The history of the Kelly Family must be one of the most interesting biographies there is. The Kelly Family is an Irish band, but the most members weren't born in Ireland. The great-grandfather of the Kelly Family, Sean O'Kelley, moved at the end of the 19th century to the USA with his family. They changed the name of the family into Kelly. On of Sean's grand-children was Daniel Jerome.

It all began in 1966 when Daniel Jerome Kelly and Barbara Ann Soukko with four children (Danny, Caroline, Kathy and Paul) moved from the USA to Spain where lived the best singers and dancers of that time. At first, Barbara was only a nanny for children but very soon she and Daniel fell in love with each other. Dan and Barbara decided that they would bring up the children to the music since their infancy. But they lived without electricity and they used to go for water 300 metres to the nearest well, at that time. They made their living by trading antiques. Even though, today all the children say: "We were happy and there was nothing what we would miss." In 1974 they set up the band "Kelly Kids" and after three years this band was renamed "The Kelly Family". All that the children should have known, they learned from their parents or older siblings.

1974. Not all the children were interested in music yet. Little Patricia, for example, prefered reading books. But when her older siblings went out to sing, little Patricia was very sad, because she had to stay at home. She wanted to go with them. Five-years-old girl cried very often. Once her papa told her: "If you can sing all our songs and play the guitar in two weeks, you can go with us." Even though the guitar was too big for her, she did a lot of practice and she fulfilled father's condition. Her mama made a new dress for Patty's first live performance. Her first song was "Blanco Es El Nino". This story is typical for Patricia story.

In 1975 Dan bought their famous double-decker bus and the family started to travel through Europe. In 1976 their bus was robbed in Rome. All the things were stolen, except musical instruments and passports. So they played on the street and they had a lot of money very soon. That day Dan told his children: "Kids, our life has changed!".

Dan and Barbara brought up 12 children and 9 of them stood on the top of the fame - Angelo, Maite, Paddy, Barby, Joey, Jimmy, Patricia, Johnny and the oldest Kathy. But it's far future now. In 1982 there came a big pain to their lives - mother Barbara died because of breast-cancer... her last words were "Keep On Singing..." and these words became a motto of the Kelly Family.

In 1983, the family left Spain. Caroline, who came back to the family because of mama's illness, left the family. She became a nurse in the USA. Danny left the family too. The family moved to Paris. In 1984 Paul left the band and became a cook in France. In 1986, they all came back to the USA and stayed there for 8 months. Then they travelled to France, where Kathy met Vincent van Hille, they fell in love with each other and later (1990) they got married. Vincent started to travel with the family.

In 1988 the Kellys set up their own record company "Kel-Life" and became producents of their albums. In 1989 they bought their famous houseboat in Amsterdam and gave it the name "Sean O'Kelley". But since 1991 they've lived in Germany because they had more fans there. But they have travelled a lot, too.

The members of the Kelly Family didn't have to go to normal school. Daniel was a teacher of Latin, math and philosophy and he taught his children all they needed to know. Every year they all had to pass international exams. But in 1990 Daniel had a stroke, so the youngest Angelo had to go to public school. But all brothers and sisters taught each other all the things, too. Everyone of them can make the cheese and butter very easily.

On December 14 1992 Kathy gave birth to her son Sean. When Jon Bon Jovi saw their show in 1993, all he could say was: "Wow, they go so well together!" And so the next album was called "Wow". This album was the beginning of a new era.

20 years, since 1974 until 1994, they wandered through Europe and the USA, before there came hit that everybody knows today - if they either like it or not. We're talking about the song "An Angel" with Paddy and Angelo at microphone. Their album "Over The Hump" (including "An Angel") brought the final breakthrough. This album has sold more than 4,5 million copies in Europe. It has sold 3,5 million copies in Germany alone, making it German all-time best-seller. Dan was healthy again. In the summer 1994, 40 000 people saw the Kelly Family (who were unknown in Switzerland at that time) at the "Out In the Green" open-air festival in Winterthur when they played alongside bands such as Aerosmith and Whitesnake. The crowds who asked, "Who are they?" became totally spellbound and rocked the night away. Aerosmith commented: "Astonishing. One of the best performers I've ever seen for ages. The future belongs to them."

The family filled all European football stadiums and made its biggest live appearence in Vienna in front of an audience of 250 000. Streets, tents and squares became too small for this successful family. Each of their concerts was completely sold out. For example: during their European tour in 1996 and 1997 they played for (minimum!) 40 000-50 000 fans on each concert. The Kellys appeared on almost all the popular TV shows. They had their own TV-specials, too. Everyone loves this family, everyone wants to see them live.

Their audience range is from 3 to 70 years olds. They are admired by kids, teens, rockers, "heavy metal" fans, grandmothers and "hip-hop" fans alike.

But the Kelly Family didn't keep all the money to themselves. On concerts they collected money for people who have AIDS- and cancerpatients and they recorded the songs in 5 languages for the children in Kosovo during the war there, they gave the proceeds of that single to Unicef.

Their fame became bigger and bigger until 1999, when family decided that they will make less shows a year. Understand them - they made even 400 concerts a year, so it must have been very hard.

In 1999 they celebrated 25 years since the band foundation. "The Kelly Family" became the youngest legend of the world. Meanwhile, the Kellys are known on other continents, in countries such as China, South Africa and the USA. Worldwide, the singing family have collected a stack of gold awards and 48 platinum discs, just until today.

Because of their job, they lived in many countries: Spain, the USA, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland and Germany. Because of their travelling, they speak a lot of languages. Everybody speaks English, German, Spanish, French and a lot of them speak Dutch, too. Patricia even speaks Italian and she's learning to speak Russian now, because her husband is from Russia.

In 1996 they moved from Germany to Ireland to one of their castles - East Grove - and in 1998 they moved back to Germany to their second castle, Gymnich. But today, the Irish castle is sold. They all live in their flats in or near K�ln, except Johnny who lives in Spain.

In 1999 Kathy left the band. In 2000 Johnny decided to spend more time with his family and Barby doesn't go to the concerts but she sings on the album La Patata. So nowadays, the band has 6 members.

On August 5th 2002, the father of the Kelly Family, Daniel Jerome Kelly (71), died. All the children were with him and prayed for him at that moment. His last words were: "Keep On Singing..."

The Kellys love and are loved very much. They give us much power and make us all so enthusiastic. Their shows are amazing, the words can never explain the unique atmosphere there. Everyone can choose from their music, because they play everything-pop, rock and folk. This Irish family are the greatest ones of the world. And we all, their fans, hope, that their lucky star will be shining for a long time. Well-deservedly.