This week Harrison Kennedy is in sunny Cannes, France. On Sunday evening he’ll be in Clare. Over the course of the last eight years Kennedy has received 15 Nominations at the Maple Blues Nominations and four Juno nominations. He was also 1st Runner at the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

Harrison Kennedy was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1968 he became one of the two singers in Chairmen of the Board, a group from Detroit that became one of the most successful on the pop/soul scene of the early 70s. The group scored 8 hits in the Top 30 charts, the biggest being their first single “Give Me Just a Little More Time” (#3 on the North American and British charts in 1970). The group appeared on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, Soul Train, American Bandstand, and England’s Top of the Pops, not to mention numerous appearances at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre. The group also appeared in concert with B.B. King, James Brown, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Neville Brothers, Funkadelic, and many others.

Harrison Kennedy is an artist that Le Moulin has been trying to bring to Nova Scotia for several years. His concert at the club will be his only appearance in the province. Harrison (voice, guitar, mandolin, banjo, harmonica, percussion, spoons) usually performs solo but this time he’ll be accompanied by a trio (guitar, bass, keyboards/accordion). His music, which falls into the country blues category, encompasses elements of soul, jazz, funk, gospel, country, and folk.

-“Soulful, eclectic and real.” – David Barnard CKLN-FM

-“I found the ‘Shame the Devil’ album (2011) an unexpected gem, restoring my faith in the relevance of simply written, keenly observed, well-played songs from a man now at the top of his game.”  Blues & Rhythm – Britain’s Top Blues Mag!

-“…in its unfettered, organic approach, it’s better than many early 21st century blues albums that garnered Grammy award nominations…this is well thought-out, imaginatively eclectic, and well-produced.” -review of Kennedy’s Sweet Taste album (2003) -Richie Unterberger

-“High Country Blues is uniformly excellent, one of the most satisfying blues albums of 2007.” – Allmusic.com

-Harrison is on a straight-arrow flight path toward being internationally recognized as a true blues artist and composer of his own music, one foot solidly in rural acoustic practice, and the other planted in urban modern contemporary sounds and themes. He’s got one of the more distinctive and soulful voices in the business…” – review of  One Dog Barkin, 2009

B.B. King referred to him as Canada’s premier blues performer .

-submitted byPaul-Emile Comeau  pcm.comeau@ns.sympatico.ca