For Bap and me, our time together was the happiest decade of our lives. I know I was very lucky to have been so close to such a special, loving and talented man, and he will always, always be part of me.
Recently among some studio archives I came across an old (2009) recording that I'd forgotten all about. It was Bap and me singing Love Hurts together - and when I heard it again after so long it brought back some very precious memories. I wanted to do something special with the recording, so I made this EP featuring Love Hurts. The release date is 1st November 2018 (Bap's 2nd anniversary)
This is my way of helping people remember Bap and his music - but the EP is about more than music. It’s about who Bap really was, the man behind the music, both in his own words (spoken) and from my personal tribute.
Brenda Kennedy, 2017
This song turned up among the archives recently and brought back some very happy memories - though I could hardly believe it was from so long ago! (2009).
Back then Bap was going through a bit of a “Wilburys phase” and I think you can hear that in the recording.
This version of Moonlight Kiss has quite a different feel from the album track (Lonely Street) which was later featured on the soundtrack of the movie Serendipity. Whenever we played internationally it was often as The Bap Kennedy Trio, so I’m sure this acoustic recording will be very familiar to people who came to see Bap play live.
When Bap took ill he began a deeply moving personal blog which reached all around the world. In this interview, recorded a week before he was admitted to Marie Curie, he talks to Ralph McLean about some of the things he was writing about. This was the first and only time that Bap ever spoke publicly about his Asperger Syndrome, calling it “the engine of my creativity”
…. And yes, Bap really did sing Hank Williams on the operating table (“Hank never lets you down!”)
Bap was, as Van Morrison said “loved by musicians and fans in equal measure” and I have been overwhelmed by the tributes and messages of support that have poured in even to this day. I hope my own tribute, recorded so soon after Bap lost his courageous cancer battle, will help people know the man he really was.
Bap and his music are intrinsically linked, but I don’t need to say anything about his music - Bap’s music will always speak for itself.
This song was really special to Bap and me. He wrote it during the earliest days of our relationship, and I could think of no better song than this for my tribute to him. I know Bap would have loved it. Thinking about this gave me the strength I needed to perform it at the time.