Forty years ago, rock star Bob Geldof slammed into John Kennedy's office and asked for his help on a charity record deal "just for one hour".
The record was Do They Know It's Christmas?, released as a response to a shocking famine in Ethiopia, and four decades - and many hours later - the Highgate music industry lawyer is still involved, preparing to launch Band Aid 40 with pop stars past and present on a re-released track.
As a trustee of Band Aid, the father-of-three still gets peppered with Geldof's queries - indeed he's had many that morning - but he wouldn't have it any other way.
In the introduction to Kennedy's memoir Just For One Hour the Irish rocker says: "There is not, never was, and never can be a Band Aid without John Kennedy."
He praises the "ferociously hard dealmaker" as "the kindest of men" and the project's "enabler and protector".
Of that fateful day, Kennedy says: "I knew of Bob Geldof, he and Paula were like the Becks and Posh of the time, suddenly here was the man from the telly the night before, banging on my desk.
"He was very powerful and persuasive. There was sort of no choice. I was also seeing the pictures on TV, was very much moved by it and happy to be asked to do something.
"There was no doubt I was going to give the hour and that it would keep carrying on."
The supergroup who gathered at Sarm Studios on November 25, 1984 recorded a song that within a year would raise £8 million for the famine in Ethiopia, and spawn landmark concert Live Aid.
"Bob understood that music is the language of the world and the language in which people connected," says Kennedy, whose journey to record company boss and top lawyer representing Sinead O'Connor, The Verve, Blur, Van Morison, Soul II Soul, and The Stone Roses began in Whitehall Park, Highgate, in 1953.
Growing up the fifth of six children - one of three families in one house - he says his Irish Catholic community was "pub, church, house and school".
School was St Joseph's Primary and St Aloysius, church was St Joseph's church where his parents were married and he was baptised, and pub for dad Michael was The Archway Tavern.
He said: "I was really lucky growing up in the 50s. Equal access to education is the key and I had a completely free education in one of the best schools in London."
An industrial accident put the family in jeopardy when his father fell off a high roof and was unable to work for a long time. Without the union lawyer securing compensation, he wonders what might have happened.
He said: "It's a sliding doors moment. If there had been no welfare state would we have been homeless or gone into care? Dad was not the same man after the accident although he eventually went back to work."
His twin inspirations were sister Pat, who worked for Polydor Records, and solicitor brother Michael, who through a chance meeting helped young Arsenal player David O'Leary with his first professional contract.
Michael went on to represent famous footballers, notably Roy Keane, and John trained with Highgate law firm Henry Boustred and Sons - but after two years abandoned criminal law for the bright lights of entertainment.
He said: "I once had to represent a supergrass who was appearing at Highgate Magistrate's court. It was a fascinating experience but it didn't touch that nerve. There was a lot of drudgery and being called out to police stations in the middle of the night.
"I couldn't sing or play but I loved music. My sister used to bring home records before they were released which gave me kudos in the playground. One day I saw a picture in Billboard of guys being given gold records. My sister said 'executives get gold records too'. I thought 'I would like some of that'."
After a stint as a contracts lawyer at Phonogram, he he set up a music industry agency in 1983. Early clients were The Waterboys, Sinead O'Connor and Shane McGowan, then that visit from Geldof, which sparked "the wildest, maddest most terrifying and gratifying part of my life".
Kennedy complains that he's portrayed as the "sleazy lawyer who couldn't believe he had to work for free" in Live Aid musical Just For One Day, which hits the West End next year.
"No good deed goes unpunished," he says ruefully, adding that he sent writer John O’Farrell a copy of his memoir suggesting he tweak the characterisation.
Of Band Aid he says: "It's the 40th anniversary and it's always interesting."
"I was at Wembley for Live Aid in the front row, two seats from Charles and Di. It was an issue for my wife who is from Derry and had the dilemma of what to do when the National Anthem played, but she was happy when the nearby empty seat was taken by George Michael.
"We absolutely got the sense of occasion, 60,000 people going crazy and the most astonishing music moment when David Bowie introduced the Drive video and said 'this is what we are here for'. You could hear a pin drop."
He's very aware of accusations of white saviourism - Ed Sheeran has just said he regrets taking part in Band Aid 30, and the record company wants three pictures of Ethiopian children removed from the latest artwork.
"That's a battle for this afternoon," he says.
"40 years on, this record will raise money for children in Africa. How can it not be acceptable to have a Black child on the cover?"
He says of the original project: "What would you do? A starving parent with a starving child do you care what colour it is? You just help.
"But we evolve and we learn, we're all a bit older, there's a new generation looking at it, and the charities we work with have evolved as well."
While Geldof has a "strong internal voice," John says "like everyone he's vulnerable to criticism".
"He's driven by the fact he knows he can help and won't be put off by politics - Bono says he learned from Bob that if people say 'no', that's just their first answer!"
Kennedy credits his success to the "common sense that came from being part of a large working class Irish family".
"The people who found me in my very small office might become global superstars but you didn't know that then.
"Like Sinead O'Connor, she had been recommended to contact me, she didn't have a manager and she was a 18-year-old, shy, beautiful with this incredible powerful voice coming from this tiny body.
"Working in the music industry, most of your clients can't pay your bills, they were just nice working class people who wanted help. You are playing the game that it will work out. If they ended up with record deals, I got paid."
The hard-headed negotiator has extracted bands like The Stone Roses from bad contracts, or helped drummer Mike Joyce from The Smiths get a better royalty cut.
He added: "They start off as a band of brothers or sisters taking over the world, then there's tension, time on the road, and they see too much of each other.
"Some are songwriters and things start getting uneven between members who can afford different lifestyles. But the biggest problem is drugs. After 40 plus years I've seen almost zero drugs, I know it was happening a lot, but people would steer clear of me when they were doing them like I was their dad."
In 1996 he became CEO of PolyGram, then Universal the largest record company in the UK, which backed blockbuster musical Mamma Mia!
Suddenly he was managing 500 employees, collected each morning by chauffeur and flying Concorde.
"I didn't have a good work life balance but it was fantastic fun," he says.
"There have been so many 'pinch me' moments. I'm the boy from the Archway Road, I didn't expect to meet Pavarotti or Bjorn and Benny."
After winning back the royalties to Bittersweet Sympathy from The Rolling Stones, Kennedy now co-manages Richard Ashcroft, who opens for Oasis at their stadium gigs next year.
"He's an astonishing talent," he says. "It's going to be one of the best shows - 45 minutes of hits playing to two million people in the UK.
"For Liam and Noel it had to be Richard supporting them as a special guest."
"They are great friends, they've written songs about each other, been through the same experiences, and have the same background."
The 71-year-old, who still lives less than a mile from where he was born, is off to give another hour to Band Aid.
"I probably am a workaholic," he confesses.
"It's my hobby as well as my work, and I don't want to play golf."
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