Everything about Paul Kelly Musician totally explained
Paul Maurice Kelly (born
13 January 1955 in
Adelaide,
South Australia) is an
Australian singer-songwriter and is recognized as an icon of Australian rock music as a member of the
ARIA Hall of Fame. He is now based in
Melbourne,
Australia.
His output has ranged from
bluegrass to studio-oriented
dub reggae, but his core output comfortably straddles
folk,
rock, and even some
country.
Life and career
Early life
Kelly was born in
Adelaide,
South Australia, the sixth of nine children, in a family of
Irish Catholic heritage. His father, John, a lawyer, died of Parkinson's disease when Kelly was 13 years old. Kelly's mother, Josephine, raised the family on her own after her husband's death. He attended
Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide, where he was captain of the cricket team he also played trumpet in the school band, and
Rostrevor College, and then
Flinders University. Following graduating from university, Kelly spent several years working odd jobs and traveling around the country before he eventually moved to Melbourne in 1976. Kelly's first public appearance was in 1974, when he sang the Australian folk song
Streets of Forbes to an audience in
Hobart.
Band career
In the late 1970s, Kelly was vocalist for the Melbourne pub-rock band 'The High Rise Bombers'. Following the dissolution of that group, Kelly formed 'Paul Kelly & The Dots'. The Dots period, which ranged from 1978-1982, saw the release of the albums
Talk in 1981 and
Manila in 1982.
After
Manila, Kelly had difficulty securing a recording contract. In the liner notes to his 1997 Greatest Hits collection,
Songs from the South, Kelly makes special mention of Michelle Higgins, a former
Mushroom Records employee who had locked herself into a hotel room, refusing to leave the room until she'd secured Kelly at least a two album recording contract. Kelly moved to Sydney in January 1985, where he recorded
Post with guitarist Steve Connolly and bass player Ian Rilen. The trio spent two weeks recording the album.
Kelly began to play and record with a full-time band, which included Connolly, drummer Michael Barclay, bass player Jon Schofield, and keyboard player Peter Bull. Through a joke, the band became known as Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls; in 1986 they released the double album
Gossip. The album included remakes of three songs from
Post and also featured "Maralinga (Rainy Land)", a song about the effects of British atomic testing on the aboriginal people of South Australia.
An edited version of
Gossip featuring 15 songs was released in the United States by
A&M Records in July, 1987. In the interval between releases, the band changed its name to Paul Kelly and the Messengers and headed out on an American tour, traveling across the United States by bus. Kelly and the Messengers' second album,
Under the Sun, was released in 1987 in both Australian and the U.S. Despite their success, the Messengers broke up in 1991, allowing Kelly to pursue a solo career.
Solo career
Since 1992, Kelly has had a solo career, with occasional collaborations with other songwriters and performers, such as
Kasey Chambers or
Missy Higgins. His first post-Messengers solo release was the (truly solo) live double CD
Live, May 1992 in 1992, followed by
Wanted Man in 1994;
Deeper Water in 1995;
Live At The Continental And The Esplanade in 1996;
Words and Music in 1998;
Smoke (with Uncle Bill) in 1999;
Professor Ratbaggy (as member of
Professor Ratbaggy) in 1999;
Nothing But A Dream in 2001;
Ways & Means in 2004; and
Foggy Highway (with The Stormwater Boys) in 2005. In 2006, Paul Kelly formed a group called
Stardust Five, who released their self-titled debut album in March of that year.
Kelly had a big year in 1999, releasing two albums in very different musical directions. Both were also distinct from his customary musical style.
Professor Ratbaggy had a more groove-oriented style compared to his usual folk or rock formula, using samples, synth and percussion.
Smoke, released with Uncle Bill, was poles apart: a
bluegrass album composed of a few new songs and several of his old songs played in bluegrass style. "Our Sunshine" was one of the new songs on the album and was written as a tribute to
Ned Kelly, a famous Australian outlaw. Kelly and Uncle Bill were nominated for a
Golden Trombone Award for the song "Until Death to Them Part".
During his solo years, Kelly has also worked as a composer of film and television scores including
Lantana,
Silent Partner,
One Night The Moon and
Fireflies.
In 2002 and 2003, two albums of Paul Kelly songs were released:
Women At The Well featured songs performed by female artists including
Bic Runga,
Jenny Morris,
Renée Geyer,
Magic Dirt,
Rebecca Barnard,
Christine Anu, and
Kasey Chambers; and
Stories Of Me featured artists including
James Reyne and
Jeff Lang.
A book of Paul Kelly's lyrics, titled
Lyrics was published in 1993. A second anthology of lyrics entitled
Don't Start Me Talking was published in 1999, which has subsequently had songs written since appended in later editions.
Kelly has written songs with and for many other artists, including
Mick Thomas,
Renée Geyer,
Kate Ceberano,
Vika and Linda Bull,
Nick Cave,
T-Pain,
Nick Barker,
Kasey Chambers,
Yothu Yindi,
Archie Roach,
Gyan,
Monique Brumby,
Kelly Willis and
Troy Cassar-Daley.
He has also covered songs by other groups including
Hot Chocolate and
Australian Crawl.
In December 2004, in Melbourne, Kelly performed 100 of his songs in alphabetical order over two nights. A similar show was performed at the studio at
Sydney Opera House in December 2006.
Discography
Albums
Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly & The Dots
Talk (1981)
Manila (1982)
Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls
» Credited as Paul Kelly & The Messengers in North America.
Gossip (1986) AUS #15
Under The Sun (1987) AUS #19
Paul Kelly & The Messengers
So Much Water So Close To Home (1989) AUS #10
Comedy (1991) AUS #14
Hidden Things (1992) AUS #37
Professor Ratbaggy (1999)
Paul Kelly with Uncle Bill
Smoke (1999) AUS #36
Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys
Foggy Highway (2005) AUS #22
Stardust Five (2006)
Singles
Further Information
Get more info on 'Paul Kelly Musician'.
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