John Kennedy is an Australian musician, a singer-songwriter with a penchant for strong melodies and "heart on your sleeve" pop songs often with country and western influences.
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Kennedy was born John Kennedy in Liverpool, England on 1 July 1958. His family migrated to Australia in when Kennedy was seven and settled in Brisbane.[1] He took the confirmation name of Francis when he was 10 to complete the famous JFK moniker.
Kennedy formed his first band, JFK & The Cuban Crisis, with former school friend James Paterson in Brisbane in 1980. They quickly established themselves on the small Brisbane scene with their smart Squeeze influenced pop. After releasing two cassette albums and playing support spots with the Pretenders and Ian Dury and the Blockheads, the band moved to Sydney in 1982.
After recruiting a new rhythm section, Kennedy and Paterson started performing live in Sydney in late '82 playing a residency at the Southern Cross Hotel in Surry Hills. A four song EP, Careless Talk Costs Lives, recorded in Brisbane in early '82 became the band's first release in Sydney. The EP was the first release on the new Waterfront Records label and featured the song, "The Texan Thing", which received a lot of attention and alternative radio play.[2] JFK established themselves on the Sydney inner city live scene along with contemporaries like the Triffids. However musical differences were already appearing and personality clashes followed. JFK broke up in 1984 after releasing the album The End Of The Affair and its related single, The Ballad of Jackie O.
Kennedy embarked on a solo career with the recording of a single in 1984. To help promote the release he formed John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong. He continued to release records with everchanging lineups of that band. In 1988, he performed at the Berlin Independence Day Music Festival.[2] He released a solo album, One Day, in 1989[3] and did a farewell tour of Australia. After the tour he moved to US and UK before settling in Berlin. In 1990 Red Eye released a compilation of Kennedy's work and he toured Australia to promote it before returning to Germany where he formed John Kennedy and the Honeymooners.[2] The album recorded before he left Australia finally came out on Berlin label Twang! in 1993.
In early 1994 he moved to Hong Kong, then in early 1997 he moved to London. He moved back to Australia in late 1999.[4]
Kennedy released a retrospective album Inner West: Greatest Bits and Pieces, rescued from aging master tapes.[5] In 2003 released Kennedy Town, an album for which he returned to Berlin to record.[6]
John's 7" singles were often distinguished by the unusual covers. The single for "Miracle (in Marrickville)" featured an actual printed photograph of John standing in front of an auto electrician garage, and for "Big County" a plastic map of Australia was affixed to every cover.
Kennedy formed John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong (later just called Love Gone Wrong[9]) in 1984 to promote his solo releases. They appeared on the Channel Ten TV series Starsearch, making the final in 1985. The band continued on and first released a single under that name in 1985. The band took a break in 86 while Kennedy travelled overseas but started up again later that year with a changed lineup. Kennedy broke the band up after Armiger left to join The Johnnys in 1988.[2]
Kennedy had a casual band with Barry Turnbull and Cory Messenger called John Kennedy's Sweet Dreams. They played country inspired John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong originals and covers of popular country songs.[2]
While in Berlin in the then West Germany Kennedy formed John Kennedy and the Honeymooners. They released one full length album in 1993.[2] The Honeymooners were the backing band on his 2003 solo album Kennedy Town.[8]
Back in Australia Kennedy formed John Kennedy and the Lone Gunmen.[10]
After John Kennedy and the Lone Gunmen Kennedy formed John Kennedy's '68 Comeback Special,[11] a band which included former members of Love Gone Wrong.[12]