Kelly Keeling
Encyclopedia
Kelly Keeling is an American musician
and songwriter
. Keeling started playing at the age of 14 and first appeared on the music scene as the lead singer of the American heavy metal
band
Baton Rouge
. In his career, he worked with many major hard rock
acts, wrote movie soundtracks and played also with Christian rock
bands.
, which had three Top 40 AOR hits entitled "Walks Like a Woman," "Doctor," and "The Storm." in 1990. His association with producer Jack Ponti
led him to provide songs for the German hard rock band Bonfire
and music and backing vocals for Alice Cooper
’s album Hey Stoopid
.
In 1991, he left Baton Rouge to join John Sykes
' band Blue Murder. Keeling recorded tracks on the album Nothin' but Trouble
with Carmine Appice
and Tony Franklin
, which he worked again with on many projects in later years. Sykes decided to re-record his voice over Keeling’s, so that the latter appears only for backing vocals and lead vocals on only one track of the album. Blue Murder broke up in 1994.
Kelly Keeling then joined the solo project of former Europe
guitarist John Norum
. He worked on Norum’s albums Another Destination
(1995) and Worlds Away
(1996), but left the guitarist in 1997.
Keeling continued to collaborate with renowned hard rock musicians, and joined with Michael Schenker
for MSG
album The Unforgiven
in 1999 and with the project Guitar Zeus founded by famous drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge
, King Kobra
).
He wrote songs with Don Dokken
for the Dokken
albums Long Way Home
and Hell to Pay and in 2004 he sang on former Dokken guitarist George Lynch
album Furious George.
In the 2000s, Keeling toured with the bands O'2L and Paris Keeling
and started a solo recording career with the album Giving Sight to the Eye in 2005. In those years, he toured also with Erik Norlander
, Trans-Siberian Orchestra
, Rock4Xmas, featuring Badfinger
member Joey Molland
, and The Kelly Keeling Show.
With Erik Norlander
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. Keeling started playing at the age of 14 and first appeared on the music scene as the lead singer of the American heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge (band)
Baton Rouge were an American hard rock band, formed in 1986 in Mississippi. The band produced two albums and enjoyed limited success during the final part of the hair metal explosion in the early 1990s, before disbanding...
. In his career, he worked with many major hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
acts, wrote movie soundtracks and played also with Christian rock
Christian rock
Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...
bands.
Biography
Keeling was at first the guitarist and then the lead singer of the band Baton RougeBaton Rouge (band)
Baton Rouge were an American hard rock band, formed in 1986 in Mississippi. The band produced two albums and enjoyed limited success during the final part of the hair metal explosion in the early 1990s, before disbanding...
, which had three Top 40 AOR hits entitled "Walks Like a Woman," "Doctor," and "The Storm." in 1990. His association with producer Jack Ponti
Jack Ponti
Jack Ponti is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, manager, label executive, and consultant.-Career:Jack Ponti is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, manager, label executive, and consultant who started his career in the music business playing guitar in the rock band...
led him to provide songs for the German hard rock band Bonfire
Bonfire (band)
Bonfire is a German heavy metal band, founded in Ingolstadt, Germany in 1972. Bonfire has a unique history. Currently there are two bands who have held the name. The original group started out as Cacumen, became Bonfire and ended in 2011 as Charade...
and music and backing vocals for Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
’s album Hey Stoopid
Hey Stoopid
Hey Stoopid is the 19th studio album by heavy metal singer and shock rock-legend Alice Cooper. It was released on July 2, 1991 with guest appearances from Slash , Ozzy Osbourne, Vinnie Moore, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Nikki Sixx and Mick Mars .After Cooper's smash 1989 hit album Trash, Cooper...
.
In 1991, he left Baton Rouge to join John Sykes
John Sykes
John James Sykes , is an English rock guitarist, who has played with Streetfighter, Tygers of Pan Tang, John Sloman's Badlands, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, and Blue Murder, in addition to having a notable solo career....
' band Blue Murder. Keeling recorded tracks on the album Nothin' but Trouble
Nothin' But Trouble
- Track listing :All tracks by John Sykes except "Itchycoo Park" by Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott# "We All Fall Down" - 4:47# "Itchycoo Park" - 3:46 # "Cry for Love" - 6:57# "Runaway" - 5:58# "Dance" - 4:08# "I'm on Fire" - 4:45...
with Carmine Appice
Carmine Appice
Carmine Appice is an American rock drummer of Italian background and is the older brother of drummer Vinny Appice by 12 years. He received a classical music training and was influenced by the jazz drumming of Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa early on...
and Tony Franklin
Tony Franklin (musician)
Anthony James "Tony" Franklin is an English rock musician, best known for his work on the fretless bass guitar with Roy Harper, The Firm, Jimmy Page, John Sykes' Blue Murder, Whitesnake and briefly, with Quiet Riot.-Fretless bass:...
, which he worked again with on many projects in later years. Sykes decided to re-record his voice over Keeling’s, so that the latter appears only for backing vocals and lead vocals on only one track of the album. Blue Murder broke up in 1994.
