Michael Patrick Kelly
Michael Patrick Kelly (born December 5, 1977 in Dublin ) is an Irish-American singer , musician and composer . He became known as the third youngest member of the multi-award-winning pop and folk band The Kelly Family , which was one of the most commercially successful performers in Europe from the mid-1990s with more than 20 million records sold. In 2003 he published his solo debut In Exile and then retired to a monastery in France. After six years of media and stage abstinence, he resumed his work in the music business in 2011.
biography
Musical career with the Kelly Family
Michael Patrick "Paddy" Kelly was born in a caravan in Dublin as the tenth child of the American teacher Daniel Jerome Kelly and the sixth child of the American dancer Barbara-Ann Suokko. He has four half and seven full siblings. After his mother's death in 1982, his father was a single parent and the family lived in poverty. From early childhood on, Michael Patrick Kelly traveled with his family as a street musician through Europe and the USA for more than twelve years and played several concerts a day as he grew older. From 1984 he began to present his siblings on stage and led through the events as an announcer. First instrument he learned especially in the traditional Irish folk music used tin whistle . Michael Patrick Kelly was tutored by his father and did not attend a state school. In addition to English and German, he speaks French, Spanish and Dutch.
At the age of 15 he composed the title An Angel , which was the Kelly Family’s commercial breakthrough in 1994. The single reached the top position in Austria and number 2 in the German and Swiss charts. In Germany, the song stayed in the top ten for a total of eleven weeks and in the top 100 for 27 weeks. The ongoing reporting by the youth magazine BRAVO pushed the widespread euphoria among mostly young girls that made Paddy Kelly rise to a teenage star. Because of their alternative lifestyle and hippie-like appearance, the family has become a target of scorn and ridicule. As the most popular member, Paddy Kelly developed into the group's front man and became the focus of fans and opponents. For several years it was not possible for him to move around in public without being accompanied by several security guards.
From the age of 18, Kelly was the band's musical director. Other single releases he composed include Fell In Love with an Alien , One More Song , Children Of Kosovo and Mama , which reached the top 20 of the German charts. In the band he mainly played guitar , electric guitar , bass , piano and keyboard , but he also learned percussion and harmonica instruments .
In 2002, he had his waist-length hair cut off, which has been an optical characteristic since his early youth. In August of the same year his father died of a cerebral haemorrhage. This decisive event had a major impact on the family association. On the one hand, the common residence at Schloss Gymnich was given up, on the other hand, the organizational structure of the band changed, which had only had six members since 2000.
Solo debut
On March 17, 2003, Paddy Kelly released his solo debut album In Exile with Universal Music , which reached number 13 in the German charts. Since the year 2000, he had a growing need to play and compose with other musicians outside the family. His newly found faith was also to be found in his solo work, for example in the song Pray Pray Pray , which he wrote after his pilgrimage to Medjugorje . The single was released a month before the album was released and reached the same chart position. Other religiously influenced titles include the song Thanking blessed Mary, composed on the occasion of his conversion in Lourdes, and the song Rain of Roses about the canonized Therese von Lisieux . The album was received positively. The single When You Sleep , released in May 2003, reached position 45 in Germany.
monastery
At the end of 2004, Michael Patrick Kelly withdrew from the public and lived as a monk in the Catholic monastery of the Order of the Community of St. John in Burgundy, France . There he received the name Brother John Paul Mary, made his temporary vows after the novitiate and studied philosophy for four years and theology for one year. The following year he moved to a monastery in Belgium and attended a number of appointments during which he told his vocation story.
“We dreamed of owning lots of houses, singing in big stadiums, living on a ship and living in a castle. None of these wishes remained open. But what really matters in life cannot be paid for with money. Each of us comes to the point where we ask ourselves: where do I come from? What am I doing here? Where are you going? "
Return to the music business
In November 2010 Michael Patrick Kelly resigned from the religious community. He justified his decision with health problems and his need to make more music again. In 2011 Kelly initiated the Christmas tour Silent Night - a musical Christmas story that took him to all parts of Germany together with his siblings Joey , Patricia and Kathy . He described this project as an opportunity to combine faith and art. The traditional Christmas story formed the framework of the musical program, which included national and international Christmas carols. In December of the following year, the tour continued with twelve concerts and a similar concept.
