Vance Kelly

Vance Kelly (born January 24, 1954) is an American soul blues singer and guitarist who has performed regularly at various music venues in the Chicago area, chief among them being the 1815, Checkerboard Lounge,

Early life Kelly was born in the Near West Side community area of Chicago. His father was a gospel musician, and his uncle, LeRoy McCauley, was a part-time blues musician.

Kelly's own interest in and talent for performing music were on display at an early age; he was playing guitar by the age of seven, despite never having had a formal lesson. Then, at the age of 10, Kelly performed blues for the first time at a Chicago school. As a teenager, he sat in at various clubs on Chicago's South Side and later appeared both as a solo artist and as a sideman in those clubs, backing such artists as the West-Side singer Mary Lane when he was 15. It was during this time that Kelly developed his unique "ringing" guitar sound, which raised his profile among members of Chicago's blues community.

Early career Kelly experimented with disco music during the late 1970s, but he had rekindled his interest in blues music by the end of the decade. Major influences on Kelly's playing style during this stage of his musical development included B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Johnny Christian.

In 1987, Kelly was invited to become a member of saxophonist A.C. Reed's Sparkplugs. made by film makers Kai-Duc Luong and Avisheh Mohsenin, portraying Kelly and featuring many of his trademark songs, was released in 2008 and played at international film festivals such as the Hawaii International Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Discography Call Me – 1994 Joyriding in the Subway – 1995 Hands Off! – 1998 What Three Old Ladies Can Do – 2000 Live at Lee's Unleaded Blues – 2003 Nobody Has the Power – 2005 Bluebird – 2008 How Can I Miss You, When You Won't Leave – 2018