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Paul Kelly (musician)

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'''Paul Maurice Kelly''' (born 13 January 1955, South Australia) is an Australian singer-songwriter, based in Melbourne, Australia Melbourne, and widely considered as an icon of Australian music. His output has ranged from Bluegrass music bluegrass to studio-oriented dub music dub reggae, but his core output comfortably straddles folk music folk, Rock and roll rock, and even some country music country. His lyrics, simply and laconically voiced, have managed to speak to Australian experiences and history perhaps more broadly and directly than any other artist, from "Bradman"[http://www.paulkelly.com.au/lyrics/bradman.html], about the Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, through "To Her Door"[http://www.paulkelly.com.au/lyrics/to-her-door.html], a tale of a struggling couple's breakup and attempts at reconciliation, to "Every Fucking City"[http://www.paulkelly.com.au/lyrics/every-fucking-city.html], a darkly comic story of a backpacker chasing a former girlfriend through a Europe stripped of distinctive national character.

Life and career
He was raised in the South Australian capital, Adelaide, the sixth of nine children, in a family with an Irish Catholic heritage. Kelly's career can be broken into three distinct periods: first as Paul Kelly & The Dots; then as Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls, later known as Paul Kelly & the Messengers; and lastly as Paul Kelly the solo artist (a period that also included his involvement with side-projects Professor Ratbaggy, a more groove-oriented and less song-based ensemble and with Uncle Bill/Stormwater Boys, both bluegrass ensembles). In the late 1970s Kelly was vocalist for the Melbourne pub-rock band "The High Rise Bombers", following their dissolution he formed "Paul Kelly & The Dots". The Dots period (roughly 1978-1982), saw the release of two albums, ''Talk (album) Talk'' in 1981 and ''Manila (album) Manila'' in 1982. It was followed by a year or two of uncertainty, plagued with drug use, as Kelly grew as a songwriter but lacked 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 "locked herself in a hotel room ... and refused to leave until [he] had a record deal".

With the Coloured Girls aka Messengers
By the mid-1980s, Kelly had assembled a backing band known as The Coloured Girls, named in homage to a line in Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side". Originally a loose aggregation of sidemen, the Coloured Girls line-up backed Paul on his 1984 solo album Post (pk album) Post. Thereafter, the line-up solidified into : * Michael Barclay - drums * Jon Scofield - bass * Peter Bull - keyboards * Steve Connolly - guitar This line-up released following five albums: ''Gossip (album) Gossip'' in 1986; ''Under The Sun'' in 1987; ''So Much Water So Close To Home'' in 1989; ''Comedy(album) Comedy'' in 1991; and ''Hidden Things'', a collection of B-Sides and rarities, in 1992. The first two albums were credited to Paul Kelly and The Coloured Girls in Australia, but for North American release, these albums were credited to Paul Kelly and The Messengers. (It was feared that some might take offense to the moniker "Coloured Girls".) For the final three albums, the band was credited as Paul Kelly and The Messengers in all territories. Feeling the band had run its course, Kelly amicably dissolved the Messengers line-up in 1992.

Solo and collaboration
Though he has worked with other songwriters since 1992, the years from then 'til present, might be considered his solo period. His first post-Messengers solo release was the (truly solo) live double CD ''Live, May 1992'' in 1992, followed by ''Wanted Man (album) Wanted Man'' in 1994; ''Deeper Water'' in 1995; ''Live At The Continental And The Esplanade'' in 1996; ''Words and Music (Paul Kelly album) Words and Music'' in 1998; ''Smoke (album) Smoke'' (with Uncle Bill) in 1999; ''Professor Ratbaggy (album) 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. 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 (album) Professor Ratbaggy'' had a more groove-oriented style compared to his usual folk or rock formula, using samples, synth and percussion. ''Smoke (album) Smoke'', released with Uncle Bill, was poles apart from his Professor Ratbaggy project: a Bluegrass music 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 Guitar Award for the song "Until Death to Them Part". During his solo years, Kelly has also worked as a composer of film and TV scores including ''Lantana (movie) Lantana'', ''Silent Partner'' and ''One Night The Moon'' in 2001; and ''Fireflies'' in 2004. 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, Renee Geyer, Magic Dirt, Rebecca Barnard, Christine Anu, and Kasey Chambers; and ''Stories Of Me'' featured artists like James Reyne and Jeff Lang. A book of Paul Kelly's lyrics, titled simply ''"Lyrics"'' was published in 1993. A second anthology of lyrics was first published in 1999 - "''Don't Start Me Talking (Lyrics 1984-2004)''" - and is now in its second edition (2004).[http://www.allenandunwin.com/shopping/product.asp?ISBN=1741143179] Kelly has written songs with and for many other artists, including Renee Geyer, Kate Ceberano, Vika and Linda Bull, Nick Cave, Kasey Chambers, Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach and Troy Cassar-Daley. He has also covered songs by other groups including Hot Chocolate (band) Hot Chocolate and Australian Crawl.

Discography

Albums

=Paul Kelly & The Dots
= *''Talk'' (1981) *''Manilla'' (1982)

=Paul Kelly
= *''Post (pk album) Post'' (1985)

=Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls°
= *''Gossip (album) Gossip'' (1986) *''Under The Sun'' (1987) ° ''credited as Paul Kelly & The Messengers in North America''

=Paul Kelly & The Messengers
= *''So Much Water So Close To Home'' (1989) *''Comedy (album) Comedy'' (1991) *''Hidden Things'' (1992)

=Paul Kelly
= *''Live, May 1992'' (1992) *''Wanted Man (album)'' (1994) *''Deeper Water'' (1995) *''Live At The Continental And The Esplanade'' (1996) *''Songs From The South - Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits'' (1997) *''Words and Music (Paul Kelly album) Words and Music'' (1998)

=Paul Kelly with Uncle Bill
= *''Smoke (album) Smoke'' (1999)

=Professor Ratbaggy
= *''Professor Ratbaggy (album) Professor Ratbaggy'' (1999)

=Paul Kelly
= *''Nothing But A Dream'' (2001) *''Ways & Means'' (2004)

=Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys
= *''Foggy Highway'' (2005)

Singles
{| class="wikitable" |rowspan="2"|'''Year''' |rowspan="2"| '''Title''' |colspan="4"| '''Chart positions''' |rowspan="2"| '''Album''' |- |US Billboard Hot 100 Hot 100 |US Modern Rock Tracks chart Modern Rock |US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart Mainstream Rock |UK_Singles_Chart UK |- | 1988 in music 1988 | "Dumb Things" | - | #16 | - | - | ''Under the Sun'' |}

External links

- http://www.paulkelly.com.au including [http://www.paulkelly.com.au/lyrics/index.html lyrics]
- Amazon.com: "Songs From The South" Category:1955 births Kelly, Paul Category:Living people Kelly, Paul Category:Australian musicians Kelly, Paul Category:Australian songwriters Kelly, Paul Category:Australian Roman Catholic people Kelly, Paul Category:People from South Australia Kelly, Paul Category:People of Adelaide Kelly, Paul Category:Vocalists Kelly, Paul

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