In May and June 2012 Kelly performed his solo project under the title Agape in ten German churches, accompanied by musicians from different cultures. In the sold-out charity concerts followed by peace prayer, he mainly presented spiritual songs that he had composed during his stay in the monastery. The tour was supported by the Bonifatiuswerk der German Catholics and carried out in cooperation with Caritas International .
From summer 2013 to October 2014 Kelly played 58 concerts on a smaller scale without a band as part of his tour “solo and unplugged”. These concerts took place in theaters in several European countries and he sang "old Kelly classics", songs from his first solo album In Exile and cover songs .
With the single Shake Away , Paddy announced his return to the commercial music world as Michael Patrick Kelly in 2015. His album Human was released on May 15, 2015 and entered the German charts at number 3. Kelly presented this new work as part of a tour with a live band in May 2015. After a few appearances at festivals in summer 2015, Kelly continued his “Human Tour 2015” in October / November 2015 due to the great demand. It continued with a “Human Club Tour 2016”.
In 2016 the album RUAH was released , a musical retrospective of his time in the monastery, because most of the songs were written during his time as a monk. Michael Patrick Kelly chose the Hebrew word Ruach as the title of this collection of spiritual songs , which in the biblical context stands for spirit or breath. In the fall of 2016, Kelly held a charity tour. Part of the ticket proceeds went to aid projects run by the Bonifatiuswerk and Caritas International.
After six months of work in London , his fourth solo album iD was released on June 23, 2017 , which entered the German and Swiss album charts at number 5 and reached number 7 in Austria. He presented his single Golden Age during the program Sing mein Song , the second single with the title iD contains a feature of his fellow musician Gentleman , whom he met at the music show. The recordings were made on Pete Townshend's floating music studio, the Grand Cru boat in St Katharine Docks .
Recording studio on the "Grand Cru"; St Katharine Docks
Recording studio on the lightship "Trinity"; Trinity Buoy Wharf
The other songs were also produced in renowned London recording studios, for example in the British Grove Studios by Mark Knopfler or in the Dean Street Studios in collaboration with Alex Beitzke and Bradley Spence. After many years of revision, he completed the song New Spirit with the vocal support of the female trio Wildwood Kin , recorded on the lightship "Trinity", which has been converted into a recording studio, which is located on the quay at Trinity Buoy Wharf .
In November 2017 Kelly released an extended version of the album iD , which contains six more songs and an acoustic version of Shake Away . He also sang the song "Wir sind Eins" with Moses Pelham on his album Herz . 11 months later the live album iD - Live was released , which also includes live versions of some of the songs that Kelly sang my song at Sing in 2017 .
TV appearances in music and casting shows
With his return to the music business , Michael Patrick Kelly gradually received invitations to various music television programs. In May 2015 he was seen in the first episode of Meylensteine on the TV channel VOX and in December 2016 in Songs for Eternity , where he interpreted cover versions with other renowned artists. The production company Talpa Germany , responsible for the two broadcast formats , signed Kelly around the same time, in autumn 2016, for the music show Sing my Song - The Exchange Concert . The fourth season was hosted by Sascha Vollmer and Alec Völkel from The BossHoss , while other participating artists were Lena Meyer-Landrut , Stefanie Kloß , Gentleman , Moses Pelham and Mark Forster . This season, which was broadcast on VOX from May 23 to July 11, 2017, has achieved the highest ratings to date and the episode with the highest ratings was the one in which his musical oeuvre was the focus.
Due to its great success, Sing mein Song was nominated for the German TV Prize 2018 in the category Best Primetime Entertainment and received the Golden Camera 2018 as Best Show . He returned to that television show in 2019, this time hosting the sixth season .
