Vivian Vance Kelly
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Vivian Vance Kelly

Willowbrook, Illinois, United States | INDIE

Willowbrook, Illinois, United States | INDIE
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"Scharfer Curry und heisser Blues"

Note: This is an original press article of a swiss based newspaper, published in german.
At this point, we do not have the manpower to translate any non-English articles.
We thank you for your patience and understanding!


Click here to see the scanned original press article
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Scharfer Curry und heisser Blues

Der Freitagabend in der «Felsenburg» gehörte ganz dem urwüchsigen und fantasievoll gespielten
Electric-Blues. Nach einem feurigen Curry und einem edlen Tropfen.

Agathe Bellwald

Weinfelden - Es ist schon Tradition, dass in schöner Regelmässigkeit diverse Bluesgrössen sich im Weinkeller «Felsenburg»
die Ehre geben. Dies war bei der Münchener «Hot Shot Blues Band» nicht anders. Doch bis zu ihrem Erscheinen sassen die ersten Gäste bei einem köstlichen, scharf gewürzten Curry-Rindsgeschnetzelten mit Wildreis und einem edlen Tropfen Wein, elegant serviert von Silvana Alinovi.

Die Ankündigung des Trios durch Martin Bürer war kaum verklungen, da ging bereits die Post ab. Es dünkte einen, die drei Männer hätten den Blues mit der Muttermilch aufgesogen, so wie sie ihn darboten. Rau, spritzig, doch auch gemächlicharbeiteten sich die drei Vollblutmusiker Peter Hubauer, Voc, Guit. Dobro, Gerhard Eisen am Strombass und Ludwig Bergner am Schlagzeug durch ein hörenswertes, breit gestreutes Repertoire, das auch Latinrhythmen und Jazz zuliess. Nichts an ihren Darbietungen kam gekünstelt oder abgeschliffen daher.

Mix aus Eigenem und Fremdem

Die vier Alben, welche die «Hot Shots» seit 1993 produziert haben, gaben genügend Material her, das sich aus Eigenkompositionen oder Stücken von Grössen wie J.B. Lenoir, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, B.B. King oder Louis Jordan zusammensetzt.

Ein eigenes Stück mit dem Titel «A Deal with the Devil» gab Auskunft darüber, wie schnell man an der Börse mit High-Tech-Aktien sein schönes Geld loswerden respektive verjubeln kann. Demzufolge sind Aktien von Übel, was die Band veranlassen wird, künftig wohl die Finger von solch Teufelszeug zu lassen. Im Laufe des Konzertes kam auch eine Gitarre
zum Zug, die eher in der Countrymusik angesiedelt ist, das «Dobro». Dies ist ein Instrument mit Messingkorpus und einer Membrane zur Klangverstärkung. Hubauer beherrschte die Slide- oder «Bottle-Neck»-Technik perfekt und man fühlte sich in einen rauchgeschwärzten, schummrigen Schuppen versetzt.

Vivian Kelly als Gastsängerin
Mit dem «Hoodoo-Shuffle», einer jazzorientierten Eigenkomposition, ging der offizielle Teil des Konzerts zu Ende. Aber kein Konzert ohne Zugabe. Die «Felsenburg» ist ja für Überraschungen immer gut und die «Hot Shot Blues Band» hatte die
schwarze Sängerin Vivian Kelly aus Chicago, Illinois, gleich mitgebracht.

War es wohl das Heimweh, das sie «Sweet Home Chicago», ursprünglich von Robert Johnson, so inbrünstig singen liess? Jedenfalls hatte sie sofort das Publikum auf ihrer Seite. Kelly wohnt seit einigen Jahren schon in der Schweiz und sucht nun
den Anschluss an eine Band, um so den Blues weiterleben zu lassen.
Blues als Leidenschaft

Die «Hot Shot Blues Band» wurde vor über zehn Jahren von Peter Hubauer in München gegründet. Für sie scheint der Blues Leidenschaft zu sein. Es sei das Ursprüngliche, das fasziniere, so Bassist Gerhard Eisen. Ludwig Bergner ist erst seit kurzem dabei. Im Jahr absolvieren sie zwischen 90 und 100 Gigs.



