PAT KELLY BIOGRAFIA

PAT KELLY BIOGRAFIA

Pat Kelly (b. 1949, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae singer whose career began in the late 1960s.

The Techniques

Kelly was born in Kingston in 1949. After leaving school, he spent a year studying electronics in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States during 1966, before returning to Jamaica. In 1967, when Slim Smith left The Techniques, Kelly was brought in to replace him, recording for Duke Reid in the rocksteady era when Reid's Treasure Isle studio/label was dominating Jamaican music. Kelly's falsetto voice, strongly influenced by the American Soul singer Sam Cooke, in combination with Winston Riley and Bruce Ruffin, maintained the success that The Techniques had enjoyed with Smith. The Techniques first record with Kelly, "You Don't Care", adapted from Curtis Mayfield's "You'll Want Me Back", spent six weeks at number one in the Jamaican singles chart, and was followed by further hits with "Queen Majesty", "My Girl", "Love Is Not a Gamble", "It's You I Love", and "Run Come Celebrate".

Solo career

In 1968, Kelly went solo, moving from Reid to Bunny Lee, and debuting with another Mayfield cover, "Little Boy Blue". Kelly's "How Long Will It Take" was the biggest-selling Jamaican single of 1969, and was the first Jamaican record to feature a string arrangement, which was overdubbed when it was released in the United Kingdom on the Palmer Brothers' Unity label. An album, the Lee "Scratch" Perry-engineered Pat Kelley Sings (sic) followed, and Kelly was offered a £25,000 contract by Apple Records, which he was unable to accept due to existing contractual commitments. Kelly continued to record, having a big hits for producer Phil Pratt in 1972 with "Soulful Love" and "Talk About Love", and returning to record with Duke Reid, having another hit with a cover of John Denver's "Sunshine". He fell back on his earlier training, working as an engineer at Channel One Studios. He also moved into production, producing his own Youth and Youth album in 1978, and co-producing (with Holt) John Holt's The Impressable John Holt (Disco Mix) album in 1979.The late 1970s and early 1980s saw Kelly recording more regularly again, and he continued to record occasionally in the years that followed.

Albums

Studio albums

Pat Kelley Sings (1969) Pama
Talk About Love (1978) Terminal
Give Love a Try (1978) Third World
Youth and Youth (1978) Live & Love
Lonely Man (1978) Burning Sounds
Lovers Rock (1979) Third World (with Johnny Clarke and Hortense Ellis)
One Man Stand (1979) Third World/Puff
So Proud (1979) Burning Rockers/Chanan-Jah
Cool Breezing (197?) Sunshot
Wish It Would Rain (1980) Joe Gibbs
From Both Sides (1980) Ital
Sunshine (1980) KG Imperial
Pat Kelly and Friends (1984) Chanan-Jah
One In a Million (1984) Sky Note
Ordinary Man (1987) Body Music
Cry For You No More (1988) Blue Moon
Srevol (19??) Ethnic
Are you for real (with Los Aggrotones) (2012) Interrogator Records

Compilations

The Best of Pat Kelly (1983) Vista Sounds
Butterflies Sonic Sounds
Classic Hits of Pat Kelly (1995) Rhino
Classics (199?) Super Power
Soulful Love - The Best Of (1997) Trojan (Pat Kelly & Friends)
The Vintage Series (2000) VP
Sings Classical Hits Galore Striker Lee

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