Jo-Ann Kelly

Jo-Ann Kelly (5 January 1944 – 21 October 1990) was an English blues singer and guitarist. She is respected for her strong blues vocal style and for playing country blues guitar.
Kelly was born in Streatham, South London, England on 5 January 1944. She had two younger siblings, Susan and Dave. Her early interest in performing music grew out of hearing the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Skiffle in the late 1950s. She learned 3 or 4 guitar chords from her younger brother, Dave Kelly.
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 Tramp along with her brother Dave Kelly.
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.
In 1988, Kelly began to suffer from headaches. In 1989 she had an operation to remove a malignant brain tumour. She died on 21 October 1990 in England, aged 46.
==Links to Peel==
In 1968, Peel named Jo-Ann Kelly as one of the artists who caught his attention at the time in the ABC Of Beauty article in the Disc & Music Echo music paper. However, according to Ken Garner's The Peel Sessions book, the panel at the BBC rejected her after an audition in March 1967, where they variously described her performance as 'a sincere attempt', 'discordant', 'very depressing', 'monotonous dirge' and 'who knows or cares what she's singing about?'. Nonetheless JP, more of a blues fan than the members of the BBC panel, successfully got her to do a session for Night Ride in September 1968, in the era when many of the leading figures of the British country blues revival did sessions for Peel's late-night show. She also performed with Bob Hall for Mike Cooper's third Peel session in 1969. 
Her music was largely played on his shows in the late 60's and early 70's, and she recorded albums for CBS (produced by Nick Perls of Yazoo Records) and Blue Goose, a subsidiary of the Yazoo label. When she moved away from acoustic blues to a more modern style, Peel got her band, Spare Rib, to do a session for his show in 1973, despite the group not being signed to any record label. The group consisted of Jo-Ann Kelly (vocals), Roger Brown (guitar, vocals), Adrian Pietryga, (lead guitar), Bruce Rowlands (drums), John Atkinson (bass) and Nick Judd (piano)
After hearing about her death in October 1990, he paid tribute to her on his 27 October 1990 show, by playing her track, 'Louisiana Blues'. He also mentioned on the same show that she slept at Peel Acres in Tom's bedroom about four years ago after a gig and says that his son was not in the room at that time. 
==Sessions==
;Jo-Ann Kelly
1. Recorded: 1968-09-03. First Broadcast: 04 September 1968
*Rock Me / Since I First Met You Baby / Shine On Rising Sun / Louisiana Blues / Roll And Tumblin' Blues
;thumb|220x220pxMike Cooper #3 (with Jo-Ann Kelly & Bob Hall)
1. Recorded: 1969-10-20. First Broadcast: 15 November 1969
*Spider And The Fly / I Think She Knows Me Now / The Moon Is Going Down / Tell Me Papa
;Spare Rib
1. Recorded: 1973-02-06. First Broadcast: 13 February 1973. Repeated: 01 May 1973
*Hear Me Calling / Making Light / Little Miss Femme Fatale / Probably Do
==Live==
Concert featuring Mungo Jerry, Jo-Ann Kelly with Bob Hall and Brett Marvin & The Thunderbolts. First broadcast: 26 July 1970
#unknown set
==Other Shows Played==
;thumb|220x220px1990
*27 October 1990: Louisiana Blues (LP - Jo-Ann Kelly) CBS
==See Also==
*Gigography 1968
*Gigography 1969
==External Links==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
Category:Artists