Sean Kelly

SEAN KELLY
Christmas Guitar
The #1 Classical Guitar Album
(Opening Day / Universal)

Nylon or steel, nickel plated or wound round, Sean Kelly has strummed and plucked many a guitar string, but like many youngsters, his folks had him get that grounding in the classics. Sean revisited those roots last year with The #1 Classical Guitar Album, the latest installment of Universal’s immensely popular “#1” series. On the anniversary of that release, Sean returns with another collection of greats on Christmas Guitar (Opening Day / Universal), this time revolving around a holiday theme.
Sean grew up in North Bay Ontario, studying the classical guitar but also digging the sounds emanating form his 12 watt stereo system; Kiss, Van Halen, and Guns N’ Roses had that little box bursting at the seams with THD morning, noon & night.
But the classics – he studied on. And learned, and learned. Moving to Toronto in 1991, Sean studied classical guitar at the University Of Toronto under Canadian virtuoso Eli Kassner (a man who has studied with the father of classical guitar, Andres Segovia). After university, Sean traveled the country in a number of different rock n roll outfits, but with the cries of his parents “get a real job” echoing in his head, he did just that. He found himself taken on by the Toronto Catholic School Board where he teaches Vocal Music at three different schools. Privately, he has been teaching all styles of guitar at the Lippert School of Music since 1995.
While ensuring a steady flow of cash (well, relative to most musicians at any rate) Sean still burned to play in front of any one who would listen. And he kept studying, all styles, classical, rock, metal, country – he plays it all. He started up his own glam rock outfit called Crash Kelly which released two albums that were, as they say, "big in Japan". The last Crash Kelly record was produced in Los Angeles by Gilby Clarke of Guns N’ Roses/Rockstar Supernova fame, and the band recently toured North America with Alice Cooper.
He plays sessions with many artists (Wild Strawberries, Juno-winner Carlos Morgan, and Dale Martindale of Images in Vogue), writes jingles (most recently a Pontiac spot that was shown throughout sports venues across Canada), and tours as a side man, currently with Carole Pope and Rough Trade. In 2005, Sean was selected out of thousands of entries by Guitar Player magazine to perform at the inaugural Guitar Hero Competition. As a Top 10 finalist, Sean played at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in front of celebrity judges Joe Satriani and Steve Lukather, as well as Guitar Player editor Jude Gold.
But it is to his classical roots that Sean now returns. The #1 Classical Guitar Album features the songs that inspired Sean. From Romance (anonymous) to Albéniz’ finger-busting Asturias and Stanley Myers’ Cavatina, Sean performs the songs that have made the guitar one of the best loved of all instruments. Infusing fresh lift and a truly crossover spirit into perennial favourites, Christmas Guitar features holiday standards on guitar, accompanied by a “mini-orchestra” of bells, drums, harps, keyboards, and bass & electric guitars.
Sean currently is a clinician for Yamaha Guitars, and is endorsing their handcrafted GC series of classical guitars.

Media Contact: Diane Foy, Skylar Entertainment, 416-413-9672, diane@skylarentertainment.ca
Founded in 1993 to showcase and introduce the finest in Canadian talent, Opening Day Entertainment Group’s award-recognized roster of artists is distributed in Canada and the United States by Universal Music. Universal Music is Canada’s leading music organization, maintaining an overall 38% market share.
Additional information about Sean Kelly can be found at numberoneguitar.com, classicrocks.com and openingday.com.