His first involvement in a talent show was in the spring of 2016 in the eighth season of the KiKa telecast Your Song . Michael Patrick Kelly took over the "music sponsorship" for the 14-year-old singer and songwriter Ben Schafmeister. In March 2018 he appeared in some episodes of the 6th season of The Voice Kids , as Mark Forster hired him as a "sidecoach". In autumn 2018, Kelly was a juror in the eighth season of The Voice of Germany . He replaced the Finnish singer Samu Haber and won the season with his candidate Samuel Rösch .
Private life
Michael Patrick Kelly was baptized and raised Catholic without practicing his faith. Together with his family he sang for Pope John Paul II as part of the European Youth Meeting in Loreto in 1995. Out of a personal crisis that was accompanied by thoughts of suicide and a feeling of inner emptiness, Kelly began to grapple with the Bible in the wake of commercial success . In search of answers to questions of meaning and life, he also dealt with the Koran and Buddhism . A documentary film about the pilgrimage site of Lourdes prompted him to go on a pilgrimage in 1999, which he defines as the time of his conversion .
In search of spirituality he went on pilgrimages , visited several monasteries, traveled to Calcutta to the Mother Teresa Sisters and to London to the Bronx Brothers. Ultimately, in autumn 2004, he decided to take up the novitiate as Brother John Paul Mary in an order in Burgundy . Only when he was faced with the final decision to take the perpetual religious vows six years later did he increasingly feel the need to live out his creativity again. Many older confreres encouraged him to make music again. In retrospect, he described the experience in the monastery as the most extraordinary time of his life.
On April 13, 2013 Kelly married his childhood sweetheart, the Belgian journalist and religious philosopher Joelle Verreet. The wedding took place in the 800 year old Ballintubber Abbey in Ireland.
social commitment
In view of the impending war in Iraq , Kelly traveled to the United States with a peace delegation in March 2003 and participated in a protest in front of the White House in Washington, DC . During a peace demonstration in front of the main building of the United Nations in New York City , he was arrested along with 40 other peace activists for an act of civil disobedience , but released after identification and several hours in prison. In July 2004 he performed at the international tent music festival in Freiburg with artists such as Nina Hagen and Rabih Abou-Khalil at the benefit concert Music for Baghdad . On February 15, 2003, he took part in a peace rally in Berlin and invited the 500,000 participants to a minute of peace. Kelly has been an ambassador for the humanitarian aid organization Caritas International since 2012 . Among other things, he supports aid projects in Ethiopia , which he also visited on site in 2012 and 2015. For this purpose he donated a third of the ticket proceeds from his charity tour.
Art Peace project
Kelly began painting at an early age with the intention of “finding a way to inner peace” . In September 2012, a selection of the paintings he made between 1990 and 2012 was presented to the public for the first time under the title Art Peace . In a combination of a moderated information event, concert and vernissage , he presented his project in the Radom on the Wasserkuppe , a former military functional building and memorial of the Cold War . In addition to Kelly's works, the exhibition also included pictures of Haitian children who, as direct victims of the 2010 earthquake , were invited by Caritas International to paint their fears and wishes for the future. As part of a cross-border painting project, Kelly led a similar campaign the following day at the Children's Academy in Fulda. Part of the proceeds from the ticket income from the events and the sale of the signed art prints went to peace work in Haiti and Guinea-Bissau . In May 2013 he repeated the event in a similar way in the bunker church in Düsseldorf. At the same time he opened his first solo exhibition in the LV 1871 Munich.
As part of the RTL Spendenmarathon in November 2012, Kelly made a picture entitled The Holy Spirit of Love during a stay of several hours in Wolfram Kons' live studio , which was auctioned for a good cause. It shows hands reaching out towards a dove with spread wings and a centrally positioned heart.
