Jimmy Kelly

Born in Gamonal, Spain, into a traveling Irish-American family, Jimmy Kelly grew up between European roads and street music, a context that has lastingly shaped his writing and his approach to the stage. Initially identified within The Kelly Family, he developed a repertoire between pop, folk and acoustic song, and co-wrote several of the group’s songs in the 1990s. In his solo work, Jimmy Kelly continues in a tighter vein, fed by Celtic folk, pop ballads and acoustic arrangements, with a constant focus on melodies and traditional songs. His discography under his own name or under James Kelly includes Babylon (2005), Roots (2008), Roots – Diggin’ Deeper (2009), The Hometown Sessions (2010), Viva la Street (2013) and On the Street (2015). From the 2010s onward, Jimmy Kelly also re-embraces the spirit of his beginnings by playing again on the street and surrounding himself with a collective of musicians under the name Jimmy Kelly & The Street Orchestra, a formation that extends his penchant for concerts in direct contact with the public. Since 2017, Jimmy Kelly also participates in the on-stage return of The Kelly Family, while maintaining his personal projects.