When his last band, JFK and The Cuban Crisis, split up John Kennedy started a solo career as an “urban and western” singer. The band he put together for recording and live work became a casual group called John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong.
The single Forget came out on Waterfront in September 1984, followed by Miracle In Marrickville in March 1985.
In April 1985, John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong entered the Australian TV talent show, StarSearch, and surprised both themselves and their audience by winning four heats and progressing all the way to the series final.
Although beaten in the final, the experience gained the band a great deal of exposure.
Retaining guitarist Colin Bloxsom, Kennedy put together a permanent line-up of Love Gone Wrong – with Barry Turnbull on bass, Mark Dawson on drums, and Margaret Labi on harmony vocals – and took the band on the road across the eastern states of Australia.
King Street (November 1985) was the band’s first single for the Red Eye label and the first to bear the name of John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong rather than just Kennedy’s name.
In early 1986, Kennedy spent two months travelling across the USA and Mexico, and upon his return found that Dawson had left the band and Bloxsom was no longer interested in playing with Love Gone Wrong.
While auditioning for new players, Kennedy, Turnbull and Cory Messenger (guitar) formed the casual band John Kennedy’s Sweet Dreams to play a small number of shows around Sydney.
By the time the single Big Country (July 1986) was released, Kennedy had formed a new Love Gone Wrong with Turnbull, Messenger, Wayne Connolly (guitar, vocals) and Vincent Sheehan (drums). In October, Red Eye issued the eight-track mini-album compilation, From Woe . . . to Go.
Early in 1987, Michael Armiger replaced Turnbull on bass and Love Gone Wrong signed a deal with the Mighty Boy label, issuing a new single The Singing City in September. The album Always The Bridegroom (December) and its second single, World Upside Down, followed in May 1988.
In August 1988, John Kennedy decided to break up Love Gone Wrong after Armiger accepted an offer to join The Johnnys.
Kennedy issued his debut solo album One Day in February 1989 which yielded the single Out Of Town. He then left Australia bound for the USA and the UK before finally settling in Berlin.
In 1990, Kennedy recorded an acoustic retrospective of some of his finest songs dating back to JFK and the Cuban Crisis for the US-based Furnace label. Sydney-based Red Eye Records issued the retrospective, Have Songs Will Travel, on CD in Australia and Kennedy returned for an Australian tour during November.
Back in Berlin, Kennedy formed a band called The Honeymooners, issuing the CD single By The Light Of The Day (February 1994), the CD EP The Honeymooners (May 1993) and the album Fiction Facing Facts (also May 93).
John Kennedy
Vocals, guitar
Barry Turnbull
Bass
Cory Messenger
Guitar, vocals
Ian Simpson
Banjo, pedal steel
Colin Bloxsom
Guitar
Margaret Labi
Harmony vocals
Sandy Chick
Harmony vocals
Mark Dawson
Drums
Vincent Sheehan
Drums
Wayne Connolly
Guitar
Michael Armiger
Bass
Amanda Brown
Violin
Graham Lee
Guitar, pedal steel, vocals
Peter Kennard
Percussion
Martin Tucker
Piano
Ike
Double bass
Adrian Bingham
Saxophone
Peter Timmerman
Drums
