Background
Kelly was born in Kingston in 1944.
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Pat Kelly
Edit ProfileCareer
The Techniques After leaving school, he spent a year studying electronics in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States during 1966, before returning to Jamaica. In 1967, when Slim Smith left The Techniques, Kelly was brought in to replace him, recording for Duke Reid in the rocksteady era when Reid"s Treasure Isle studio/label was dominating Jamaican music Kelly"s falsetto voice, strongly influenced by the American soul singer Sam Cooke, in combination with Winston Riley and Bruce Ruffin, maintained the success that The Techniques had enjoyed with Smith.
The Techniques first record with Kelly, "You Don"t Care", adapted from Curtis Mayfield"s "You"ll Want Maine Back", spent six weeks at number one in the Jamaican singles chart, and was followed by further hits with "Queen Majesty", "My Girl", "Love Is Not a Gamble", "lieutenant"s You I Love", and "Run Come Celebrate".
Solo career In 1968, Kelly went solo, moving from Reid to Bunny Lee, and debuting with another Mayfield cover, "Little Boy Blue". Kelly continued to record, having a big hits for producer Philosophy Pratt in 1972 with "Soulful Love" and "Talk About Love", and returning to record with Duke Reid, having another hit with a cover of John Denver"s "Sunshine".
He fell back on his earlier training, working as an engineer at Channel One Studios. He also moved into production, producing his own Youth and Youth album in 1978, and co-producing (with Holt) John Holt"s The Impressable John Holt (Disco Mix) album in 1979.The late 1970s and early 1980s saw Kelly recording more regularly again, and he continued to record occasionally in the years that followed.