Project #PeaceBell
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War , Michael Patrick Kelly presented his #PeaceBell project on November 11, 2018 in the Christ Church in Mainz . Under the patronage of Mayor Michael Ebling of Mainz and moderation by Wolfram Kons , Kelly unveiled the peace bell he designed , which was cast from old war weapons from the Battle of Verdun . He wanted to reverse the practice common in the world wars of melting church bells as a replenishment for weapons production and create an instrument of peace whose sound should remind of the necessity of cohesion instead of opposing one another : “The PeaceBell is a universal instrument of peace that people with It was forged in the still active bell foundry Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock in Gescher , a former G3 rifle serves as a clapper .
Further bells in smaller format are to be manufactured and sold using this process, the proceeds will support peace projects such as the Newe Shalom Peace Village in Israel. The large PeaceBell, which weighs around 340 kg, is part of his 2019 concert tour to ring in a minute of silence for peace with a single bell during the concert.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
|||
| 2003 | In Exile Polydor ( UMG ) |
DE13 (5 weeks) DE |
AT49 (2 weeks) AT |
- | - |
First published: March 17, 2003
|
| 2015 | Human Columbia Records ( Sony ) |
DE3  (17 weeks)DE |
AT16 (5 weeks) AT |
CH8 (11 weeks) CH |
- |
First published: May 15, 2015
Sales: + 100,000 |
| 2016 | Ruah soul food |
DE12 (1 week) DE |
AT20 (1 week) AT |
CH57 (1 week) CH |
- |
First published: September 23, 2016
|
| 2017 | iD Columbia Records (Sony) |
DE2  (94 weeks)DE |
AT7 (19 weeks) AT |
CH5 (51 weeks)CH |
- |
First published: June 16, 2017
Sales: + 210,000 |
Awards as a solo artist
- 2018: Golden Camera in the Best Show category
- 2018: Radio Regenbogen Award in the category Comeback of the year 2017
Web links
- Official website
- Paddy Kelly at Discogs (English)
- Michael Patrick Kelly at Discogs (English)
swell
- ^ Society Culture of Peace takes part in protest actions in New York ( Memento of August 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) kulturdesfriedens.de, March 18, 2003, accessed April 16, 2012
- ↑ Chart source: An Angel ( memento from July 21, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) chartsurfer.de, accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ Paddy Kelly goes his own way Welt Online.de , March 12, 2003, accessed March 2012
- ↑ Chart source The Kelly Family ( Memento from December 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Musicline.de , accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ Dan Kelly is dead stern.de, August 7, 2002, accessed on December 1, 2012
- ↑ a b c Paddy Kelly: "My music is there for everyone" kath.net., May 5, 2003, accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ Chart source In Exile ( Memento from December 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Musicline.de, accessed on June 16, 2012
- ↑ Chart source Pray Pray Pray ( Memento from December 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Musicline.de, accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ CD Review In Exile ( Memento from November 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) pooltrax.com, accessed on April 16, 2012
- ^ Critique of In Exile laut.de , accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ Chart source When You Sleep ( Memento from December 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Musicline.de, accessed on June 16, 2012
- ↑ Paddy Kelly livenet.de, May 13, 2005, accessed April 16, 2012
- ↑ Interview with Markus Lanz, November 13, 2012
- ↑ a b An interview with a swarm of girls: Michael Patrick Kelly. Neue Westfälische , June 20, 2017, accessed July 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Silent Night with Paddy Kelly and Co kath.net, November 9, 2011, accessed April 16, 2012
- ^ Resurrection for Christmas stern.de , December 1, 2011, accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ Kelly Family 2012 again on Silent Night Tour ( Memento from January 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) musikmarkt.de, accessed on January 6, 2013
- ↑ Paddy Kelly sings for a good cause DerWesten.de , April 4, 2012, accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ Michael Patrick Kelly: Album Human. officialcharts.de, accessed on July 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Sunday brunch with Michael Patrick Kelly. (No longer available online.) Mdr.de, October 4, 2015, archived from the original on July 9, 2018 ; accessed on July 8, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.kirche-und-leben.de/artikel/paddy-kelly-vom-moench-zum-the-voice-coach/
- ^ Fiesta in the church: Michael Patrick Kellys church tour a complete success. Bonifatiuswerk , October 28, 2016, accessed on July 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Michael Patrick Kelly - iD (album). (No longer available online.) Radio-vhr.de, June 21, 2017, archived from the original on July 9, 2018 ; accessed on July 6, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Gregor Meyle gets his own show called "Meylensteine". Focus Online , February 23, 2015, accessed July 6, 2018 .
