Brian Kennedy "A Voice to Charm the Angels"

The music and musicians of Ireland are currently enjoying the contemporary music spotlight around the world, thanks to the unique talents of Irish artists such as Van Morrison, Sinead OConnorand U2, and more recently Ronan Keating and the Corrs. Irish singer and songwriter, Brian Kennedy, has worked with all of the above, starred in the Broadway version of Riverdance,
presented BBC TV shows, published his own short stories and recorded a string of successful albums and ... and he's coming to Australia in July!

Brian Kennedy - the man can sing.

 

Brian's Australian visit will be a promotional tour of Sydney and Melbourne , including showcase performances in both cities. And, for the many lovers of Brian's simplest, unadorned performance mode, the good news is that the showcases will be solo: the man, his guitar, his bouzouki and his other incomparable instrument ...the voice that charms the angels.

Growing up in Belfast's notorious Falls Road district with his five siblings, Brian's musical gifts, his unerring sense of pitch and feeling for harmony ,were quickly evident. But his first big break came when Van Morrison heard him sing and invited him to join his Blues and Soul Revue on its long-remembered world tour and resultant album, One Night in San Francisco. Brian and Van have continued to sing together; Brian guesting on Van's Days Like This, The Healing Game, No Prima Donna and Back On Top albums,
with his version of Van's classic "Crazy Love" featuring in the movie, When A Man Loves a Woman. A born wanderer, Brian spent his first 18 years in Belfast, the next 12 in London, two more in New York and the last four in rural Tipperary.

Since his first album, The Great War of Words in 1990, Brian has recorded four more, three of which were once in Ireland's Top 30 album charts simultaneously. A Better Man in 1996, achieved quadruple platinum sales status in Ireland and industry awards for Best Irish Male Album and Best Irish Male Artist. Now That I Know What I Want (1999) gave Brian the hit single
"These Days" , with former-Boyzone Ronan Keating, and a tender rendition of Ewan McColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" with MacColl's son and Brian's lifelong friend and collaborator Calum, has become a concert favourite. Now That I Know... was followed, late in 2000, by Won't You Take Me Home B The RCA Years B a double CD presenting 28 of Brian's most popular songs, along with some previously unreleased material.

In 2001, Brian was chosen to sing in the Broadway production of Riverdance, and over nine months gave 290 performances of the songs written especially for him by the show's Grammy Award winning composer, Bill Whelan, and included on Decca's soundtrack CD of the production. During his Riverdance days, Brian lived in New York's Greenwich Village, and spent his Monday nights off performing solo to full houses at Arlene's Grocery, a tiny but popular downtown music venue. The songs Brian road-tested on this crowd, and the honing of his vocal technique that the intimate gig provided, sowed the seeds for his latest CD, Get On With Your Short Life, the first to
come out of his new six-CD deal with Curb Records.

Get On With Your Short Life, released here in May 2003, assembles 16 Kennedy originals and collaborations , with the likes of Paul Brady, Curtis Stigers, Calum MacColl, Pat Gribben, Boo Hewerdine and Chip Taylor ("Angel of the Morning", "Wild Thing"). There's also a fine reworking of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart.

Essentially a contemporary, international recording, Get On With Your Short Life doesn't flaunt its Irishness: though Brian's sweet lilting tenor, with its touch of brogue and heart-on-sleeve Irishpassion , could scarcely hail from anywhere else. It's a coproduction by Brian with Kevin Killen (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel), with settings ranging from lush and driving, American-flavoured synth and drum programming mixes, to sparse acoustic guitar and
acoustic bass duets underpinning Brian's intimate, conversational
vocal styling.

Additional folk flavours come from Brian's bouzouki, subtle touches of hammer dulcimer and mandolin from Gerry Leonard, and Paul Bryan's harmonium. Themes revolve around wandering, loneliness, new horizons and moving on, with several finely drawn vignettes from Brian's Big Apple sojourn. In the words of one happy reviewer, Get On With Your Short Life is
"yet another stunningly beautiful collection of songs. Q Magazine ascribed Brian's wide appeal to "A voice to charm the angels", but one overwhelmed concert reviewer (female) went further: "He's an angel. He makes me feel like talking in a whisper as if I was in church!"

Brian has toured alongside acts as diverse as The Corrs and Tina Turner, playing to packed houses across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In 2001, he was thrilled to play New York's legendary Radio City Music Hall - again with The Corrs. A true "compulsive creative", Brian has also had two of his short stories published in an anthology of Irish stories, and he's currently looking for an agent for his new novel - a work of what Brian describes as
"faction".

After a brief detour into the movies, a cameo as a singer in "This Is The Sea" alongside Gabriel Byrne and Richard Harris, Brian has become a favourite with British and Irish TV audiences, most recently for his six-part BBC TV music series, "Brian Kennedy on Song", in which he explores the history of the world's favourite Irish music, from ancient ballads to Ireland's new wave of contemporary sounds. The series obvious appeal prompted the BBC to
plan a second six-parter before the first had screened and the CD from the series "Brian Kennedy on Song" released in Australia on Curb Records in May 2003 includes performances from Sinead O'Connor, Paul Brady and actor Adrian Dunbar on Irish classics (The Mountains of Mourne, Danny Boy, Whiskey In The Jar) and modern folk standards such as Ewan MacColl's Dirty Old Town. "Sinead was a dream to work with," says Brian. Paul Brady was the same, and it's made me love the music even more."

A recent Internet chat session between his Brian and his fans after a BBC TV program revealed an enthusiastic fan-base from Dublin to Bristol to New York and Hollywood, he was amazed at the groundswell of appreciation for his music. This includes the many thousands of Aussies who proudly claim Irish descent, those who only "go green" on St Patrick's Day, and many more who respond to sincerity and musicality wherever they find it. Brian's dark, elvish good looks, of course, have nothing to do with it.

BRIAN KENNEDY - YOU RAISE ME UP - TOUR DATES

NOVEMBER 2004
Wed 03 Tilley's Devine Café Canberra
Thu 04 National Theatre, St Kilda Melbourne
Fri 05 Hepburn Palais Hepburn Springs
Sat 06 York Theatre, Seymour Centre Sydney
Tue 09 Jetty Memorial Theatre Coffs Harbour
Thur 11 The Irish Club Brisbane
Fri 12 Club Zamia @ Vonda Community Hall Nth Tamborine
Sat 13 Joe's Waterhole Eumundi
Sun 14 Karnak Playhouse Mossman
Wed 17 Riverside Theatres Parramatta
Thu 18 The Clarendon Katoomba
Sat 20 Peter Lehmann Cellar Door Tanunda
Sun 21 The Church of the Trinity Clarence Park
Wed 24 The Leopold Hotel Perth
Thu 25 The Civic Hotel Perth

For more information and interviews contact: Gaynor Crawford Publicity
Telephone: 02 6655 0920 - email : thingie@bigpond.net.au
Brian Kennedy is a musician whose personal charisma and charm and
musical magic have the power to beguile fans of all ages and from all
corners of the world.
www.briankennedy.co.uk

DVD LIVE IN BELFAST available through Magna Pacific
albums available through Sony Music