Bill Kenny (5 September 1938 – 31 October 2022)
Emeritus Editor, Seen and Heard International
We are sad to learn of the passing of Bill Kenny at the age of 83 last Monday October 31, 2022. He had not been well for a while. His character was best exemplified by himself in his own gently self-deprecating profile on MusicWeb International:
Bill Kenny is a retired academic (well, of sorts that is.) He has sung in semi-professional chamber choirs for most of his life, quite often getting some of the notes right by reason of being a half competent sight-reader with next-door to perfect pitch. He doesn’t sing much these days though on account of the faulty wobble control on his waistcoat.
Bill lives in the West Country with his wife Lyn who is a good deal brighter than he is, a fact for which he is sincerely grateful. Together they spend a lot of time in Finland partly for its music, landscape and people and partly for the intellectual challenge of decoding the language. After only eight years of visiting Finland regularly, Bill can now ask for two coffees and two doughnuts perfectly fluently.
People who know Bill well say he will listen to anything on the off-chance that it might be musically interesting. They’re very nearly right. He has been playing with computers ever since they spoke Fortran and fiddles with the website when Len is on his holidays.
Bill was an early editor of Seen and Heard International before that was split off into a sister site. He retired through failing health. His son, Alastair, was also very helpful to us as he designed our MusicWeb masthead with the sun and planets. Bill was always very helpful to new reviewers and made a fine contribution, to both MusicWeb and Seen and Heard for which we are very grateful – as, surely, are the artists whose performances he reviewed and, of course, readers of both sites. We send our condolences to Bill’s wife, Lyn and to Bill’s family and friends.