He was the talk of the town and for all the wrong reasons. At the start of 1999, a rumour emerged that Brian Kennedy was having an affair with Ronan Keating. That autumn, as the tittle tattle reached a crescendo, the Belfast singer released an album featuring a duet with Keating. Simultaneously the two singers denied the rumour. As Kennedy indelicately put it, they were “not riding”.

The rumour may have been put to bed, but interest in Kennedy’s sexuality didn’t end there. After a decade of speculation he admitted he was bisexual. In 2004, with the publication of his first novel, he came out.

The Arrival of Fergal Flynn, a fictional tale about a teenage boy coming to terms with his sexuality while growing up in Belfast during the Troubles, was partly based on Kennedy’s own experiences. “Eventually it dawned on me that I had a wee bit of responsibility to be honest about my sexuality,” he said at the time.

Last week it was announced that Kennedy will represent Ireland at the 2006 Eurovision song contest. It may be the campest gig going, but Kennedy’s appointment has nothing to do with his sexuality. Instead, it’s a perfect match for the sweet-voiced singer who is admired for his soul, pop and traditional renditions.

Kennedy is Ireland’s best chance at redemption on the Eurovision stage. Since 1996, when Eimear Quinn won with The Voice, Ireland’s golden touch in the song contest has disappeared. The nadir was reached this year when the sibling team of Donna and Joseph McCaul didn’t even qualify for the televised final.

RTE’s You’re a Star series, which for the past three years selected the singers through a public vote, was blamed. The people were getting it wrong. It was time to call in the professionals. Kennedy, who now lives in Killaloe, Co Clare, immediately agreed to take on the role. Next spring he will appear on RTE Television singing four songs, a selection whittled down from open submissions by a panel of Brendan Graham, Paul Brady and Shay Healy.

“RTE have taken the right approach this time round,” said Bill Hughes, a television producer and friend of Kennedy. “A professional artist, with professional songwriters choosing the song: that’s the way the Eurovision used to be. Kennedy will go on to the Eurovision and kick ass on our behalf.”

The fourth of six children, he was born on October 12, 1966, into a working-class family on Belfast’s Falls Road. Describing himself as “a gazelle among lions”, Kennedy never felt that he fitted in.

“I was not even approaching masculine,” he said. “If anything, I had many more feminine attributes in that I was sensitive. That was an unusual thing because the accepted essence of masculinity was about strength, fighting ability, being a sports star.”

Growing up, the violent background of the Troubles coloured Kennedy’s world view. When he first visited London and entered a Boots pharmacy, he automatically put his arms up to be searched.

“My childhood was a roller-coaster ride; sometimes it was really scary and frightening,” he said. “Going to school in the morning there was a soldier at the end of the passage sitting there and saying disgusting things to me about my mother. He would follow me up the road pointing his rifle at me, pretending he was going to shoot.”

An asthmatic, Kennedy also developed Osgood-Schlatter disease, an inflammation of the shins that mainly affects adolescent boys, and spent nine months in plaster from the ankles to the tops of his thighs. After this he was confined to a wheelchair for a time and had to learn to walk again.

Although his family were apolitical, Catholicism played a strong role in the early part of Kennedy’s life. He went to weekly confession and sang in the church choir. “The first serious bit of singing I did was in the local church on the altar,” he said. “There’s nothing like being up in the balcony of a beautiful building and singing and hearing your voice reverberate in that way for the first time.”

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