(16CD)
BIOGRAPHY
Harrison Kennedy was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His
family had roots in New Orleans and Tennessee,. Kennedy sang in the
Stewart Memorial Church Choir as a boy, when childhood trips took him over
the border to visit relations in Arkansas, Rogersville, Tennessee, and
Detroit, Illinois, United States, and all these experiences expanded his
love of music. in 1974
Kennedy relocated to Detroit and joined the Chairmen of the Board in
1970, a group started as part of the then newly created
Holland–Dozier–Holland record labels, Invictus Records and Hot Wax
Records. Kennedy played on the recording of Marvin Gaye's 1971 song,
"What's Going On". Following a string of hit records with Chairmen of the
Board, which included "Give Me Just a Little More Time", "(You've Got Me)
Dangling on a String", and "Everything's Tuesday", Kennedy left in 1974
and set out on a solo career. Kennedy served as a corporal with the RHLI
and later worked for Allied Chemical Corporation.
Over the years on a part-time basis he played a variety of musical genres
including funk, soul, R&B, folk, rock, and gospel. Kennedy spent
almost 30 years outside of the music industry, before returning as a blues
singer and guitarist with 2003's Sweet Taste. In 2007, Kennedy signed a
new recording contract with Electro-Fi Records and has since released a
number of internationally acclaimed albums. In 2008, Kennedy was nominated
for Best Blues Recording in Canada's Juno Awards. He separately achieved
second place against 83 others in the solo/duo category at the 2011
International Blues Challenge. In 2013 he also overcame a spell of
prostate cancer.
In 2013 he released Soulscape, on which he played a variety of
instruments, which was followed by the Juno winning album, This Is From
Here. It featured Colin Linden on several tracks, from a total of six of
which Kennedy wrote. The album has also won the Grand Prix du Disque for
Blues award from the Académie Charles Cros in France, as the 2015 Blues
Album of the Year. Harrison toured in late 2014 with Ruthie Foster, Eric
Bibb and Jerome Michael Brown. He also appeared as a guest performer on
Bibb's 2014 album, Blues People. He participated in 2018 with Jean-Jacques
Milteau and Vincent Segal on the recording of Crossborder Blues, published
by Naïve. In 2017, this group commenced a tour.
(Wikipedia)