Link to the website of Thurgauer Zeitung: http://www.thurgauerzeitung.ch/ - Thurgauer Zeitung


"Vance Kelly & The BackStreet Blues Band"

Note: This is an original press article of a swiss based newspaper, published in german.
At this point, we do not have the manpower to translate any non-English articles.
We thank you for your patience and understanding!


Click here to see the original online critic.
[69 kb]

VANCE KELLY
& THE BACKSTREET BLUESBAND
"Blues & Soul from Chicago's Westside"

Vance Kelly - guitar, vocals
Vivian Kelly - vocals
John Walls - keybourd, vocals
Dwight Edwards - bass, background vocals
Charles Handcox Jr. - drums

VANCE KELLY, geb. 1954 in Chicago, gab sein Debut beim Bluesfest 2000 und es wurde vor ausverkauftem Haus zu einem sensationellen Erfolg. Man fühlte sich an die alten Zeiten von Ike & Tina Turner erinnert, wenn Tochter Vivian die Musik der Klasseband stimmgewaltig zu Höchstleistungen antrieb. Vance kombiniert den alten Chicagoblues mit Soul und Funk, er spielt Muddy Waters ebenso wie moderne Blues Hits von Bobby Rush, Little Milton oder Bobby Blue Bland. Der Motownblock mit Tochter Vivian reißt überall das Publikum zu Begeisterungsstürmen hin..
Echter Downhome Blues aus den Chicagoer Ghettos mit einem ganz großen Gitarristen. Erst 1979 fand er vom Discosoul zum Blues und Saxman A. C. Reed war es, der ihm das Bluesleben on the road einimpfte.
1995 gewann er den „Living Blues Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album“ mit „Call Me“. Mit seiner aktuellen, vierten CD
ist er zu Chicagos Top Blues Artist avanciert!
Presse: „Vance Kelly-Orkan aus der Windy City-auf phänomenale Weise definiert er souligen Blues und bluesigen Soul neu... Willie Dixon und James Brown gehen bei ihm eine Symbiose ein...mit einer Stimme die fast an Otis Redding oder
Edwin Starr heranreicht....sein Gitarrenton erinnert stark an Albert Collins...die große Entdeckung des Festivals!“
(DonauKurier 4/2000)

Link to the website of Bluesfest Ingolstadt: http://www.bluesfestingolstadt.de/ - BluesFest Ingolstadt


"To Kelly, the blues is the family business"

By ANNIE ALLEMAN For Sun-Times Media

Vivian Vance Kelly has music in her blood.

Her grandfather was Andrew Kelly, a member of the R&B-turned-gospel group The Kelly Brothers in the 1950s and '60s, whose claim to fame was opening up for James Brown. Her grandmother was part of the McCauley Singers, who appeared on TV and radio.
VIVIAN VANCE KELLY

When: 9:15 p.m. April 17

Where: Frankie's Blue Room, 16 Chicago Ave., Naperville

Cost: $5 to $10

Contact: 630-416-3310 or visit www.frankiesblueroom.com

Her father is renowned Chicago blues musician Vance Kelly.

It's only natural that Vivian Vance Kelly follows in her family's musical footsteps.

"All of them were legends. I'm trying to get my legend started," she said with a laugh. "When I was younger, it really encouraged me to sing more and do my thing."

You can catch her belting out her brand of R&B-flavored blues at Frankie's Blue Room in Naperville on April 17. The last time she played there, in 2001, she was her father's opening act. Now, she's stepped out on her own.

Kelly released her own album, "Hit Me Up," on the Wolf International label in 2006. She still sings with her dad, however. They'll perform together at the Chicago Blues Fest on June 13, where she hopes to have a CD release party for her newest album.

"We'll be headlining as a father-daughter duo," she said.

The ironic thing is, when she was a child Kelly never really knew what her dad's job was.

"When I was growing up, I didn't know what my father did for a living, even though he was around," she said. "I just thought he played guitar around the house making up songs that we would just dance to."

Kelly has been singing "all my life in church." Together with her brothers and sisters and cousins, she performed gospel songs. When she was 12 she was in a hip-hop group. In 1991, she sang with a reggae group.

"I let my father hear it, and he brought me into blues scene," she said. "That's when I found out what my father did for a living.

