Steve Kelly: songs, guitars, vocals, keyboards, kitchen sink etc Andy Mayes: harmonica and talent on the albums Acoustic Shock Therapy and Pushing The Envelope. Sue Kelly:
backing vocals and muse.
I have received huge support (I am a big bloke, I need it) from many very kind people down the years including: The one and only Sue, Mike Ritchie, Mark & Andy Kelly, Dave Warne, Iris and Steve Marr, Jim Peters, Andy Mayes, Paul Adams, Louise Adams, Mark Brawn, John Baker, Guy Flint, Derek Verrall, Steve Cooper, Steve Cockley, Chris Worby, Tom Saunders - and not forgetting everyone else who I have forgotten to mention!
Missing in action:
The Further John Peel The Village Blues Club, Dagenham Roundhouse The Beatroot, Romford (my favourite record shop). Island Records - 1966-1972 Audley Music Link Wray Johnny Cash Gene Pitney Grant McLennan (The Go-Betweens) Johnny Paris (Johnny & The Hurricanes) Freddy Garrity (Freddie & The Dreamers) Desmond Dekker Billy Preston Syd Barrett - Shine on !!!!!! Tommy Bruce Bill Miller (Frank Sinatra's 'piano man') Arthur Lee Barbara George Freddy Fender Boz Burrell Danny Flores Prentiss Barnes Ruth Brown Alan Freeman Mario Merola Robert Lockwood Junior Charlie Drake Ehmet Ertegun James Brown Alice Coltrane Denis Doherty Frankie Laine Peggy Gilbert Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett Bo Diddley Davy Graham John Martyn
Sheep shearing, Taverham, Norfolk c.1880 - my great, great Grandfather, Edward Hastings, is the large gentleman with the black neckerchief, back row.
Celebrating the end of World War I - Beeston Regis, Norfolk.
Great Aunt Edith Atkins (nee Field) and great, Grandfather John Field - Beeston Regis c.1930.
My Grandparents, Hilda and George Gray (holding Janey) with Mum outside their cottage, Sandy Lane, Belton, Norfolk, 1948.
Steve with mum, May Kelly (nee Gray), in Priory Park, Hornsey, 1955.
Steve with dad, John Kelly, at the seaside 1955.
Influences
Like Neil Young said "from Hank to Hendrix". Add a little Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen (a million floors above me in the Tower of Song), Mr Zimmerman et al. I love the songs of (in no particular order) Noel Coward, Sandy Denny, Ray Davies, Patti Smith, Bob Marley, Joni Mitchell, Billy Bragg, Ron Sexsmith, Carole king, Sammy Cahn, Joan Baez, Marvin Gaye, Leiber & Stoller, Donovan, Bruce Springsteen, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rufus Wainwright, Elvis Costello (he never ceases to amaze me), Holland Dozier & Holland, Cole Porter, Cat Power, but no matter how I try my candle just won't light. I disprove the theory that if you throw enough shit at the wall then some of it will stick. I ran out of wall a long time ago - moved onto the ceiling - a messy business! In fact there are so many wonderful writers and performers that all lists become meaningless and I listen to so many disperate sounds that a list of current favourites would be equally meaningless and endless (hence the name of my own imprints: Endless Records and Endless Music): Rock 'n' Roll (Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard), Miles Davis, Schubert, Albert King, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Cash, Tamla Motown (Supremes, Four Tops, Mary Wells, Temptations, The Miracles), The Raconteurs, Chess & Chicago Blues (Muddy Waters, Litle Walter, Howlin' Wolf et al), Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, Iron & Wine, Kitty Wells, Joy Division, Bert Jansch, Stax & Atlantic (Booker T, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Aretha Frankin, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd), Mozart, Elvis, Stevie Wonder, Calexico, Tony Bennett, The Everly Brothers, Wanda Jackson, The Streets, Robert Johnson, Sibelius, Dion, Psychedelia (Floyd, Airplane, Fever Tree), Doo-Wop (The Penguins, The Five Keys, The Spaniels), Lee Morgan (how come I'd never heard this guy before), June Tabor, Ska & Bluebeat (how long have you got), Spooky Tooth, Robyn Hitchcock, The Beatles and The Stones, Eric Bibb, Devendra Banhart, The Crystals (did I mention Phil Spector), Mussorgsky, The Coasters, Robert Wyatt, John Barry, The Byrds (please give Gene Clark and Gram Parsons a listen), Fairport Convention (and thus onto the solo works of Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews), Louis Jordan, The Concretes, Cream, The Waterboys, Julie London, Crosby Stills Nash & Young (The Hollies & Buffalo Springfield), The Drifters (and that reminds me I really like Cliff Richard's early stuff around the time The Shadows had to stop calling themselves The Drifters), The Ventures, Joe Meek (a complete trip if ever there was one).
You can stuff fads and fashion, just enjoy whatever you enjoy - the best time for music is always now!
Steve, Princess Bowling Alley, Dagenham, 1962
Steve at 10 Downing Street mid 1960s. Harold Wilson never recovered from the shock of those turn-ups !
Andy, Steve, Mark - Belton mid 1960s.
Steve and Sue, Dagenham Village Church, 28th September 1972.
Steve and Sue 1975 - possibly demin was fashionable - oh, and Sue made the waistcoat.
Sounds Like
Something like I would like it to sound.
How does it sound to YOU - that's the interesting part.
