Paul Kelly (musician)

Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls Long Bay Gaol, Christmas Eve 1985
Background information
Birth name	Paul Mauricio Kelly
Born	January 13 1955 (1955-01-13) (age 53)
Origin	Adelaide, Australia
Genre(s)	Acoustic rock, Country, Australian rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals and guitar
Years active	1978–current
Associated acts	Paul Kelly & The Dots Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls Paul Kelly & the Messengers Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys Stardust Five Professor Ratbaggy
Website	www.paulkelly.com.au

Paul Mauricio 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. He attended Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide and Rostrevor College, and then Flinders University. Following graduating from university, Kelly moved to Melbourne.

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 two albums, Talk in 1981, Manila in 1982 and the Urban Opera in 1985. After Urban Opera, Kelly had difficulty securing a recording contract as he struggled with a drug problem. 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 had secured Kelly at least a two album recording contract.^[1]

Solo career

Since 1992, Kelly's career has been 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 Girls) 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 — both in very different musical directions from each other, and from what he was known for. 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.^[2] 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

• Post (1985) AUS #46
• Live, May 1992 (1992) AUS #53
• Wanted Man (1994) AUS #11, NZ #19
• Deeper Water (1995) AUS #40, NZ #30
• Live at the Continental and the Esplanade (1996)
• How to Make Gravy EP (1996)
• Songs from the South: Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits (1997) AUS #2, NZ #17
• Words and Music(1998) AUS #17, NZ #44
• Roll on Summer EP (1999) AUS #40
• Nothing But A Dream (2001) AUS #7, NZ #46
• Ways & Means (2004) AUS #13
• Stolen Apples (2007) AUS #8

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

Paul Kelly with Professor Ratbaggy

• 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

• Stardust Five (2006)

Singles

References

External links

• Official website
• Paul Kelly RBMA video lecture session