During the great famine in Ireland in the middle of the 19th century, many Irish people immigrated to America. The great-grandfather of the Kelly Family, Sean O'Kelley, was one of them. He was only 8 years old when he and his family moved from somewhere around Cobh, Ireland, to Michigan in the USA. In the USA, the family changed their last name O'Kelley to Kelly - to sound more American. Sean grew up and became a well-known violin player and musician in the Irish community where he lived. He married a woman and they had children, one of them was John (papa Kelly's father). John married Caroline, and they had 4 boys: Jim, Henry, Bob and Daniel. Daniel grew up in the USA and became a teacher and in 1959, he left the occupation of a teacher and started to trade with antiques. He met Joanne, she became his wife in 1957, and they had four children: Danny, Caroline, Kathleen Ann and Paul.

It all began in 1966 when Daniel Jerome Kelly and Barbara Ann Soukko moved with four children (Danny, Caroline, Kathy and Paul) from the USA to Spain where lived the best singers and dancers of that time. They made their living by trading antiques. But they lived without electricity and they used to go for water 300 metres to the nearest well at that time. Even though, today all the children say: "We were happy and there was nothing that we would miss."

They lived in a poor area of the southern Spain. TV and even the radio were not spreaded too wide and the most popular entertainment of people in that area was singing and dancing local folk music. The Kellys loved music. When during Christmas 1969 Caroline saw a man playing the accordion, she was so impressed that she decided to play it. Kathy played the violin, John played the drums, their teacher's daughter the guitar, Caroline played the accordion and Paul the saxophone. The other children also started taking music lessons.

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 lead the children to the music since their early childhood. On November 6th 1970, Barbara and Dan married in New York. Joanne went back from Spain to America.

At first the children sang and played at private birthday parties or weddings, later at the town festivals. They began singing for their little Spanish town once a year at the carneval. They started to make money from their favorite pastime. Dan Kelly, whose work as a dealer of antiques in Toledo (since 1966 until 1972) made him the breadwinner, gave up the business and started singing with his children. The whole family got involved and music became a very important part of their lives. They started to learn to play the instruments, and some of them took the ballet lessons. The kids didn't go to school but were taught by their parents, their uncle Jim and later the older siblings taught the younger ones. Once a year they all took a test from an international school to make sure they didn't miss anything.

In 1973 the family moved to Pamplona and for a year runned the artists' tavern "La Viana" there. Mother Barbara was giving the children ballet lessons at home, and they took music lessons in the city of Talavera de la Reina.

In 1974 they found 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-year-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 her father's condition. Her mama made a new dress for Patty's first live performance. Her first song was "Blanco Es El Nino". So, this is Patricia's story. Although she looks very fragile, she has a very strong personality.

This was the time when the street life started. During the performance, mom Barbara danced and papa Dan sang with the children. Johnny was the main singer.

In 1975 Dan closed the artist's pub, bought a double-decker bus and the family started to travel through Europe. They made their debut on Spanish TV and toured the country making many public concerts. Then they moved to Pamplona and opened a music bar. Different musicians came and played everything from classical to rock music. At the same time the Kellys were studying music and were dancing at the conservatory, and in the evenings their teachers would come to the bar and play. The bar became more and more famous and more exclusive, which destroyed its unique atmosphere, and Dan decided to close it. They decided to earn money by playing at restaurants. Once they were asked to play in the streets and the response was fantastic. It was a great freedom for them because they could play for those who really wanted to listen to them.

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!".

They met Thomas Christian who invited Kathy to Vienna for some free music-lessons and so they went to Vienna. They were seen by a circus Roncalli's manager who suggested that they would play at his circus. They all were big circusfans so they said yes. They performed 5 times during each show. Their first trip to Italy marked the beginning of their travelling across the streets of Europe. They mostly played in pubs and got to know the Irish music quite well. They went to Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. 1977 saw the Kellys in Germany, where they were discovered as street musicians, and not long after that, they signed their first record contract. the same year the Kellys sailed to Ireland. The family bought a circus tent. They stayed for 8 months there.

In 1978 they came to Stuttgart in Germany and Caroline decided to leave the family. John and Patricia attended John Cranko's Ballet School in Stuttgart. One day when John and Kathy were playing in the streets they were seen by a man who told them he wanted to make a record with them. When John told him that they were a whole family he was totally fascinated and in 1979 they got their first record-deal. "Danny Boy" was the first single and it became a great success. They appeared in a lot of TV-shows and they only got to sing playback there which was boring for them. They had lost their freedom and felt very controlled. After 3 albums the deal was over and they decided that since then they would take care of everything themselves.