Kelly Keeling then joined the solo project of former Europe
Europe (band)
Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979 under the name Force by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum and drummer Tony Reno. Although widely associated with glam metal, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal and hard rock elements...
guitarist John Norum
John Norum
John Norum is a rock music guitarist and founder of the Swedish band Europe . Concurrent to his role with Europe, he also maintains a side solo project...
. He worked on Norum’s albums Another Destination
Another Destination
Another Destination is the third solo album by John Norum, the guitarist of the Swedish hard rock band Europe. It was released on May 23, 1995....
(1995) and Worlds Away
Worlds Away (John Norum album)
Worlds Away is the fourth solo album by John Norum, the guitarist of the Swedish hard rock band Europe. It was released in 1996. It can be noted that this album features the only cover from John's solo releases that does not feature the guitarist himself....
(1996), but left the guitarist in 1997.
Keeling continued to collaborate with renowned hard rock musicians, and joined with Michael Schenker
Michael Schenker
Michael Schenker is a German rock guitarist, best known for his tenure in UFO, in addition to his solo band. He first rose to fame as a founding member of the Scorpions, then achieved fame in the mid 1970s as the lead guitar player for UFO. Since leaving UFO in 1978, he has been leading the...
for MSG
Michael Schenker Group
The Michael Schenker Group is a guitar-oriented hard rock band formed in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist, Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Schenker Group, which lasted until 1992. After that, the Michael Schenker Group was reformed.The...
album The Unforgiven
The Unforgiven (album)
The Unforgiven is the sixth studio album released in 1999 by the German hard rock band Michael Schenker Group.-Track listing:All tracks by Michael Schenker & Kelly Keeling# "Rude Awakening" – 5:02# "The Mess I've Made" – 4:31...
in 1999 and with the project Guitar Zeus founded by famous drummer Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge
Vanilla Fudge
Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band. The band's original lineup – vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice – recorded five albums during the years 1966–69, before disbanding in 1970...
, King Kobra
King Kobra
King Kobra is a glam metal group founded by drummer Carmine Appice after his tenure with Ozzy Osbourne in 1984. The band during the time of their first two albums included four relatively unknown musicians: vocalist Mark Free, guitarist David Michael-Philips, guitarist Mick Sweda, and bassist...
).
He wrote songs with Don Dokken
Don Dokken
Donald Maynard Dokken is best known for being the lead singer and founder of the band Dokken. He is known for his vibrato-laden, melodic vocal style which has made him an influential figure in American heavy metal. After enjoying mainstream success with Dokken, he parted ways with the band in 1988...
for the Dokken
Dokken
Dokken is an American heavy metal and hard rock band formed in 1978. They split up in 1989 but reformed four years later. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide...
albums Long Way Home
Long Way Home (Dokken album)
Long Way Home is the eighth studio album by heavy metal band Dokken, released in 2002.Alternate versions of the album cover featured a special lighting effect around the body of the model....
and Hell to Pay and in 2004 he sang on former Dokken guitarist George Lynch
George Lynch (musician)
George Lynch is a hard rock/heavy metal guitarist best known as a member of the band Dokken, his own bands Lynch Mob and Souls of We.-Pre Dokken:...
album Furious George.
In the 2000s, Keeling toured with the bands O'2L and Paris Keeling
Paris Keeling
Paris Keeling is an American band founded by Marty Paris and Kelly Keeling, and also contains Rick Van Benschoten, Matt Goeke, and Gintas Janusonis....
and started a solo recording career with the album Giving Sight to the Eye in 2005. In those years, he toured also with Erik Norlander
Erik Norlander
Erik Norlander is an American musician who describes himself as a 'keyboardist, composer, producer and engineer'. Norlander has produced albums for Rocket Scientists and his wife, Lana Lane. He also has a progressive rock solo project titled simply Erik Norlander...
, Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Trans-Siberian Orchestra is an American progressive metal band founded in 1993 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the core of the creative team. Since then, TSO sold nearly 8...
, Rock4Xmas, featuring Badfinger
Badfinger
Badfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
member Joey Molland
Joey Molland
Joseph "Joey" Charles Molland is an English composer and rock guitarist whose recording career spans four decades...
, and The Kelly Keeling Show.
Solo albums
- Giving Sight to the Eye (2005)
- Lime Green Limousine with Marc Zimmerman (2010)
Studio albums
- Shake Your Soul (1990)
- Lights Out on the Playground (1991)
- Baton Rouge (1997)
Studio albums
- Another DestinationAnother DestinationAnother Destination is the third solo album by John Norum, the guitarist of the Swedish hard rock band Europe. It was released on May 23, 1995....
(1995) - Worlds AwayWorlds Away (John Norum album)Worlds Away is the fourth solo album by John Norum, the guitarist of the Swedish hard rock band Europe. It was released in 1996. It can be noted that this album features the only cover from John's solo releases that does not feature the guitarist himself....
(1996)
Studio albums
- Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus (1995)
- Guitar Zeus II: Channel Mind Radio (1997)
- Conquering Heroes (2009)
Studio albums
- The UnforgivenThe Unforgiven (album)The Unforgiven is the sixth studio album released in 1999 by the German hard rock band Michael Schenker Group.-Track listing:All tracks by Michael Schenker & Kelly Keeling# "Rude Awakening" – 5:02# "The Mess I've Made" – 4:31...
