Curly rocks the Coro club

By FIONA HATWIN

Sometimes the truth is stranger than a Coronation Street fiction. The fact that Kevin Kennedy, known and loved by fans as Curly Watts, was once a part of a band that became the Smiths is definitely one of those strange-but-true gems to bring up when the dinner-party conversation dies.

"I was the original bass player for the Smiths," he says over the phone from England.

Sort of. Three teenage boys living on the same Manchester estate put together a band. The Paris Valentinos they called themselves. It was never a case of there not being enough room for two bespectacled types in the one band.

Kennedy simply wanted to act more than make music at the time, so he left to go to acting school. Morrissey joined and they became the Smiths, forever cool 80s band.

"They didn't really take off until maybe three or four years later so I wouldn't really call myself the Pete Best of the Smiths."

In terms of job security, being Curly has lasted almost 20 of his 40 years.

Being a Smith would have been strictly an 80s career move.

This way he gets a steady income, a nice car and the chance to indulge his musical interest. His bosses at Granada TV think it mutually beneficial to give him time out for his music.

It's a long way from the Smiths to touring New Zealand with the likes of country music's Brendan Dugan, Jodi Vaughan and Gray Bartlett. The All the Best tour goes as far south as Invercargill and north to Whangarei next month. Kennedy's wife, Clare, is coming to help with the merchandise.

There will be Kevin Kennedy T-shirts and his first solo album, Present Kennedy, on sale at the venues on this, his third trip here.

Don't expect to hear something similar to a karaoke night down Rovers. There will be none of that on tour. Kennedy's brand of music is part-Celt, part-country and part-rock. He's a serious musician and has been since he started learning classical Spanish guitar when he was 11.

Back when Coro was a Monday to Friday job (it's now six days a week) he used to play bass and sing in the Borderline, an Irish show band Thursday through to Sunday night. Then came the Bunch of Thieves who played a country-rock hybrid.

And a year ago his single, Bulldog Nation, was released.

"Bulldog Nation is guitar driven, not really Britpop which is more your 17-year-old dancing round your handbag music, but it did really well and it got to the heady heights of number 58. It was wedged between Madonna and Geri Halliwell. I can think of worse places to be wedged."

He's not so naive as to expect punters to turn up to the New Zealand tour because Kevin Kennedy is playing and is fully aware the Coro fans will make up some of the audience.

Indeed his album, due for release here on March 1, acknowledges what many are thinking: "Before you start thinking 'not another bloody soap star who thinks they can sing, making a record', read on and then listen to the music, which speaks for itself."

Then again, so do the photographs that go with the lyric pull-out. The posed ones look like Curly on a fashion shoot. The photographer may well have screamed out, "Look miserable now" as he crossed one leg casually over the other while modelling a well-cut black suit, white shirt and black-out sunglasses.

And there's the one where Kennedy is on the back of a motorbike, wearing a leather jacket, the Curly trademark straight hair and the cased guitar slung over his back. Classic stuff. Ride into Weatherfield like that and he'd give Emily Bishop a heart attack.

But if he's going to be doing a cover of Whiskey in the Jar on tour in the manner of Thin Lizzy's live-fast, die-young Phil Lynott version and not the Corrs_ mild-mannered take, a bit of role-play is to be expected.

Fans can also expect to hear a lot of what else is on the album, a mix of original material and covers. He's looking forward to seeing more of both islands this visit, cramming in some golf, maybe doing a bit of scuba diving and catching up with a few mates while he's here, although he won't be drinking with them.

His well-publicised stay at the Priory, a posh clinic for the treatment of alcohol abuse, three years ago has put an end to that and helped him to enjoy life more. "Life's for living - it's not to be endured."

So long as Kennedy is enjoying Coro and playing the multi-dimensional Curly, he's keen to keep his residence.

"There_s a balance. There's humour and stories. If you look at the rape [of Toyah Battersby], it wasn't the story so much as the aftermath. It was character-led _ where maybe some other soaps might have gone for the grisly detail, we didn't. We hinted at it but we talk about what happens after. It's drama."

Curly's been from humour to drama and back over the years. He's been the straight man to former supermarket boss Reg Holdsworth, the loser in love with first wife Raquel and is now a pillar of the community, a councillor and happily married to Emma.

Now, if only Curly's musical taste could be revealed. Kennedy suspects it is not the Smiths, nor is it a mash of Celtic/rock/country, or even Kevin Kennedy, the actor with a new CD.

"I think Curly's a bit of a heavy metal freak. It's a big secret but he probably puts his earphones on so he doesn't wake the baby and plays Kiss the Whip."

The All The Best tour - Forum North, Whangarei, Wed March 13; Founders Theatre, Hamilton, Thu, Mar 14; Convention Centre, Rotorua, Fri, Mar 15; Sky City, Sat-Sun, Mar 16-17; Baycourt Theatre, Tauranga, Tue, Mar 19; Municipal Theatre, Napier, Wed, Mar 20; Regent Theatre, Palmerston North, Thu, Mar 21; TSB Showplace, New Plymouth, Fri, Mar 22.