Singer/songwriter Kelly Bell is emerging as one of the hottest artists on the east coast contemporary blues & alternative music scenes. In fact, Kelly has fronted Baltimore/Washington's most successful blues band for nearly five years, garnering Music Monthly Readers' Poll Awards as Best Blues Band, Best New Artist, and Best Male Vocalist for the mid-Atlantic region. As well as Best Groove Band from the City Paper. The Kelly Bell Band plays a combination of funk and blues that Kelly calls PHAT blues. Explains the singer: 'PHAT blues combines a real nice pocket groove, funky bass lines, traditional guitar licks, fiery piano parts, and my own 'soulful scream.' It's Muddy Waters meets Parliament Funkadelic with shades of D.C. Go-Go.' The Kelly Bell Band -- comprised of Kelly on lead vocals (and percussion), Ira Mayfield on guitar, Brett Sharbaugh on bass, Kirk Myers on keyboard, and Eric True on drums, electrifies each and every audience with Kelly's powerful and soulful vocal style, accompanied by critically-acclaimed, solid musicianship. They perform more than 100 shows per year, often opening for such prestigious acts as Bo Diddley, Bobby 'Blue' Bland, James Cotton, Buckwheat Zydeco, Better Than Ezra, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, and longtime Kelly Bell colleague and friend G. Love.