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 1980 they got their first Number 1 hit in Holland and Belgium with "Who'll Come With Me (David's Song)" (and made 40 TV appearances), and in Germany, the single climbed to No. 15. Their English double-decker bus, with its trademark logo "The Kelly Family", was a familiar sign of them, in those days.

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.

It took years before they got over it. A lot of the Kellys' songs are some kind of musical compliment to Barbara Kelly. After that, Kathy started to take care for her younger siblings. Some help came from Dan's brother Jim from the USA, too. In 1983, the family left Spain, and went to France. They lived on a farm. They played music in the streets and in the underground stations.

In 1983, the family left Spain. Caroline, who came back to the family because of mama's illness, left the family. The Kellys sang in the streets of Europe. For a whole year they stayed in Paris, singing in the metro. They had to be very smart and careful there, they could be easily caught by the police. However, they liked the underground because of the great acoustics. In Paris they used microphones for the first time. After this they went to Brittany and started giving concerts again. Some time later they toured the U.S., covering 20 states and also playing in the streets. Influenced by American rock and blues, they shaped their own distinctive style of music.

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, he was a student of economics, they fell in love with each other and later (1990) they got married. Vincent started to travel with the family. In 1987 they came back to Germany.

At first they organized small concerts for 200-400 people. It went quite good but they wanted to play in the streets again. After spending some time in the streets they bought a circus-tent and travelled around with it.

In 1988 the Kellys set up their own record company "Kel-Life" and became producents of their albums.

They decided to rent a big hall for 6000 people. It was a brave idea because the hall was very expensive and they had to set up everything themselves, but they managed to fill the hall and the concert was a great success. In 1989 they bought their famous houseboat in Amsterdam and gave it the name "Sean O'Kelley". Joey, a technically skilled guy, was able to repair it himself.

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 June 1990 Daniel had a stroke, he was paralysed down his right side and was bedridden. He had to learn everthing over again - all the things he taught his children - speaking and walking. 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.

Since 1991 they've lived in Germany because they had more fans there.

At the age of 14, Barby composed a song for her father "Papa Cool". Before that only Kathy and papa composed and wrote the songs. From now on, all the children would write their own songs. The Kellys became pretty big stars in Germany and 1991 they bought their own stage. They travelled across Germany, Belgium, Holland and France. Everywhere they came they made new friends and fans. Jimmy left the family and went to Ireland. He wanted to prove that he can survive by himself, without his family's protection. He lived in the streets of Dublin and earned his everyday money by playing the accordion. But only after a few months he came back. The same year, 1991, Angelo made a new friend. At a concert they had in Rostock he met a girl, Kira Harms, and it was a friendship to last. In a few years they would fall in love and planned their own "Kelly Family".

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.

In 1994 their father got back on his feet thanks to his iron discipline, and for the first time since becoming ill, he appeared with his kids in 1994 in front of 16,000 people on the stage of the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund.

The Kelly Family members are the most energetic live performers you could have experienced in the 90s. They are not just a pop or rock band - they are much more: Their Irish-American background provides a repertoire that ranges from emotional ballads to thunderous full vocal rock numbers. The most striking feature of their appearance on stage is spontaneity. They don't display any of the star-like poses which many bands deem necessary for a place in the popdome hall of fame. The Kelly Family have triumphed by following their hearts and by communicating directly to their audience through their love and sheer enthusiasm for music.

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."

By 1995, the Kellys have won all the big viewers' and listeners' prizes: Bambi, Goldener L�we, Golden BRAVO-Otto, Golden Europa, 2 Viva Comets and the German Video Prize. Platinum and gold awards for their albums and single started to come very soon.

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.

The multicultural background gives the Kelly Family their unique charisma and style. For the past 8 years they have been building their own record company and every year their sales have doubled (note: this information was given in 1997 or 1998).

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. The Kellys had almost no time to their own lives. Everybody wanted them to perform somewhere or give interviews. They all needed to find true themselves.

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 (the former guest house for state visitors to Germany). The whole family had enough rooms for themselves. That's understandable, because meanwhile the most members had reached an age for spending more time for themselves or their own families. Dan tried to keep the family together in this way. But today, the Irish castle is sold. Most members, with or without an own family, wanted to live in their own houses and almost nobody lived in the big castle anymore. They all live in their flats in or near K�ln, except Johnny who lives in Spain.

