‘Bap wanted others to experience the magic of music just as he did’

“Bap began to show an interest in music in his teens,” she says softly. The Belfast legend - who got his name from the local bread van and a love of baps made by Kennedy’s Bakery in his native west of the city - is also internationally recognised for penning the song ‘Moonlight Kiss’ which was on the soundtrack of the film ‘Serendipity’ starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. And he has toured widely, all over Ireland and the UK, the US, Europe - he lived for the thrill of the live gig.

“Originally he was into Top of the Pops and he wanted to be a drummer,” continues Brenda. ”But he ended up playing guitar in a punk band - punk was his first love. He was in a band at the time called Ten Past Seven with his best friend Bradso. It actually did pretty well. It even ended up on Channel 4’s The Tube at the time.

“When Bap came of age it was really the Good Vibrations era. You know I think it was best summed up really in the Good Vibrations movie about the life of Terri Hooley.”

A stalwart of the local music scene, but also highly respected in Nashville, New York, London and beyond, Bap is set to receive the Posthumous Oh Yeah Legend Award, 2020, one of the highest honours Ulster can bestow on its musicians.

This year’s award is in association with Marie Curie, Belfast; Bap died of cancer in 2016, sending the local music scene into real shock and deep loss. This is in recognition of Bap’s enduring legacy, chiefly as a solo artist and earlier with Energy Orchard.

The award will be made to Bap’s wife Brenda by Ralph McLean of BBC Radio Ulster during the NI Music Prize event on November 12. The event will be a specially produced live stream aired as a YouTube Premiere at 8pm.

“I think the real thing that made Bap stand out as an artist was the authenticity of his music. Plus he was this amazing human being with a huge heart; you couldn’t find anyone with a bad word to say about him,” continues Brenda.

“He was an incredible songwriter, always very interested in melody and just obsessed with lyrics and getting them right. He was very on top of rhythm from his time as a drummer. He would carry a notebook all the time and he was constantly thinking of ideas for his songs and jotting them down. I think, for him, his craft was really setting poetry to music. He was always so interested in words, or if a phrase stood out to him he would write it down and someday he would pick it up again and like lightning he knew he had what he’d been looking for.”

Brenda also talks warmly of Bap’s natural performing skills - he “was powerful and a great band leader and full of banter and chat between songs. He put all of himself into every performance. He gave it all he had”.

His albums include Domestic Blues, Lonely Street, The Big Picture, Howl On, The Sailor’s Revenge, Let’s Start Again and Reckless Heart. He had a huge affection for artists such as Hank Williams and Elvis, but he developed a unique style of his own, marked by wry humour, Celtic melancholy and a resonant sense of place.

Brenda finds it hard to choose one of his best tracks or albums: “I was there with him and saw so many songs from their inception, I felt very much a part of that creative process and I suppose I find it hard to stand back and see his work with the cold eye of an observer who didn’t know him as I did.”

For a time Brenda also played bass in Bap’s band as well as performing backing vocals: “A big part of our life together was gigging and touring.”

Bap was by all accounts a humble guy from west Belfast and a few weeks before he died, when he was writing a blog about his cancer experience and what it had taught him ,he put his life philosophy into words so beautiful and moving, it is hard to read them without being incredibly touched.

“It was never about him,” says Brenda. “It was never about fame or money, it was always the music and he wanted people to experience the magic of music in the way that he did. What was so important to him is reaching his audience.”

In his final months, Bap revealed publicly for the first time that he had a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, and talked candidly about the part this condition had played in his life and career.

In the four years since his passing, Bap’s art and his humanity are being appreciated more than ever. It is only right that his achievements should be recognised with a Legend Award.

Brenda Kennedy said. “So many people who love Bap, at home and abroad, are going to be delighted. Bap is a legend for so many reasons: for his remarkable achievements, his great musical legacy, the legendary life he led, and for all that he quietly overcame.

“As a west Belfast teenager, Bap was determined to ‘lead an interesting life’ and he did that alright. His music took him all round the world and earned him the admiration and affection of musicians and fans alike. But to me, Bap was a legend above all for the lovely, warm, genuine man that he was.”

They first met in 2007, when Kennedy moved back to his native Northern Ireland. Shortly after returning, Kennedy hosted a songwriting workshop, where he met author and former lawyer Brenda Boyd, who was participating in the workshop. The two soon became a couple, and they were married in 2008. Brenda has since sung backing vocals on four of Kennedy’s albums – Howl On, The Sailor’s Revenge, Let’s Start Again and Reckless Heart.

“It grew from there and when he found out that I was interested in music, that sealed it. We were friends for a long time and we got married in 2008. He was just this lovely, kind, great-craic guy, always cracking jokes.

“To the end we were very, very close,” confides Brenda. “For his last 11 weeks I lived with him in Marie Curie. I had to keep on my brave face because I was with him. I had no choice in that because he was going through enough without worrying about me. Bap only fell ill on a May morning when he had been due to headline a gig in Mayo. By November he was dead with pancreatic and bowel cancer.”

Brenda adds: “What I would love to see in terms of Bap’s legacy is that the music is really remembered, enjoyed and respected. That is what I know he would most love.”

Conor O’Kane from Marie Curie, Belfast said, “It is wonderful for Marie Curie to be included in the celebration of Bap Kennedy’s exceptional talent. Thanks to Oh Yeah Music Centre and especially Brenda Kennedy and family for inviting Marie Curie to be part of the celebration and recognition of Bap’s music. Marie Curie’s ability to care for people with terminal illness, like Bap, depends on voluntary donations. In this, a very difficult year for everyone, we very much appreciate the association with the Legend award and are grateful to anyone that can donate in support of our work across the whole of Northern Ireland.”

Charlotte Dryden, of Oh Yeah said, “We are honoured to be making this presentation. Bap Kennedy was and still is a much-loved Belfast musician; his music reached and resonated with people all over the world. That music and his legacy remains so strong and we feel privileged to be adding his name to the Legend series at the Oh Yeah Music Centre.”

Previous recipients of the Oh Yeah Legend Award are Terri Hooley (2008); Henry McCullough (2009); The Undertones (2010); Stiff Little Fingers (2011); Gary Moore (posthumous, 2012); Therapy? (2014); Divine Comedy (2015); Ash (2016); Vivian Campbell (2017); Jackie Flavelle (posthumous, 2018); and Snow Patrol (2019).