American singer (born 1960)
Paul Austin Kelly
(born 1960) is an
American
singer. A former
rock musician
who has sung
opera
, the
tenor
also writes, records and performs music for children.
Musical beginnings
[
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]
Kelly attended
Rondout Valley High School
in
Accord, New York
, and the
Hartt School of Music
in
West Hartford, Connecticut
. When he began his music career he fronted bands with names such as Legend, Black Dog and Guilded Spice. Kelly sang an eclectic mix of
rock
,
pop music
,
folk
and
jazz
. It wasn't until he went to music school that the operatic potential of his voice was discovered.
Opera performances
[
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]
Kelly has sung with the
Metropolitan Opera
,
[1]
the
Royal Opera
at Covent Garden,
[2]
and
La Scala
in
Milan, Italy
.
[3]
The role of Count Almaviva in Rossini's
The Barber of Seville
has become his signature role.
Kelly has also made numerous live performances on
BBC
Radio.
[
citation needed
]
Recording
[
edit
]
Kelly is an artist on the
Opera Rara
music label,
[4]
the
Telarc
label and the
Decca
label.
[5]
In 2003 he launched the Walking Oliver children's music label. The label won the National Parenting Publications Award (NAPPA) in the children's music category for the CD
Hello Michael Rosen
. The recording featured the poetry of children's literature icon Michael Rosen set to original music by Kelly. On the Walking Oliver CD titled
Dreams
, Kelly provided music and vocals for poems composed by primary school children from across the UK who had been chosen as winners of the first Walking Oliver Poetry in Song Contest.
[
citation needed
]
In 2008 Kelly recorded the CD "The Song Is You" with British jazz pianist and producer
Kenny Clayton
. The CD contains popular music from the Great American Songbook by such composers as
Rodgers and Hart
, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II.
In 2009 Kelly recorded "Where Did The Dinosaurs Go?" a CD recorded on the Walking Oliver label. The CD won an
iParenting Media
Award for Outstanding Audio.
Personal life
[
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]
Kelly lives in
Lewes
in southern England. It was while performing with the nearby
Glyndebourne Opera
early in his career that he became enamored of the local area and decided to settle there with his wife, Carol. He still returns to his native country.
References
[
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]
External links
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]
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International
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Artists
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