MUSIC
The Fat Lady Sings
I was the lead singer and songwriter with The Fat Lady Sings between 1986 and 1994.
We released a series of glowingly-reviewed singles, including Dronning Maud Land, Deborah, Drunkard Logic and Arclight (still much played on Irish radio to this day), and two acclaimed albums, Twist (1991) and Johnson (1993). We made a lot of fans & friends, enjoyed some chart success, and toured extensively in Ireland, the UK, Europe and North America.
We have occasionally reformed The Fat Lady Sings for one-off live events. In 2012, we reunited to perform at Ireland’s largest music festival, Electric Picnic. In 2019, we were invited to perform at Ireland’s Féile Classical festival which celebrated the Trip to Tipp in Semple Stadium.
And in 2023, we decided to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the release of our album Johnson with a one off sold out gig in Whelans, Dublin.
The Fat Lady Sings are performing at Forest Fest on Sunday July 21st 2024.
Solo
In 1997 I released my first solo album Between Trapezes on my own Self Possessed label, the pressing funded by 300 sponsors whose names appear credited on the sleeve. At the subsequent Irish Music Critics Awards, I was nominated in Best Album and Best Songwriter categories and won the Best Solo Artist Award.
In 2005 I release my second solo album Running Dog, which was jointly produced by my friends Joe Chester and Sean Millar. This album was nominated for Irish Album of The Year at the inaugural Choice Music Prize.
In 2009 I embarked on a nine month-long project called Gestation, uploading a collection of acoustic demos at the outset then performing different versions of these new songs live at a series of monthly live shows in Dublin’s Whelans, in collaboration with a variety of musicians, and inviting audience and online feedback. I released the subsequent album of recordings from this concert series, Nine Lives, under the alter ego Alien Envoy.
In 2014 I released a new studio album Loads, once again using my Alien Envoy persona. I directed a video for the opening song Resolution featuring a host of well-known friends and acquaintances. An instrumental version of another song from this album Bitter Batter Bee was used over the opening scene of my debut feature film The Drummer And The Keeper.
Collaborations
In 2013 I played a short Irish tour with fellow-artists Joe Chester, Sean Millar and Julie Feeney under the banner of The Peripheral Visionaries, performing songs from our combined back catalogues.
In 2018 myself and Sean joined forces with Paul Byrne (In Tua Nua), Les Keye (The Wilde Oscars) and Daragh O’Toole (Dara) to form The Unelectables, a supergroup of “former future rock stars committed to making noise beautiful again”. We were voted “Best Dressed Band” by the Irish Times after our punky performance at Electric Picnic.
Dogs
In 2021, a week spent with Sean house-sitting in rural Clare spawned four new songs which we later recorded and released as DOGS, in tribute to Yogi, the energetic canine who came with the property. Two of the four songs from our Tricks EP, Old Dog, Young Dog and Heartbeat, made the Irish radio charts. DOGS have toured Ireland and the UK as part of The Song Cycle, and have played Glastonbury Festival for the past 2 years in a row.
DOGS will release their eagerly awaited debut album Joy on leading indie label Last Night From Glasgow this coming September.
In advance of this, DOGS have just released a new single Only Home. This uplifting anthem for the planet was written specifically for and features prominently in Nick’s forthcoming documentary feature The Song Cycle a film about Dogs’ innovative sustainable journey from Ireland to perform at the Glastonbury festival. One of several songs by DOGS on the movie soundtrack, Only Home was also performed live by Nick and Seán at the recent annual conference of the Irish Green Party and was featured on RTÉ’s Six One News.
You can pre-order your copy of Joy as a CD, Download or Vinyl LP here now.
You can hear, buy and support my music on my Bandcamp Page.
Kelly has taken his legacy to a new level.
ROOTS & BRANCHES (UK)
A poet’s soulful challenge to the senses…tidily precise and perfect.
Evening Herald
Album of the decade, let alone the year.
HOT PRESS MAGAZINE
It’s incredible how resonant and relevant these songs sound after all this time.
HOT PRESS MAGAZINE
A god, a songwriter of such passion and beauty as to transcend mortality.
HOT PRESS MAGAZINE
A big, bold indie-pop album bustling with invention and creativity…brilliant.
THE LAST MIXED TAPE Loads - Alien Envoy