- ↑ David Grzeschik: "Songs for eternity", but quotas for the bin. Odds Meter , December 24, 2016, accessed July 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Sing my song 2017: "The BossHoss" are the new hosts for the fourth season. vox.de, October 28, 2016, accessed on July 6, 2018 .
- ↑ June 22nd: Episode 5 of "Sing my Song" gets a record rating. Augsburger Allgemeine , August 4, 2017, accessed on July 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Jessica Balleer: The three lives of Michael Patrick Kelly. Rheinische Post online, June 21, 2017, accessed on July 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Best entertainment primetime: Sing my song - The exchange concert. German Television Award , accessed on July 6, 2018 .
- ↑ a b GOLDEN CAMERA 2018: "Sing my song - The exchange concert" is awarded as "Best Show". Finanznachrichten.de, February 8, 2018, accessed March 26, 2018 .
- ↑ Manuel Weis: After subdued “Sing my Song” quotas: 2019 should be a Kelly. quotenmeter.de, November 6, 2018, accessed on November 6, 2018 .
- ↑ New jury, new sponsors, new candidates: "Your Song" goes into the eighth round. KiKa , accessed July 8, 2018 .
- ↑ The Voice Kids - Michael Patrick Kelly visits the Heavy Metal team. somethingverpasst.de, accessed on July 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Bernd Krannich: "The Voice of Germany" completes the coaches with Michael Patrick Kelly. In: Wishlist.de . June 21, 2018, accessed June 21, 2018 .
- ↑ https://www.tz.de/tv/voice-of-germany-sat-1-schrauer-sehr-sauer-fragwuerdiger-sieger-samuel-roesch-zr-10867322.html
- ↑ Paddy Kelly: "Life without God is like a guitar without a case" kath.net , accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ Holy is the rest of the family Der Tagesspiegel , November 18, 2011, accessed on April 16, 2012
- ↑ Paddy Kelly marries n-tv.de, April 14, 2013, accessed April 15, 2013
- ↑ Paddy Kelly marries his childhood sweetheart bild.de, April 14, 2013, accessed on April 15, 2013
- ^ Paddy Kelly arrested in the USA Spiegel.de , March 18, 2003, accessed on April 16, 2012
- ^ Kulturbrücke ( Memento from August 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Kultur des Friedens.de, accessed on December 1, 2012
- ↑ Paddy Kelly presents his project "Art Peace" in the Radom ( Memento from October 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Fuldaer Zeitung, accessed on December 1, 2012
- ^ Exhibition Paddy Kelly Art Peace ( Memento from November 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) bilder-fuchs.de, accessed on December 1, 2012
- ↑ Paddy Kelly enchants with music and art osthessen-sport.de, October 1, 2012, accessed on December 1, 2012
- ↑ Paddy Kelly's Art Peace ( Memento from December 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) caritas-international.de. November 2012, accessed December 1, 2012
- ↑ Paddy's pictures with message derwesten.de May 3, 2013, accessed on May 21, 2013
- ↑ 'See thru this' sueddeutsche.de May 4, 2013, accessed on May 21, 2013
- ↑ RTL - We help children rtl.de, accessed on December 1, 2012
- ↑ Church Bell for Peace - 150,000 bells for weapons. Freundederkuenste.de, November 12, 2018, accessed on November 13, 2018 .
- ↑ Boris Korpak: Comeback of the year: Radio Regenbogen Award for Michael Patrick Kelly. cityguide-rhein-neckar.de, December 5, 2017, archived from the original on March 26, 2018 ; accessed on March 26, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kelly, Michael Patrick |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kelly, Paddy (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Irish-American singer, musician and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th December 1977 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dublin , Ireland |