FIRST appearing in Coronation Street in 1983, Curly Watts said his goodbyes to the cobbles twenty years later, in September, 2003.
Since then, actor Kevin Kennedy as undergone quite the transformation and has even moved on to a singing career.
Corrie’s Curly was known for his unlucky-in-love persona and was highly recognisable bleach-blonde hair, oval-shaped glasses and cheeky grin.
Curly eventually found real love in the arms of his second wife Emma Watts, played by Angela Lonsdale.
But unlike his character on-screen, Kevin’s love life was less tumultuous as he has been happily married to his wife Clare since 1996.
The couple even share three children.
Once he left Weatherfield, Kevin’s appearance drastically changed as can be witnessed on his Instagram, where he shares casual snaps of his day-to-day.
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Although he can occasionally be seen with a pair of specs, which he often swaps with sunglasses, the actor wears his brunette hair slicked to one side.
In one Instagram shot, Kevin gave a cheeky smile to the camera with nothing but a bandana and a pair of sunglasses as he enjoyed some time near the sea.
“A day at the seaside”, Kevin captioned.
In another snap shared in November, 2021, Kevin can be seen on board a boat, sailing away to New York.
“I’ve done it a few times but it’s still so exciting”, he wrote.
Kevin went on to appear in other programmes such as Holby City (when he took on the role of David Bowie tribute act Graham Ollerinshaw in 2017) and joined the West End London production of Queen & Ben Elton’s We Will Rock You.
In recent years, Kevin also turned to his second passion for music, which explains why he can often be seen on boats on social media.
He has appeared as aging hippie Pop – his character in We Will Rock You – in the UK Seacation cruises from Southampton during summer 2021.
He was notably a member of the band the Paris Valentinos and released a single titled Bulldog Nation with his band Bunch of Thieves in 2000, following a short break from acting to focus on his recovery from alcoholism.
Kevin has since been outspoken about his journey to sobriety and serves as director of Kennedy Street services, a social enterprise he holds with his wife Clare which offers free telephone advice signposting to local recovery services, home-based detox, various recovery focused programmes and a professional advice and coaching service.
With such a busy schedule, it’s a wonder if Kevin could ever return to Coronation Street.
The actor and singer has made it clear he would love for his on-screen alter ego to make a comeback.
Speaking to The Mirror, Kevin said: “I’d love to come back to Coronation Street; I still have a great relationship with ITV and I think Curly would have some stories to tell.”
“It’s a different soap from when I was in it, but when I joined it was a different show from 10 years before that.
“It changes for the better I think and deals with brilliant ideas and stories.”
