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Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly has been played over 30 times on NTS, first on 12 February 2014. Pat Kelly's music has been featured on 37 episodes.

Pat Kelly (1949 – 16 July 2019) was a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae singer. He became the lead singer of The Techniques in the late 1960's and then left for a solo career. He was also a sound engineer for King Tubby's Studio or Channel One Recording Studio in the 1970s.

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 singers Curtis Mayfield, Smokey Robinson and 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".

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' Gas label. An album followed, the Lee "Scratch" Perry-engineered Pat Kelley Sings (sic), 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.

Kelly died on 16 July 2019 from complications of kidney disease.

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Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly has been played over 30 times on NTS, first on 12 February 2014. Pat Kelly's music has been featured on 37 episodes.

Pat Kelly (1949 – 16 July 2019) was a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae singer. He became the lead singer of The Techniques in the late 1960's and then left for a solo career. He was also a sound engineer for King Tubby's Studio or Channel One Recording Studio in the 1970s.

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 singers Curtis Mayfield, Smokey Robinson and 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".

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' Gas label. An album followed, the Lee "Scratch" Perry-engineered Pat Kelley Sings (sic), 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.

Kelly died on 16 July 2019 from complications of kidney disease.

Original source: Last.fm

Tracks featured on

Most played tracks

Man Of My Word
Pat Kelly
Third World1979
Try To Remember
Pat Kelley
GAS1969
Soulful Love
Pat Kelly
Sunshot1971
How Long
Pat Kelly
Prophets1976
I Should Have Known Better
Pat Kelly
Mash-It1979
Cry For You No More (7" Version)
Pat Kelly
Blue Moon1988
Ebony Eyes
Pat Kelly
Third World1979
Love Has A Mind Of It's Own
Pat Kelly
Blue Moon1988
One In A Million Girl
Pat Kelly
Thunder Bolt1984
Best Time Of My Life
Pat Kelly
Burning Sounds1976