About Bobby Kennedy

Bobby was born and raised in the western New York State city of Dunkirk on the shore of lake Erie. He is the middle child in a family of thirteen children born to Francis and Jacqueline Kennedy (yes, Jackie Kennedy). At the age of fifteen Bobby first started learning to play guitar and wrote his first song at the age of eighteen. Teaching himself to play the guitar was no easy task since he plays left handed. "Finding a left handed guitar at the time was very difficult since they were not readily available. Affording to buy one after finding it presented even more of a challange because the price was at times quite a bit more then a right handed guitar", Bobby stated. "Of course, the real challange was learning to play the guitar in the midst of nine brothers and three sisters. Sometimes the comments and remarks were less then complimentary," he says laughingly, "They have since changed their minds about my abilities."

Bobby spent several years of the eighties as a soldier in the U.S. Army doing tours of duty in Texas, Georgia and in Germany. During this time he honed his skills as a performer and songwriter doing gigs in many cafes and venues in european cities such as Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Munich, Amsterdam and Brussels. After four years overseas Bobby returned to the U.S. settling in the mid-hudson valley. He keeps busy performing at area clubs including Rips Cafe, the Rosendale street festival, the One Love concert II in Newburyport, Mass. and the Highland Cultural Center. He is also actively involved with founding a new music organization called the Contemporary Acoustic Artists Coalition.

A full length recording project featuring original songs written by Bobby and recorded at Natural Studios in Woodstock has just been completed. This is Bobby's debut album and is aptly entitled "Late Bloomer". Bobby is joined on the album by many talented area musicians, and especially by three of his children. Daughter Alison plays cello and his twin daughters Kimberly and Samantha sing harmony.