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Songwriter Eliot Kennedy talks about Mental Health Awareness Week

Grammy award-winning songwriter, Eliot Kennedy has penned hits for Aretha Franklin, Bryan Adams and Take That. This Mental Health Awareness Week he launches a charity album, Hidden Wounds

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Songwriter Eliot Kennedy talks about Mental Health Awareness Week

Here we speak to Eliot Kennedy about his Mental Health Awareness Week album.

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Q. What inspired you to write ‘Hidden Wounds’?

In 2013, I travelled to Camp Bastion with Gary Barlow for an ITV documentary, Journey to Afghanistan. Last year I met Jo, the daughter of Jimi Heselden, who invented the blast wall bastion, which the camp was named after. This invention has saved countless lives in conflicts across the world. Jimi donated millions to Help for Heroes before he died in a tragic accident aged 62.

His daughter Jo, a singer, wanted to continue her dadโ€™s legacy. We specifically want to raise awareness this Mental Health Awareness Week for the mental health services for veterans.

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Hidden Wounds is about losing someone. For Jo that was her dad – the concept is you canโ€™t see the psychological wounds, so itโ€™s difficult to really know if anyone is really suffering. You can see missing limbs, but anything psychological, even a breaking heart, you canโ€™t see.

Q. Do you believe in the restorative power of music?

Iโ€™ve always said that music is the backstage pass to everybodyโ€™s soul. It has the ability to open people up, so Iโ€™m very much a believer.

Q. Do you have a particular song that makes you laugh or cry or makes you remember a significant moment in your life?

Kate Bush and the Hounds of Love album was a massive thing for me when I was growing up, going through a very difficult personal time. I had the privilege of going to see her at the Hammersmith Apollo and I was in tears. Her music manages to do all the right things; itโ€™s incredibly emotional.

Q. Kayne West, Britney Spears and other big stars such as Robbie Williams have suffered public breakdowns, is the music industry to blame do you think? 

The manager Shep Gordon said heโ€™s never come across someone that fame didnโ€™t ruin.

Pop by its very nature is fickle. Itโ€™s sad when you see these band reunion programmes and theyโ€™re changed or damaged. Iโ€™ve seen it happen. People think that youโ€™re amazing, and you start to believe it. Theyโ€™re not prepared for the power they get to wield, and theyโ€™re definitely not prepared for it when that power is taken away. Thereโ€™s an immense feeing of loss to deal with around a sense of power that was never really theirs in the first place. The only people who really get it, are those people who know it isnโ€™t real, it was just borrowed.

Q. How do you keep your feet on the ground?

I love getting on stage with a band and playing, but itโ€™s just because Iโ€™m a musician and I enjoy the process. Once the gigโ€™s done I want to go home. Some people have the want and a desire to be recognised, but I donโ€™t have it and Iโ€™m so glad I donโ€™t.

Q. What advice would you give to anyone wanting to go into the music industry? 

Youโ€™ve got to be prepared to do twice more than you think you would do at your best. Youโ€™ve got to be prepared to work twice as hard than you ever dreamed that youโ€™d have to do, probably for less money that you ever believed, for twice as long. Make sure youโ€™re open to opportunities and taking risks. Lots of people take the path of least resistance, that doesnโ€™t lead to the top of the mountain.  

Q. Youโ€™ve moved from writing pop hits to musicals with Gary Barlow and TV/film soundtracks, why? 

I was always the hired gun for labels to write the single. Doing the musical Finding Neverland, gave me opportunity to be far more emotional in the lyric and the melody. Finding Neverland is coming to the UK at some point, and weโ€™ve another musical in production, Around the World in 80 Days. Iโ€™m spending a lot of time doing music for film and television; itโ€™s nothing but emotion. I donโ€™t feel as compelled to make pop records. It feels more appropriate to where Iโ€™m at in my life and what Iโ€™m motivated by.

 Q. What is your perfect day?

Iโ€™m at my happiest when Iโ€™ve got my kids here at the house. I still get a buzz out of work, but it doesnโ€™t compare to a sunny day and being out in the garden having a barbecue, itโ€™s about having those guys around me and feeling like a familyโ€™s meant to feel like. Thatโ€™s the best feeling ever.

Hidden Wounds, featuring Joanne Heselden-Edwards, is available on Friday 12 May via iTunes and Amazon. All profits go to Help for Heroes. Find out more at www.hiddenwoundsconcert.com.

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