Harrison Kennedy was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.[3] His family had roots in New Orleans and Tennessee,.[8][9] Kennedy sang in the Stewart Memorial Church Choir as a boy, when childhood trips took him over the border to visit relations in Arkansas, Rogersville, Tennessee,[9] and Detroit, Illinois, United States, and all these experiences expanded his love of music.[6][10] in 1974
Over the years on a part-time basis he played a variety of musical genres including funk, soul, R&B, folk, rock, and gospel.[5][11] Kennedy spent almost 30 years outside of the music industry, before returning as a blues singer and guitarist with 2003's Sweet Taste.[12] In 2007, Kennedy signed a new recording contract with Electro-Fi Records and has since released a number of internationally acclaimed albums.[5] In 2008, Kennedy was nominated for Best Blues Recording in Canada's Juno Awards.[3] He separately achieved second place against 83 others in the solo/duo category at the 2011 International Blues Challenge.[13] In 2013 he also overcame a spell of prostate cancer.[14][15]
In 2013 he released Soulscape,[10] on which he played a variety of instruments,[16] which was followed by the Juno winning album, This Is From Here. It featured Colin Linden on several tracks,[5] from a total of six of which Kennedy wrote.[17] The album has also won the Grand Prix du Disque for Blues award from the Académie Charles Cros in France, as the 2015 Blues Album of the Year. Harrison toured in late 2014 with Ruthie Foster, Eric Bibb and Jerome Michael Brown.[5][18] He also appeared as a guest performer on Bibb's 2014 album, Blues People.[19] He participated in 2018 with Jean-Jacques Milteau and Vincent Segal on the recording of Crossborder Blues, published by Naïve.[20] In 2017, this group commenced a tour.[21][22]
