The late Bap Kennedy honoured with Oh Yeah Legend Award
Last updated 1st Nov 2020
The legendary Northern Ireland born singer-songwriter, Bap Kennedy, is this year’s Oh Yeah Legend Award winner.
It is being dedicated to the Belfast born musician who died in 2016 from Cancer.
Bap’s wife, Brenda Kennedy, will receive the award in recognition of his enduring legacy in association with Marie Curie, Belfast.
The award will be presented by Ralph McLean of BBC Radio Ulster during the NI Music Prize on November 12.
Bap (otherwise known as Martin) was greatly loved in his hometown of Belfast and highly respected in Nashville, New York, London and beyond.
He is being honoured chiefly for his solo work and his earlier music with his band Energy Orchard.
During his lifetime he worked with artists such as Van Morrison, Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith, Shane MacGowan and Mark Knopfler.
His music featured extensively on the soundtrack to the film Serendipity (2001), starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.
His albums include Domestic Blues, Lonely Street, The Big Picture, Howl On, The Sailor’s Revenge, Let’s Start Again and Reckless Heart.
Following his cancer diagnosis, Bap started a series of powerful blog entries, which people found very moving and were shared widely in all parts of the world.
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.
Bap’s wife said over the last four years people have started to contact her letting her know that they have just come across her husband’s music.
She said: “At the moment there aren’t actually any plans to re-release anything, but I say that’s going to happen whenever the time is right.
“When I heard that Bap was being given the Oh Yeah Legend Award this year I was delighted.
“It’s so good to see his music getting recognised because that’s what he always wanted.
“This is just going to come at a perfect time and for everybody to be listening to his music and recognising it and sharing it at this time is just exactly what he would have wanted.”
She added: “It definitely feels right for this award to be in association with Marie Curie especially with how good they were to Bap in the end
“Not only to Bap but to the both of us, because they knew we wanted to be together right up to the end, and they facilitated us.
“So, we were able to live together in Marie Curie right up until the end and they couldn’t have done more.
“That meant everything to us.”
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.”
The Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast’s dedicated music hub, presents the Legend Award.
The event will be a specially produced live stream aired as a YouTube Premiere at 8pm.