was Brians first visit to Australia and he was warmly greeted by Australian audiences .

Thanks to my connections in the music promotion business I was able to secure an interview with Brian . We met up twice at the State Theatre and the basement in Sydney and spoke at length about his life and his music.  

We spoke as if we were old friends and Brian was very generous with his time . I’d like to share with you some of the things we talked about ,.

Brians early years like myself was spend tripping over British soldiers with SLR rifles in their hands as we made our way to school .

Somehow we had to get along with life as normal in a city that was being blown apart day by day by bomb blasts and running gunfire battles on the streets .

The world that surround us was much bigger  that the corrugated steel walls that kept us locked in .

Brian found his escape in music and I through emigration to Australia .

Brian had a voice and he began to explore other dimensions beyond the politics and  

Chaos of what was going on in Belfast and started to seek audiences to listen to his songs .

Brian said to me that his first audience was in his lounge room of the family home in Beechmount Avenue on the Falls . 

Then afterwards at the local disco in front of his peers and school friends .

His ambition then was just to sing and be heard and that was all he ever wanted to do . Then he recalled the time when he jumped on to a ship and made his way to  London .

He remembered  how he had to battle against all the odds to make a career in music. He had survived a childhood and became recognised as a singer songwriter in his own right and really, given where and how his life started, somehow his journey had only just begun . He found expression with life at 18 singing unaccompanied in the underground stations in London and outside Theatre halls , literally in singing for his supper before finally buying a guitar and eventually

Was discovered and signed up by BMG music .

Back then most of his music he expressed had been inspired by life in a troubled Belfast with daily riots and disturbances that became a way of life for everyone in a drab existence known as living with the troubles .

Brian said ,

“It can do two things to you it can make you really enclosed or really introverted m and that’s what it did to me . It gave me a hunger for the outside world  because I was trapped in the area where I lived and I was curious about the rest of the word and with that it gave me inspiration and an informed appetite for all kinds of everything in life”

The song Brian penned called “Anniversary:  is an example of how awful life can become in a subliminal way when we keep living with the past and relive battles and times in our history with marches and old victories or losses that end us as these anniversaries of one kind or another that keep the memory alive and can cause friction and division between communities .

On his album “A Better Man “ that was his very first big production by Steven Lipsum 

Who had worked with some of Annie Lennox;s albums . Brian tells me they had done seven songs in two days which was a recoed for them and he still thinks they are some of his best recordings  to date . He mentioned to me that the album “ A Better Man” was like a stepping away from his past to where he was , becoming someone who was recognised and the wanting for me to be a better man eith all the changes he had been through in his career so far . The analogy of change for the better and the walking away from the ghosts of the past to the faces of a bright future .

Th more apparent Brian became of how he was expressing himself with his music the more he grew into greater appreciation from world wide audiences .

He began touring from Ireland and the UK to Australia, Europe, Asia and the USA, including the major global festivals, on the doorstep of greatness he sang with Van Morrison another famous songwriter and singer from Belfast on the Soul and Blues review in San Francisco , After Van spotted Brian he invited him to a rehearsal one day which resulted in some great collaboration between the two of them .

Thanks to Van’s ongoing mentoring and generosity, Brian found himself sharing vocal duties on stages across the globe over a six-year period with Morrison and a breathtaking array of some of the greatest artists in history: Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and John Lee Hooker to name a few.

It was along way from Belfast to Madison Square Garden in New York and Brian tells me he had three standing ovations there .

Over a billion people had seen Bian singing with Van Morrison for President Bill Clinton and his wife outside the City Hall..  Not bad for a boy from Beechmount Avenue .

Brain appeared with Tina Turner at Wembley Stadium in front of 80.000 people in a one of gig which he really enjoyed ..

With peace talks happening in Belfast and communities starting to trust one another again Brian did some concerts back in his home town at the Waterfront and he tells me that the atmosphere that night was just electrical and welcoming . He also performed at the Empire , the Ulster Hall and the Kings Hall before packed audiences  . He mentioned to me how exciting it was and how grateful he was for the response he had from his Belfast audiences and said ,

“It’s always brilliant to play in my hometown cause I’ve so much history there . I’ve found that they are the most excitable audience in terms of there seems to be a particular celebration that I’m from there and they all want me to do well  so they give me   as much encouragement as possible and its great that we are celebrating life more these days . “

As well as touring with Van Morrison on a global stage he also was creating new songs and releasing new material such as “Now That I Know What I Want” (1999), that went platinum at No.1 and earned him the Irish Best Male Artist and Irish Best Male Album, and the highly acclaimed “Homebird” (2006) and cover album “Interpretations” (2008). 

Brian has done impromptu performances with Stevie Wonder at Ronnie Scotts in London and, incredibly and proudly, he is one of only a few to have also sung with the late legendary Jeff Buckley at Sin-É in New Yor

Brian Kennedy is one of Belfast’s most inspired and respected ambassadors of music. Not only is he a prolific songwriter and masterful lyricist but audiences around the world continue to praise his voice as one to charm the angels .

With multi -platinum recordings and  the world begging for more  Brian had to survive another challenge in 2016, Brian began his fight  with cancer and he cites singing and performing as the motivation for staying positive.

“The gigs kept me alive and gave me thew will to survive ., It made everything worthwhile . The fans who  supported me and the wonderful medical staff in the clinics who helped pull me through everything,  and if anything, the diagnosis and treatment has given me greater focus and determination to get through it all.”

In June 2019 Brian completed an exhaustive 6 month chemotherapy chapter and was gladly given the all clear . He was cancer free.

During his period of healing, he wrote new songs which reflect his incredible journey. The result: an EP entitled “Recovery.

Brain has performed these new songs at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Then in 2019 he performed at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall.  

Life again threw another challenge to Brian in late June when he suffered a major heart attack and needed a quadruple bypass operation which saved his life.

It was the third time that he had to learn to walk again but as always he put on thise heavy boots and soldiered on through the muck and mud towards success once again .

His incredible spirit and voice are now stronger than ever I guess you can’t keep a good man down and now Brian has returned to the stage a better man still singing better than ever.

The End