John Francis Kennedy (born John Kennedy 1 July 1958) is an English-born Australian musician and singer-songwriter–guitarist. He has been the leader of a number of groups including JFK & the Cuban Crisis (1980–84), and John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong (1984–88). In 1984 he described his music as "urban and western".
Early life
John Kennedy was born in Liverpool, England on 1 July 1958. His father's name is also John Kennedy. In October 1965 the Kennedy family migrated to Australia and settled in Brisbane. Kennedy took the confirmation name, Francis, when he was ten and – as his middle name – it completes the famous JFK initials. According to his website, "It seemed like a good idea at the time. The joke has long since worn off for him, but it still takes some explaining." Kennedy grew up in Acacia Ridge, where he developed a preference for country-influenced music, especially Elvis Costello's debut album, My Aim Is True (July 1977). He later recalled that "My parents listened to a lot of popular country – people like Burl Ives, Tom Jones, who was doing country then, and Johnny Cash... It was quite sophisticated country music – big vocals and a big production sound."
JFK & the Cuban Crisis
John Kennedy, on lead vocals and guitar, formed his first band, JFK & the Cuban Crisis, with former school friend James Paterson on vocals and guitar in Brisbane in October 1980. The rest of the initial line-up were John Downie on bass guitar and Stephen Pritchard on drums. They established themselves on the local scene, taking up a residency at 279 Club, with their smart Squeeze influenced pop. According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, they "played a brand of jangly guitar pop with country overtones." They released two cassette albums, Over the Underpass and Under the Overpass (1981) and Down and Out in Brisbane and Sydney (1982). The line up changed in 1981 with Oscar Beath taking over bass duties and Paul Hardman adding keyboards. They played support spots for The Pretenders and Ian Dury and the Blockheads. The band issued their debut single, "Am I a Pagan", in March 1982 and then moved to Sydney in May.
For the Sydney line up of the band Kennedy and Paterson recruited a new rhythm section: Greg Hall on bass guitar and Paul Rochelli on drums. They started a residency at the Southern Cross Hotel in Surry Hills. A four-track extended play, Careless Talk Costs Lives (December 1982), had been recorded in Brisbane earlier and was the first release on the new Waterfront Records label. It featured the song, "The Texan Thing", which received alternative radio airplay. Kennedy had started writing it as "Take Something", which was a "jaunty keyboard-driven song". When Paterson recommended "The Texan Thing" as their next single, Kennedy thought "that's a bit rude, he'd already had the A-side of the first single, and now he was mentioning this song I'd never heard of". However Paterson had "misheard ['Take Something'] as 'Texan Thing'. So I had to go back and rewrite the lyrics."
JFK & the Cuban Crisis were established on the inner city live scene alongside contemporaries, The Triffids. In April 1984 they issued a three-track EP, The Ballad of Jackie O, and followed in May with their studio album, The End of the Affair. In June that year, Kennedy disbanded the group due to "musical differences". In September 1986 Stuart Coupe of The Canberra Times observed that he "suffered, as he still does, from accusations that he was imitating the nasal tones of Elvis Costello – something that's still very noticeable – but Kennedy insists that it's just coincidence."
John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong
Kennedy embarked on his solo career by releasing a single, "Forget", in September 1984 on Waterfront Records. To promote it he formed John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong (from early 1987, it was trimmed to Love Gone Wrong). Alongside Kennedy were Graham Lee on guitar., pedal steel and vocals; Adrian Bingham on saxophone; Jonathan "Ike" Liklitter on double bass; Peter Kennard (ex-Rockmelons) on percussion; Peter Timmerman (ex-Cheatin' Hearts) on drums and Martin Tucker on piano. Kennedy described his music as "urban and western". The band released a single, "Miracle (in Marrickville)" in March 1985. Also in that month Colin Bloxsom joined on lead guitar (ex-Pop Rivets).