Hi, I'm Billy Kelly. I am a singer, songwriter, performer and musician from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. No, that's not near Philadelphia. Nope, it's nowhere near Pittsburgh either. Sorry.
On January 1st, 2009 I made a New Year's resolution to record and release a CD of some of the songs I had written over the years for my two daughters. A few months later Thank You for Joining The Happy Club came out and the world has literally never been the same. Think about it: before that there was no Thank You for Joining The Happy Club in the world and after that there was. See how much the world has changed? (At left is my first sketch for the cover of Happy Club.)
Much to my delight, Happy Club was quickly well received by kid's music bloggers, kid's music radio stations and, most importantly, by kids! Since then I've been making a go of this Kindie Rock business. (Kindie = 'kids + indie' for all you newbies.) (A newbie is someone who just arrived on the scene.) (Not a scene like in a movie, but a scene as in something happening that, aw forget it.) My song People Really Like Milk went to #1 on the SIRIUS/XM satellite radio kids music channel Kids Place Live, and scored a glowing review on the National Public Radio program All Things Considered. The review was literally glowing. It was an eerie sight to behold. NPR said I had "an endearingly oddball since of humor" which really hurt my feelings since I was not trying to be funny.
Since then I've been busy making videos for kids, writing more songs for kids, and playing shows for kids with my band Billy Kelly and The Blahblahblahs. My friends Bill, Jake, Steve, Katie and Evan make up the Blahblahblahs part of the band and I, for the most part, am Billy Kelly.
In August of 2010 I released my follow-up to Happy Club, a 10-song CD called Is This Some Kind of Joke? The new CD featured a duet with Davy Jones from The Monkees on my song Me and My Brand New Haircut, plus nine other songs. (Do the math.) The CD comes with a big colorful poster and a maze, both printed on this cool waterproof paper called YUPO. You can do the maze with a washable magic marker (included!) and then clean it off with a damp sponge. You can even take it in the bathtub with you, if that's the sort of thing you like to do.
My 3rd CD for kids, The Family Garden came out in April 2011 (AD). It's got a whole bunch of fun songs on it — some that I wrote, some that other folks wrote and one that I wrote with my friend Molly Ledford, from the great kids music band Lunch Money.
My newest CD is called AGAIN!!! and it is so much fun that I had to add some extra songs to it just to have enough room for all the extra fun. Kids music reviewer Stefan Shepherd reviewed AGAIN!!! on his blog Zooglobble and had the nerve to call me "the funniest person in kids music" which really hurt my feelings since I was not joking!
The Blahblahblahs and I will be playing concerts all over the country this Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Perhaps some time soon we'll play a show near your house or apartment.
If we do, I hope you'll come out and sing, dance and carry on with us.
I'm assuming that you enjoy singing, dancing and carrying on.
When I'm not making music I enjoy spending time with my wife & daughters, walking our little dog Bingley around Lewisburg, writing poems, drawing pictures, and working in my garden. I also enjoy finishing writing my bio. YAY!
