Painting - painting red brick fireplace

We have a red brick fireplace that has been in place for 40 years. At the top there is a lot of black. Other than this dirty area the remainder of the fireplace is in excellent condition and is in working order. We plan to install a gas log in it. We want to paint the brick a light color. Do we need special paint and do we need to remove the darkened area or will a good primer take care of it?

Are you wanting to paint the outside of the fireplace or in the firebox?

we want to paint the exterior of the fireplace, the red brick. The firebox should be ok, but is there something to paint it with if we needed to do that?

The exterior brick will need a stain hiding primer to insure that the smoke stains don't bleed thru. Most any latex should be fine for the top coat.

The inside of the firebox would be hard to get paint to stay. With gas logs, high heat paint might last.

Thank You. I Was Hoping That The Answer Would Be Simple. I Really Did Not Plan To Do Anything Inside The Firebox. It Is Fine.

you may not need to do anything inside. it might look better if it looks like a used firebox.
for primer sherwin williams has a latex stain blocker. nad only use latex on brick. i would get it tinted to the color you want and put 2 coats and wait a couple days to be sure the smoke stains go away.
then put two coats of latex on top
i would use a 30 mm rollor first nad brush any missed areas after
a bit of work but low on the difficulty scale
good luck