Kind people have heard 'a dark beauty', 'a dark optimism', 'a soulfull folk sound', 'a controlled intensity' or a 'down to earth, dramatic quality'. Other equally kind people have heard 'hurt', 'honesty', 'integrity', 'dignity' and 'emotion' in the songs ... and the music has been described as classic or vintage, with a haunting depth to the songs that has had some folks thinking that they are indeed 'standards'.
To some it sounds like 'a mix of Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake' with 'a dash of Johnny Cash', to others it sounds like "a lovely Gandhi with a guitar", Bob Dylan, Ray Davies, Donovan, John Cale, Tim Hardin, Roy Orbison, Arlo Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Frank Black, Al Stewart, Fabrizio de Andre, Neil Young ("Hanging Tough sounds like you ate Neil Young whole and took the spirit over"), Richard Hawley, Noel Harrison, Nick Cave (as produced by Joe Meek), Rod McKuen, Bob Lind, The Righteous Brothers (which I think is stretching things a little, but hey, it's your party), Robert Wyatt or Robyn Hitchcock.
Maybe there is a feeling of uncertainty and loss (but with dignity), a sense of sand slipping through fingers and an understanding that beautiful things are fleeting, transient - embrace them and celebrate them while you can.
I would like the songs to convey a sense of hope and not to just sound like the bitter meanderings of a grumpy old man (which is of course what they are).
But what do I know?
I have also been compared to The Byrds, The Moody Blues and The Smiths, but as Sue says they probably meant Granny Smiths - ouch !
Why not give Kristen Westhoven’s ‘If Only You Could See What You Hear’ radio show a listen as she often plays my songs and always presents a great mix of music ? It goes out every Friday evening 8-10pm Eastern Standard Time. Here’s the streaming link:
He was born in Alexandra Park Nursing Home, North London in 1954 and lived in Hornsey for 2 years before his family moved eastwards to Essex.
Steve's memories of the 1950s include the death of Buddy Holly - starting school - steam trains - his first tricycle - and his parents rock 'n' roll party's.
He remembers the 1960s clearly, which of course means that he wasn't there - so he must have one hell of an imagination. Sometimes he mutters on about England winning the World Cup - but that can't be right - THAT must have been a dream - but then what isn't ?
Although always interested in politics and current affairs it was the miners' strike and the abolition of the Greater London Council during the mid 1980s that greatly politicised him. As a result he became involved in local politics for a number of years.
Steve rarely ventures forth from his lair apart from occasional forays to the living rooms and kitchens of unsuspecting victims.
Somewhat miraculously (considering that he suffers from stage fright, can't sing, can barely manage more than three chords and can't remember the lyrics to his songs) he performed several times at the very wonderful Catweazle Club in Oxford during 2000/2001. Stunned silence all round!
After being run out of Oxfordshire Steve skulked off to the equally wonderful Carmarthenshire - to keep ahead of the pack he has recently relocated to Ceredigion.
He'll run out of land if he moves any further westwards !!!!
A once upon a time archaeologist and full-time vegetarian (or vegehairian, as he likes to put it), Steve has played at numerous digs (yes digs, not gigs) across England (hello Eton, Witley Court, Bicester, Reading and various places in Kent for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link excavations) where people were very kind and fed him tea, biscuits and assorted chemicals in an effort to keep him quiet. It was not for the want of trying that they failed.
Steve has been married since 1972 and has four children and six grandchildren.
Incredibly he has fifteen albums to his name, all of which have sold in ridiculously small quantities. Undaunted, or to be more accurate stubbornly, Steve is now working on his sixteenth album provisionally titled 'Book Of Days'.
My grandfather George Sidney Gray, in Hong Kong, during WW1.
My grandmother Hilda Gray (nee Field).
Steve at London Zoo, 1972. Two Leos - nice manes !
Spent a night on the streets of Soho queuing for this ticket (1978).
The Last Waltz I just want that thing When voices join in harmony And in that fleeting moment, Meaning coalesces on the ear, All dark, dissolving, clouds the alleyways no more And fresh bread scent of home pervades the air No sandal soles In dust of broken homes Nor callused toes peep bloody from the garment hem, And all the big parades And shock and awe And swagger on the carrier decks and medals Jangle helpless in the face of what is fair I just want that thing When friends draw in, some living some begone, Some brittle, none forgotten All beloved everyone. Then dash the glass into the fire Then well up unashamed my heart Beyond the reach of fear Of faith, blind, bigoted and drear And then across the great divide Rise men and women unafraid To dash in loss their bracelets at the wall, And hearing them Hope holds me in its thrall. I just want that thing When empathy prevails When man evolves beyond the crass And reason comes of age When dogma, cant, and witchcraft All are banished to the past When voices join in harmony at last.
MAY GOD BLESS U, N UR ANGLES PROTECT U; MAY UR RUNNERS CONNECT U, UR HELPERS ASSIST U; UR HEALERS SUPPORT U, UR TEACHERS ENLIGHTEN U; UR JOY GUIDES DELIGHT U, DA NATURE SPIRITS BALANCE U; N UR HIGHER SPIRITS LEAD U 2 LIVE A LIFE OF PEACE, GRACE CREATIVITY N CONTRIBUTION FILLED WITH LOVE N LAUGHTER ON UR PERSONAL EARTHLY JOURNEY. WITH ALL OF MY LOVE AND SUPPORT.
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