Luke Kennedy

Luke Kennedy
Album cover of Luke Kennedy's "A Time For Us"
Background information
Born	1982 Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, Australia
Genres	Musical Theatre Swing
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	2010–present
Associated acts	Swing On This The Ten Tenors
Website	www.lukekennedy.com.au

Luke Kennedy is an Australian performer best known for touring internationally with The Ten Tenors and performing the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar in various productions around the country. In early 2013, he entered and placed second on the second season of The Voice (Australia).

History

Luke Kennedy began his performance career in Townsville, North Queensland where he performed in numerous local productions from the age of 16 onwards, including Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Marius in Les Misérables and Mary Sunshine in Chicago. He moved to Brisbane in 2002 to again play the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar and continued in productions of The Wiz as the Lion, Alice, Beauty and the Beast as the Beast and Cain/Japheth in Children of Eden. In 2007, Luke played the role of Jamie in Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years co-starring his now-partner Brisbane-based actress Naomi Price for ^[1] (Oscar Theatre Company/Judith Wright Centre). In August and again in June 2011, he played the title role in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar^[2] at the QPAC Playhouse. He released his debut album, Overexposed, in July 2010 and reprised the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar, this time for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of South Australia in Adelaide, South Australia.^[3] He recently made his debut for the Queensland Theatre Company with the Danger Ensemble's iWar.

The Ten Tenors

Luke joined international touring group The Ten Tenors in early 2008 ^[4][5] and in nearly two years on the road, he performed shows on nearly every continent in the world. Highlights of his time with TTT include the 2009 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon which was broadcast to 32 million people across North America, the 2008 Emirates Melbourne Cup and the DVD recording of Amigos Para Siempre: Live in Madrid in August 2009 with the RTVE Orchestra.

Solo career

2013: The Voice Australia, Record Deal, and A Time For Us

In April 2013, Kennedy auditioned for Season 2 of The Voice Australia. He appeared on the fourth Blind Audition episode on 10 April 2013 singing "Un giorno per noi (A Time for Us)". All four coaches turned their chairs with standing ovations. Kennedy chose Ricky Martin as his coach .^[6] He was paired against "Belinda Adams" in the Battle Rounds singing Rose Laurens "I Dreamed a Dream". This resulted in Martin choosing Kennedy to go through to the Showdowns. In the Showdowns he sang "Con te partirò" by Andrea Bocelli and was voted through to the live finals by the public.^[7]

In the first Live Final he sang "Please Don't Ask Me" by John Farnham. This was the first time he has moved away from his Opera genre into a more pop genre. After impressing coach Ricky Martin the most on his team, Martin put him straight through to the top 12.^[8] In the second Live Final he sang "Freedom 90" by George Michael and this resulted in the public voting him through to the top 8. In the third Live Final Kennedy sang "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder. At the start of the semi-final it was revealed Kennedy was through to the last four because of this performance.^[9] In the semi-finals he had to sing two songs in one night for the first time. First up was "Caruso" by Lucio Dalla. After all of the final eight had performed their first song it was revealed that Kennedy was through to the final four after a close race between him and fellow Team Ricky member "Miss Murphy". He was through the Grand Final. He then performed his own original song "Love Is Gone".^[10]

In the Grand Final he again sang two songs. First was a group performance by the top 4 of "You're the Voice" by John Farnham and then a duet with coach Ricky Martin of "El Tango De Roxanne" by The Police. Kennedy eventually reached the top 2 but placed second to Harrison Craig.

Kennedy performed the following songs on The Voice:

Just weeks after The Voice Australia finished, Kennedy along with other finalists Celia Pavey and Danny Ross signed a record contract with Universal Music Australia and it was announced his debut album, A Time For Us would be released on 12 July 2013.

Kennedy's debut single Stay For a Minute was released on 5 July 2013.^[11]

A Time For Us includes eleven tracks, eight of which were performed on The Voice. The other three tracks are the single, Stay For a Minute, and two other covers, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and In My Life.^[12] A Time For Us debuted at number 6 on the Aria Charts on 13 July 2013 with 3,806 sales nationally.^[13] In its second week on the chart it stayed in the top ten at number 10. The album will be released in New Zealand later in the year when Season 2 of The Voice Australia finishes airing there. Kennedy has expressed interest in touring later in 2013 after appearing in a number of instores promoting "A Time For Us". He may also feature in Ricky Martin's upcoming Australian tour.^[14]

2014: Swing On This

Kennedy performed in the new cabaret act Swing on This at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival on 7 June 2014. Festival Artistic Director, and singer in her own right, Kate Ceberano appeared as a special guest to perform with a cast that included Ben Mingay, Michael Falzon , and Matt Lee.^[15] Following Adelaide Cabaret Festival, they performed as the headline act at both the official black tie launch of the refurbished Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre on 25 July and at the community concert^[16] the next evening, again playing to a full house.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Live performance

References

External links

• Official website
• The Ten Tenors website
• Australian Stage Online feature