Background
Kennedy was born and grew up on the Falls Road in Belfast.
Kennedy was born and grew up on the Falls Road in Belfast.
He is the younger brother of musician Bap Kennedy. He has described in public the violence of The Troubles, during his childhood and teen years. He once described seeing a young man being chased and then shot dead by a British soldier a few feet away from him.
He also would harmonise with police, ambulance and fire engine sirens.
Kennedy came out as gay in 2009. Kennedy came to prominence with the masses as one of Van Morrison"s backing singers, appearing on a string of recordings including A Night in San Francisco, Days Like This, The Healing Game and Back on Top and live in concert, frequently alongside Georgie Fame.
He had a minor United Kingdom radio airplay hit with the title track from his 2001 album Get on With Your Short Life. 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".
Kennedy"s performance in the contest"s semi-finals marked the 1000th song to feature in the history of the Eurovision competition.
Following qualification, Kennedy finished tenth in the finals on 20 May, with 93 points. He performed on the original Secret Garden version of the song "You Raise Maine Up", which has been recorded by more than a hundred other artists, such as Josh Groban and Westlife. He also sang this song at the funeral of the football player, George Best.
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, Brian Kennedy played a version of "Christopher Street" on a small Balcony overlooking Dame Street, Dublin for the music viral show BalconyTV. In, Kennedy was joined by Mark Nevin, formerly of Fairground Attraction.
Their album, Goodbye to Songtown (August 1991), featured the songs written by Nevin for a second Fairground Attraction album, which was never realized.