Career

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Kelly was a self-taught guitar player and began his music career around the sixth grade. He was inspired by other guitarists such as Rick Derringer and Peter Frampton. After no real success with these bands, Kelly teamed up with Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum to form a new group.

They later found Blas Elias and he joined as their drummer.

Thus, the group Slaughter was formed in Fall of 1988. With Slaughter, Kelly was a collaborator, writing and playing several songs.

In all, Kelly released four studio albums with the band, and two live albums, the last of which Eternal Live was released posthumously and includes a pictorial and video tribute to Kelly which was quickly put together by Blas Elias. Tim had been working on some songs with Blas Elias that were a separate project from Slaughter before his death.

On February 5, 1998, Kelly was involved in a fatal car accident while traveling on Highway 96 in Arizona.

Kelly"s vehicle was hit head on when an 18 wheeler crossed the middle line. Kelly was transported to a Bagdad, Arizona clinic where he was pronounced dead from internal injuries. At the time of the accident, the driver of the 18 wheeler was under the influence of at least three different drugs including amphetamines.

He was later sentenced to three years in prison.

Kelly is buried at Saint Ignatius Cemetery in Pennsylvania.