"If you take a girl with a sensitive heart, a fragile mind and an irrepressible love for music then introduced her to some odd and sometimes nasty life experiences and people. Now throw in some depression, insecurities and heartbreak for good measure and then lock her in a room with a piano, a voice, various other instruments and lots of patience to produce it all, and you'd come out of it with my music!"
This self confessed "geek" is a true DIY artist who's passion has seen her single handedly write, perform, record and produce all the tracks on her debut album as well as develop her own website and photos, in a bid to share her music with the world. Many of her songs you wouldn't expect to come out of a 22 year old girl from the North of England but although born and bred in the UK, Kelly has an eclectic mix of Egyptian and German grandparents and, because of her experiences growing up, is wise beyond her years.
Introduced to music at 7 years old, Kelly has had a whirlwind romance with music which has seen her perform around the world with bands of pretty much every genre, from playing piano in orchestras, singing Spanish in a Salsa band to playing keys in funk/soul bands and even bass in a rock band! "I Love music of all genres but I wanted to make an album of songs that poured out of me naturally, no rehearsal just literally on the spot writing."
When listening to songs such as "Your Words (Drip Drop)" and "She Cries" it's hard to imagine that these are the songs that come naturally to someone who appears to be so confident and happy. "I've become very good at putting on a brave, socially acceptable face but deep down I'm full of anxieties, frustrations and dark thoughts. Learning how to control them have become a life-long mission but I am now beginning to see the trees!".
Because she became so ill with stress and depression her parents took her out of school almost 3 years early so, you can see where some of the darkness in her songs comes from and why she may have grown up more quickly than some of her peers. "I Loved the learning side of school but found the social side very difficult and began having panic attacks. Unfortunately I dealt with them by, self-harming, not eating and taking pills to try and numb myself."
Kelly was accepted in to college early to finish her studies and a year later her musical ability enabled her to win a place at the renowned Leeds College of Music at the early age of 15, attending two college's at once. Upon graduation she became the youngest and first female to be presented with the ‘John Coates Award for Outstanding Musicianship’.
But it hasn't been plain sailing since then. Kelly has always been a young woman in a big hurry but a big part of her had still not grown up. "I never learnt how to deal with my sensitivity and continued to numb myself when any kind of emotion took over. It became almost like an addiction." The last 5 years have seen Kelly learn to deal with things in a different way, mainly by writing and singing. "So many tears have stained my piano over the years but that's not a bad thing. Music has always helped me through", admitting that sadness and despair probably go hand in hand with being an artist. "I feel its a door that can never really be shut and will always be part of me but I am more in control now."
The phrase "old soul" is often used to try and explain the depth in Kelly's achingly confessional lyrics about universal stories of life, its challenges, relationships and of course - love. Her album has being described as "An album to comfort the broken hearted" and Kelly agrees. "It can be terrifying to be so honest, especially when I've spent my life locking away my feelings, but I would Love to think that one of my songs might comfort someone in distress like so many songs have done for me".
Although Kelly began taking music lessons when she was 7, she didn't start singing until she was 15 so still struggles to call herself a 'real singer' but this hasn't stopped her voice being compared to the likes of Norah Jones, Sade and the big voiced Joss Stone. "Singing is just something I started doing to get my feelings out whilst playing piano". With Idols such as India.Arie, Diane Warren, Rodney Jerkins, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, Babyface, Imogen Heap and film music writer David Newman, it's no wonder her songs have an epic feel and explains her love for her orchestration and full productions.
Although, you may not be too familiar with her as an artist just yet, Kelly has firmly stamped her mark on the global music industry behind the scenes wearing her producer, writer and musician hat, working for artists such as Mary J Blige, Ne-Yo, Lindsay Lohan, Chaka Khan, Timbaland, Crystal Waters, Keri Hilson, Ce Ce Peniston, Startgate, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Juliet Roberts, Silvia Tosun, Alexander O’Neal and Martha Wash, and record labels such as Sony BMG, Mosely Group, Ministry Of Sound, EMI, Stateside, Interscope, Champion, Trackworks US, Def Jam, Big Management US, AATW & Universal. Kelly is also one third of the globally acclaimed, chart busting pop/dance production team known as ‘Soulshaker’, and under the Soulshaker guise has enjoyed several No1 dance chart positions and dozens of top 40 MW chart positions.
Kelly is as versatile a musician and producer as you will ever meet, and is equally at home producing and writing epic scores for contemporary Ballads, as she is writing and producing out and out Pop dance tracks and Urban/R&B tracks. In the past few months alone, Kelly has been approached to work with A-list producers and writers as diverse as Cristyle (Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Beyonce), Hannon Lane (Timbaland camp in the US), Chris Robinson (Estelle, Akon, Beyonce), Keith Crouch (Toni Braxton, Brandy, Rahsaan Patterson), Rob Davis (Kylie, Cathy Dennis), Ben Cullum (Jamie Cullum), Big Reese (Pink, TLC, Outcast), Corrado Rustici (Andrea Bocelli, Pavarotti etc ), Derrick McKenzie (Jamiroquai), Carmen Rizzo (Coldplay, Seal, Alanis Morissette), Soulcamp (Craig David, Jamelia, Terry Walker) and Artists such as Angela Johnson, Amber Dee, Christina Milian, Kiley Dean, Eric Benet, Ross Copperman, Kele le Roc, Janita etc.
As an artist in her own right, it has only ever been a matter of time before Kelly was noticed, and she has now started to attract the attention of several of the Worlds biggest industry players.
Kelly’s destiny and lifelong ambition has been to become a globally successful recording artist, performer, writer, producer and musician, and in all these areas she is now starting to realize her dreams.
