Jo Ann Kelly (5 January 1944 – 21 October 1990) was an
Englishblues singer and guitarist. She is respected for her strong blues vocal style and for playing
country blues guitar.
She appeared on several
compilation albums with her first in 1966 being New Sounds In Folk and then two years later on Blues Anytime Vol. 1: An Anthology Of British Blues (1968)
Immediate Records before releasing her first solo album titled Jo-Ann Kelly (1969), this was issued on
CBS in the UK and
Epic Records in the US. She was also a core member of the band
Tramp along with her brother
Dave Kelly.
Jo-Ann and Dave Kelly helped raise donations for
Memphis Minnie in the 1960s.[5]
Canned Heat and
Johnny Winter both tried to recruit Kelly, but she preferred to stay in the United Kingdom. She expanded to the European club circuit, where she worked with guitarist Pete Emery and other bands. In the early 1980s, she was a member of the
Terry Smith Blues Band.[6]
Death
In 1988, Kelly began to suffer from headaches.[7] In 1989 she had an operation to remove a malignant
brain tumour.[8] She died on 21 October 1990 in England, aged 46.[9]
The obituary in The Independent remarked, "To many American performers Jo Ann Kelly was the only British singer to earn their respect for her development of what they would be justified in thinking as 'their' genre".[10]
Discography
Primary releases
Jo-Ann Kelly: Blues & Gospel (No label, 1968) – EP with four songs, pressing limited to 99 copies. All original recordings are included on Retrospect 1964-72.[14]
Tramp 1974: Rare And Unissued Recordings, volume 3 (Mooncrest, 2001)
Black Rat Swing: The Collectors' Jo Ann Kelly (Castle, 2003)
Blues & Gospel: Rare and Unreleased Recordings (
Blues Matters!, 2004)
Do It & more (
Manhaton, 2008) – Songs from Do It (1976) plus additional songs.
I Asked For Water, She Gave Me Gasoline (
Imperial – LP-12455 1969)
Featured
Standing At The Burying Ground,
Mississippi Fred McDowell (Red Lightnin', 1984) – Recorded live at the Mayfair Hotel, London, UK, 8 March 1969, featuring Jo Ann Kelly, liner notes by Jo Ann Kelly.
Hard Cash, (1990)
Been Here And Gone, Woody Mann, Jo Ann Kelly and
Son House (Acoustic Music Records, 1999) – Recorded 1971–72, Kelly plays on eight songs.
Memphis 69': The 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival. Concert film. Kelly played one song accompanied by guitarist "Backwards" Sam Firk. Directed by Joe LaMatting, Produced by Bruce Watson and Lisa LaMattina. Executive Producers: Mathew Johnson, Bruce Watson, Gene Rosenthal. Fat Possum Records, 2019.
^Schwartz, Freund, Roberta (2016).
How Britain Got the Blues: The Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom. Routledge. p. 207.
ISBN9781317120940. Retrieved 28 July 2019. The British blues community rallied around the cause of blueswoman
Memphis Minnie, purportedly the first of the Chicago artists to play electric guitar and one its finest instrumentalists. By the time researchers found her she was living in a nursing home in Memphis, paralyzed by a debilitating stroke. Jo-Ann and Dave Kelly began playing benefits on her behalf and soon other musicians and clubs arranged charity concerts to help the impoverished singer cover her medical expenses. Jo-Ann Kelly also sold pictures of Minnie, which provided the blueswoman with some badly needed income, and letters and cards from her British fans gave her some comfort and satisfaction in her last years.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^
abDallas, Karl (23 October 1990). "Obituary:Jo Ann Kelly". The Independent. London. To many American performers Jo Ann Kelly was the only British singer to earn their respect for her development of what they would be justified in thinking of as 'their' genre.
^Denselow, Robin (26 October 1990). "Streatham blues: Obituary of Jo Ann Kelly". The Guardian.
^Balfour, Alan (December 1990). "Obituaries: Jo Ann Kelly". Blues & Rhythm (57): 17.