(1999) - Tales of Rock'n'RollTales of Rock'n'RollTales of Rock'n'Roll is the nineth studio album by the Michael Schenker Group. It was released in 2006 after two years of work, to celebrate 25 years of activity of the Michael Schenker Group. The music of the album was initially composed for a UFO concept album, but Michael Schenker used it for...
(2006)
Compilation albums
- Forever and More, The Best of Michael Schenker (2004)
- Greatest Riffs (2009)
With Erik NorlanderErik NorlanderErik Norlander is an American musician who describes himself as a 'keyboardist, composer, producer and engineer'. Norlander has produced albums for Rocket Scientists and his wife, Lana Lane. He also has a progressive rock solo project titled simply Erik Norlander...
- Music Machine (2003)
- Stars Rain Down (2004)
- Hommage Symphonique (2007)
Other appearances
- Alice CooperAlice CooperAlice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
- Hey StoopidHey StoopidHey Stoopid is the 19th studio album by heavy metal singer and shock rock-legend Alice Cooper. It was released on July 2, 1991 with guest appearances from Slash , Ozzy Osbourne, Vinnie Moore, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Nikki Sixx and Mick Mars .After Cooper's smash 1989 hit album Trash, Cooper...
(songwriting and backing vocals - 1991) - Blue Murder - Nothin' but TroubleNothin' But Trouble- Track listing :All tracks by John Sykes except "Itchycoo Park" by Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott# "We All Fall Down" - 4:47# "Itchycoo Park" - 3:46 # "Cry for Love" - 6:57# "Runaway" - 5:58# "Dance" - 4:08# "I'm on Fire" - 4:45...
(backing vocals - 1993) - DokkenDokkenDokken is an American heavy metal and hard rock band formed in 1978. They split up in 1989 but reformed four years later. The group accumulated numerous charting singles and has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide...
- Long Way HomeLong Way Home (Dokken album)Long Way Home is the eighth studio album by heavy metal band Dokken, released in 2002.Alternate versions of the album cover featured a special lighting effect around the body of the model....
(songwriting – 2002) - Jack PontiJack PontiJack Ponti is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, manager, label executive, and consultant.-Career:Jack Ponti is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, manager, label executive, and consultant who started his career in the music business playing guitar in the rock band...
Presents - Volume 1 (compilation - 2003) - Dokken - Hell to Pay (songwriting - 2004)
- Lana LaneLana LaneLana Lane is a North American rock singer. She sings lead in her eponymous band, and has sung backing vocals for the band Rocket Scientists and guest sung on Ayreon and Erik Norlander albums....
- Lady Macbeth (backing vocals - 2005) - Moonstone Project – Time to Take a Stand (guest vocalist - 2006)
- JK Northrup - Wired in My Skin (guest vocalist - 2007)
- The Screamin' Lords - Long Live Me (guest vocalist - 2007)
- Liberty N' JusticeLiberty N' JusticeLiberty N' Justice is a Christian hard rock band started in 1991 by Justin Murr and Patrick Marchand. In 2002, Murr continued with the Liberty N' Justice name, contacting several well-known artists to join him in creating the new album Welcome to the Revolution...
– Indipendence Day (guest vocalist – 2007) - Lana Lane – Gemini (backing vocals - 2007)
- Don DokkenDon DokkenDonald Maynard Dokken is best known for being the lead singer and founder of the band Dokken. He is known for his vibrato-laden, melodic vocal style which has made him an influential figure in American heavy metal. After enjoying mainstream success with Dokken, he parted ways with the band in 1988...
- Solitary (backing vocals - 2008) - Trans-Siberian OrchestraTrans-Siberian OrchestraTrans-Siberian Orchestra is an American progressive metal band founded in 1993 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the core of the creative team. Since then, TSO sold nearly 8...
– Night CastleNight Castle- Disc two :- Personnel :* Paul O'Neill - Producer* Robert Kinkel - Producer* Dave Wittman - Recording & Mix Engineer- Vocals :Solo:* Jay Pierce - "Childhood Dreams", "The Safest Way Into Tomorrow"* Tim Hockenberry - "Sparks", "Believe"...
(backing vocals – 2009) - Moonstone Project – Hidden in Time (guest vocalist – 2009)
- Liberty N' Justice – Light It Up (guest vocalist – 2010)
Tribute albums
- Smoke on the Water: A Tribute to Deep Purple (1994)
- A Tribute to Grand Funk Railroad...an American Band (2000)
- A Millennium Tribute to Sammy Hagar (2006)
Soundtracks
- Rich Girl (1991)
- Dish DogsDish DogsDish Dogs is a direct-to-DVD romantic comedy film released in 2000. It stars Sean Astin and Matthew Lillard and was directed by Robert Kubilos. The film is about the relationship between two friends and when they find love they must both go their separate ways....
(two songs – 1998) - Chasing Destiny (1998)
- Totally Irresponsible (1998)
- Killer BudKiller Bud-External links:**...
(2000) - Kill Speed (one song – 2010)