"I've always known I wanted to be a singer," she said. "That's all I did. As I got older, I realized music is a love of mine that I really need to get into; I felt like music is what I needed to be doing."

In 1995, she co-wrote her father's second CD, "Joyriding in the Subway." She spent the next five years under her father's wing, learning everything she could about the blues and the music business.

She was nominated for best songwriter in 1999 at the Chicago Blues Awards, hosted by Koko Taylor.

In 2000, she went on tour with her dad to Switzerland. It was there that she met her husband, coincidentally through her father.

"After the show, my father was talking to him, and he called me over to greet him," she said. "He had known my father since 1995, because he traveled back and forth to the States."

After they married, the couple lived in Switzerland for three years. Although they now live in Willowbrook, she hopes to work out an arrangement soon that will allow them to live in both countries.

At her show, she'll perform a mix of covers and originals. One of her favorites is "Your Husband is Cheating on Us." Her favorite original song is one she does with her father and his band called "As Simple as This."

She said audiences at Frankie's Blue Room can expect to have a great time.

"I expect them to come out and get on the dance floor, because that's what I bring," she said.

If you don't catch her at Frankie's, you can still see her and her father Vance Kelly perform at BluesFest

"We will be singing a lot of original tunes, probably a couple covers," she said. "We're not sure what we're going to bring to the table, but when we bring it, we bring it."


Related Blog Posts - Annie Alleman for Sun-Times Media


Discography

She recorded the CD titled "Hit Me Up" with Wolf Records which was released in September 2006.

Photos

Bio

Vivian Vance Kelly was born to the proud parents Vance and Lottie Kelly. At the age of 5 , Vivian was called up every Sunday at church to sing a solo. By the age of twelve, Vivian and some of her friends started a hip hop group in which Vivian was the lead singer. At 19 years of age she became the lead singer of a hip hop, reggae group, with whom she had performed on Chicago’s Access Channel.

Once Vivian’s father Vance Kelly (A Chicago’s Legendary Blues Artist) heard a recording of hers he immediately brought her into the Chicago blues scene and helped her to her first record deal with “Wolf Records“, the same record label he's signed with. Vivian has written songs on her father’s second CD titled: “Joyriding in the Subway”, in which the title song is one of Vivian’s creation.

Vivian comes from a line of musicians. Her grandmother and her siblings were gospel singers (The McCauley Singers). They were good friends with Shirley Caesar who was many times a guest singer on their Anniversaries and vice-versa. The McCauley Singers have performed on WVON 1490 am in Chicago both television and radio show in the 60’s & 70’s. They were featured on the Isabel Joseph Johnson radio show. In the 60’s, the McCauley singers appeared on the Jubilee Showcase.

Vivian’s Grandfather and Great-Uncles were the well-known R&B and Gospel singers “The Kelly Brothers” a.k.a. “King Pins”. The Kelly Brothers were signed with Excello Records in the 50’s and 60’s. They have opened up for legends, such as James Brown and appeared at the Apollo Theatre. They have had television appearances on shows such as “The Beat” and were quite popular in their times.

Vivian’s father has carried out his own legacy. Vance “Guitar” Kelly has made his mark in the Chicago blues scene, with his outstanding solos and his charm. Once Vance Kelly captures the attention of the audience, he has it for the rest of the night. Vance Kelly will take you musically from straight Blues of greats like Muddy Waters to the Soul and R&B of Prince while blending in tastes of Jimi Hendrix, Al Green, Tyrone Davis and many other Greats.
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She has relatives that have performed as musicians for The Kelly Brothers that now carry out their own legacy. These family members include Johnny Drummer and Tenry Johns “The King Kong Rocker”.

Vivian has performed with Chicago’s Blues Legend “Eddie C. Campbell”. She has toured Europe with her father and his Backstreet Blues Band in 2000. Vivian performed at the Lucerne Blues Festival and the Basel Blues Fest based in Switzerland in 2003 with her father and his band. She had lived in Switzerland for years where she showcased her musical talent with performances in Germany, France and Switzerland with her own band. Vivian has performed in many well known venues including the Gossau Blues Festival.

Upcoming events include headlining the Chicago Blues Festival 2010 main stage with her father and a soon to be announced “Ladies Sing The Blues-Cruise”.