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Vance Kelly
Vance Kelly (born January 24, 1954) is an American soul blues singer and guitarist who has performed regularly at various music venues in the Chicago area, chief among them being the 1815, Checkerboard Lounge, Rosa's Lounge, Kingston Mines, Buddy Guy's Legends, and B.L.U.E.S.
A music journalist noted of Kelly, "Like Primer, he combines an enquiring eye for a song with a moderately conservative taste in sound, producing music that lives by the principles of classic Chicago bar blues yet is not enslaved by the past".
Kelly was born in the Near West Side community area of Chicago. His father was a gospel musician, and his uncle, LeRoy McCauley, was a part-time blues musician.
Kelly's own interest in and talent for performing music were on display at an early age; he was playing guitar by the age of seven, despite never having had a formal lesson. Then, at the age of 10, Kelly performed blues for the first time at a Chicago school. As a teenager, he sat in at various clubs on Chicago's South Side and later appeared both as a solo artist and as a sideman in those clubs, backing such artists as the West-Side singer Mary Lane when he was 15. It was during this time that Kelly developed his unique "ringing" guitar sound, which raised his profile among members of Chicago's blues community.
Kelly experimented with disco music during the late 1970s, but he had rekindled his interest in blues music by the end of the decade. Major influences on Kelly's playing style during this stage of his musical development included B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Johnny Christian.
In 1987, Kelly was invited to become a member of saxophonist A.C. Reed's Sparkplugs. Kelly's tenure with this group influenced his vocal style, while allowing him to refine his guitar skills, and provided him with road experience.
After playing with Reed's band for three years, however, Kelly decided to strike out on his own. One reason for this decision was his eagerness to cultivate his own style, which has come to be characterized as a mixture of electric blues, R&B, funk, and disco. Kelly's urge to leave Reed's band also stemmed from his desire to adapt his blues playing to the perceived tastes of a particular audience. With regard to the latter point, Kelly has said, "If the older folks come in, I want to take them back to the Delta blues. When the middle-aged folks come in, they just want to hear regular-type blues. If a younger crowd comes in, they want to hear up-to-date type blues."[citation needed]
Kelly formed the Backstreet Blues Band soon after he ended his tenure with Reed, and signed a recording contract with the Vienna, Austria-based Wolf Records International in 1992. Members of Kelly's band included John Primer on guitar; David Honeyboy on harmonica; Eddie Shaw on the saxophone; Erskine Johnson on the keyboard; and Johnny Reed playing bass.
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Vance Kelly
Vance Kelly (born January 24, 1954) is an American soul blues singer and guitarist who has performed regularly at various music venues in the Chicago area, chief among them being the 1815, Checkerboard Lounge, Rosa's Lounge, Kingston Mines, Buddy Guy's Legends, and B.L.U.E.S.
A music journalist noted of Kelly, "Like Primer, he combines an enquiring eye for a song with a moderately conservative taste in sound, producing music that lives by the principles of classic Chicago bar blues yet is not enslaved by the past".
Kelly was born in the Near West Side community area of Chicago. His father was a gospel musician, and his uncle, LeRoy McCauley, was a part-time blues musician.
Kelly's own interest in and talent for performing music were on display at an early age; he was playing guitar by the age of seven, despite never having had a formal lesson. Then, at the age of 10, Kelly performed blues for the first time at a Chicago school. As a teenager, he sat in at various clubs on Chicago's South Side and later appeared both as a solo artist and as a sideman in those clubs, backing such artists as the West-Side singer Mary Lane when he was 15. It was during this time that Kelly developed his unique "ringing" guitar sound, which raised his profile among members of Chicago's blues community.
Kelly experimented with disco music during the late 1970s, but he had rekindled his interest in blues music by the end of the decade. Major influences on Kelly's playing style during this stage of his musical development included B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Johnny Christian.
In 1987, Kelly was invited to become a member of saxophonist A.C. Reed's Sparkplugs. Kelly's tenure with this group influenced his vocal style, while allowing him to refine his guitar skills, and provided him with road experience.
After playing with Reed's band for three years, however, Kelly decided to strike out on his own. One reason for this decision was his eagerness to cultivate his own style, which has come to be characterized as a mixture of electric blues, R&B, funk, and disco. Kelly's urge to leave Reed's band also stemmed from his desire to adapt his blues playing to the perceived tastes of a particular audience. With regard to the latter point, Kelly has said, "If the older folks come in, I want to take them back to the Delta blues. When the middle-aged folks come in, they just want to hear regular-type blues. If a younger crowd comes in, they want to hear up-to-date type blues."[citation needed]
Kelly formed the Backstreet Blues Band soon after he ended his tenure with Reed, and signed a recording contract with the Vienna, Austria-based Wolf Records International in 1992. Members of Kelly's band included John Primer on guitar; David Honeyboy on harmonica; Eddie Shaw on the saxophone; Erskine Johnson on the keyboard; and Johnny Reed playing bass.