Kevin Kennedy (born Kevin Patrick Williams, 4 September 1961) is an English actor and musician, best known for playing the character

Curly Watts Norman Arthur "Curly" Watts is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', from 1983 to 2003, and in a few spin-off DVDs in 2010. He was portrayed throughout by Kevin Kennedy. Most of Curly's storylines dealt ...

for 20 years in ITV's long-running television soap opera ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

''.

Early life

Kennedy was born in

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is a district of the city of Manchester, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Cheshire, Wythenshawe was transferred in 1931 to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He attended St. Paul's Catholic High School and was a keen member of

Manchester Youth Theatre The Manchester Youth Theatre was a youth theatre which operated in Manchester from 1966 until 2003. It was founded by Geoff Sykes, a lifelong friend of Michael Croft founder of The National Youth Theatre who served as its Artistic Director until hi ...

. Kennedy later studied drama at

Manchester Polytechnic Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

Career

Kennedy was in the band the ''Paris Valentinos'' with

Johnny Marr Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous ...

and

Andy Rourke Andrew Michael Rourke (born 17 January 1964) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the Smiths. He is known for his melodic approach to bass playing. Career Rourke's father was Irish while his mother was English. He received an a ...

. Between 1983 and 2003, Kennedy played the character of Norman "Curly" Watts in the TV soap ''Coronation Street''. Among other jobs, the character started as a paperboy, then became a dustman, and was later an assistant manager at a supermarket. The character had two marriages, producing two children; one from each wife. After a short break from acting whilst recovering from an alcohol addiction in 2000, he released a single, "Bulldog Nation", with his band the Bunch of Thieves, on the

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

label. The single peaked at No. 70 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. He returned to ''Coronation Street'' a few months later, before being written out permanently in September 2003. In an interview in 2009, Kennedy said that he would consider a return to the show and it was later confirmed that he would film scenes for its fiftieth anniversary DVD. However, more than a decade after his departure, he has yet to make a return. Kennedy was the writer and producer of the 2005 television series ''Spanish Capers''. A second series was recorded in 2006–2007 for

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

. In 2009, Kennedy played the part of aging hippie "Pop" in the touring production of Queen &

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms '' The Young Ones'' and ''Bla ...

's ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at numbe ...

'' before joining the cast of the West End London production in 2010. In 2015, Kennedy was asked to be involved with the launch of the world's third-largest cruise liner "RCI Anthem of the Seas" appearing in a West End production of "We Will Rock You". He has appeared many times on board as Pop; most recently in the UK Seacation cruises from Southampton in summer 2021. He also appeared in the 2009 "Scent from Heaven?" advert for Daz, as part of the company's "Cleaner Close" campaign. In 2010, Kennedy, along with several other ''Coronation Street'' stars, contributed to

Trisha Ward Trisha Ward (born 29 December 1972, Cleveland, England, Cleveland, England) is an English composer and lyricist, best known for writing musical theatre, stage musicals. She started performing in a band and writing songs when she was fourteen yea ...

's album ''Rogues, Angels, Heroes and Fools'', recorded for the fiftieth anniversary of the soap. In 2017, he played Graham Ollerinshaw, a

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

tribute act, in an episode of the BBC's ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and pr ...

''. In 2019, he appeared in Cinderella at

Cambridge Arts Theatre Cambridge Arts Theatre is a 666-seat theatre on Peas Hill and St Edward's Passage in central Cambridge, England. The theatre presents a varied mix of drama, dance, opera and pantomime. It attracts some of the highest-quality touring productions ...

. He played an angel in the Christmas episode of ''

Mrs Brown's Boys ''Mrs. Brown's Boys'' is an Irish television sitcom created by and starring Brendan O'Carroll and produced in the United Kingdom by BBC Scotland in partnership with BOC-PIX and Irish broadcaster RTÉ. The series stars O'Carroll as Agnes B ...

'' on 25 December 2019.

Personal life

Kennedy is married and has three children. He serves as director of Kennedy Street recovery services, a social enterprise, with his wife Clare, the

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

-based organisation's CEO, offering free telephone advice, signposting to local recovery services, home-based detox, various recovery focused programmes and a professional advice and coaching service to the business sector.

Credits

Acting

Albums

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Kevin Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University 1961 births Living people English pop guitarists English male guitarists Male actors from Manchester Musicians from Manchester English writers English film producers English people of Irish descent English male soap opera actors