Irvine Robert Laurie Kennedy was born in Randwick, a suburb of Sydney, to an English-born father and native-born mother.
12 Facts About Lauri Kennedy
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Lauri Kennedy studied with Herbert Walenn at the Royal College of Music, London, and Paul Grummer in Vienna.
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Lauri Kennedy played chamber music with performers such as Arthur Rubinstein and Jascha Heifetz.
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Lauri Kennedy appeared with the tenor John McCormack for a number of years, and appears on record accompanying McCormack.
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Lauri Kennedy became principal cellist with Sir Adrian Boult's BBC Symphony Orchestra at its inception in 1929 and played with them until 1935.
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However, Kennedy himself said that, while it was planned that he should play the cello solo, by the time the recording was actually made, he had left the BBCSO, and that it was Ambrose Gauntlett whose cello playing is recorded with Schnabel.
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Lauri Kennedy recorded music with Fritz Kreisler and William Primrose, including Kreisler's String Quartet in A minor in 1935 with members of the London String Quartet.
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Lauri Kennedy became a professor at the Royal College of Music.
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Lauri Kennedy's wife, Dorothy Kennedy, was a pianist who accompanied John McCormack and taught the children of Enrico Caruso.
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Lauri Kennedy relocated to Hollywood and his playing is heard on a number of films, including Walt Disney's Fantasia.
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Lauri Kennedy later taught cello at the Canberra School of Music in 1966, resigning after only one year due to poor health.
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Lauri Kennedy died on 26 April 1985, in Sacramento, California, where he was living with their eldest son, David.