A Baltimore native, Eric Kennedy is a drummer, vocalist, percussionist, educator, and composer. He started performing at the age of three with a family band and was encouraged by the musicians in his East Baltimore neighborhood. 

Kennedy has performed, toured, and recorded with Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Heath, Gary Bartz, Phil Woods, Billy Harper, Curtis Lundy, Bobby Watson, Gary Thomas, Fred Wesley, Wallace Roney, Cyrus Chestnut, Ethel Ennis, Larry Willis, Cecil McBee, Donald Harrison, Joe Locke, TK Blue, Nnena Freelon, John Hicks, Richard Wyands, Yusef Salim, Eddie Henderson, Joe Bonner, Carl Grubbs, David Murray, Oliver Lake, Pansori master Ahn Sook Sun, and many others. He is a bandleader and a member of several ensembles. He also had the honor of being the last drummer/vocalist of the National Heritage Award Winners, The Holmes Brothers.

Kennedy has studied Percussion with Dennis Kennedy, John Locke, Leroy Williams, Johnny Polite, Billy Hart, and Jamal Wilson, Voice with Timmy Shepherd, Odell Wilson, and Dr. Nathan Carter, and music education/composition with Dr. Barry Harris and Bobby Watson.

Kennedy has given masterclasses, clinics, workshops, concerts, and lessons worldwide. He taught in the Baltimore City Public School system, Peabody Conservatory Jazz Department, and currently teaches for the Baltimore Symphony Orchkids program (2014-present) and drumset, voice, jazz, pop, and Latin jazz ensemble at Towson University Music Department (2020-present). Kennedy has received numerous awards and grants for performance and composition. He was the 2004 runner-up in the Billie Holiday Vocal Competition and first-place band member in the Chick Webb Jazz Combo Competition in 2008 and 2009. He is also the co-score composer for the award-winning documentary Footprints of Pan Africanism and the indie film The Big Muddy.