Kathy and Vincent divorced and In 1999 Kathy left the band, musical reasons were also included. Today she lives with Sean in Cologne and makes her own music. In 2000 she finally discovered her real mother Joanne, who still lives in America and today has a great relationship with her, as well as with her sister Caroline and brothers Paul and Danny. Nowadays, she reconciliated with the family, she performed with them in Roncalli in 2004.
In 2000 Johnny decided to spend more time with his family and Barby didn't go to the concerts but she sang on the album La Patata. She spent some time in France, far away from fans and their histeria, which was the reason she had a lot of health problems. Today we don't know any news about her, only few pictures are taken every year. So without Kathy, Johnny and Barby, the band had 6 members.

On June 29th 2000, Joey's girlfriend Tanja gave birth to their first child, Luke Christopher. Joey and Tanja also spend a lot of time doing sports. Joey got to Guiness' Book of Record for taking part in all 12 "Ironman" competitions in one year as the first one.

On August 29th 2000, Patricia and Denis Sawinkin got married, later, on January 20th 2001, they had wedding in church in France.

On June 3rd 2001, the first child of Angelo and his girlfriend Kira was born, his name is Gabriel Jerome. John married Maite Itoiz on June 24th. On October 30th, Patricia and Denis could rejoice from the birth of their first baby, Alexander Joseph.

In the spring of 2001 Angelo, Maite. Paddy, Barby, Joey, Jimmy und Patricia went into studio in the south of france and recorded their 15th studio album "La Patata" (named after one of the Kellys favorite restaurant), which was released on the 8th of April 2002. They also performed over 80 concerts throughout the whole Europe.

Due to the decreased health from his operation before Christmas (2001) Daniel Jerome Kelly peacefully passed away at the age of 71 on August 5th, 2002. All the children were with him and prayed for him at that moment. His last words were: "Keep On Singing..." Shortly after his burial in Irland and the memorial ceremonie for the public, the Kellys completed their schedule apperances and continued touring. The funeral was small, but hundreds of fans gathered outside the gates of the church and were able to listen to the ceremony through loudspeakers. Dan's children wanted and were able to sing one last song for their father and through tears and sobs they sang him "Ave Maria".
On November 5th, Helen Josephine, daughter of Angelo and Kira, was born.

In the year 2003 the band performed a minimum of 40 concerts across Europe and intents to go in studio to record a new album. Paddy is also doing his own projects. He still sings and concerts with the family, but beside that he is about to release his first solo album called "In Exile" (released in March 2003). Some of the Kellys took part in actions against the war in Iraq, especially Paddy, who was arrested in New York for a few hours.
On July 31st, Patricia gave birth to her second child, Ignatius Aron Maria.

On January 20th, 2004, Tanja and Joey had their second child, Leon. In February the Kellys came back to circus Roncalli, where they used to play in their beggings. Even after such a long time, the artists and the Kellys were able to do a great job. Beautiful shows. Then, they started to play every Sunday in Phatasialand, since April until September.
Also, Johnny wrote his statement about leaving the band and describing all the problems. It was put on the official website of his wife and he recieved a lot of emails, then, which he gratefully thanked for.
Maite felt burned out and decided to give some time to God. She went to Togo, she lived with a family there and she tried to help students also by performing in many European countries on her own. Also Angelo wanted to become a bit more independent, he started to perform with other bands besides the Kelly Family.
In October 2004, we could here for the first time about Paddy's decision to become a monk. He's been in a monastery, learning to be a monk, thinking about his faith.

On December 20th 2004, a Kelly-wedding season started, Joey and Tanja got married. In January 2005, Maite and her boyfriend Florent got engaged. Also Angelo and Kira decided to marry in May as well as Maike and Jimmy married in June and Maite and Florent married in August.
In August 2005 the Kellys performed at the 20th anniverssary of "Welt Jugend Tag" ("World Youth Day"), a meeting of Catholics from all around the world. Jimmy said that Paddy needs to seek higher religious education and needs some time to think if he comes back or not.
The Kellys went on "Who'll come with me" tour with Roncalli again, also Paul joined them. Kathy released her "Godspel" solo album.

On March 6th 2006, Kira gave birth to Emma Maria. John and Maite Itoiz officially started performing together after releasing their album "Tales From the Secret Forest". Their show has had quite a big success among Kelly fans. The Kellys were also playing with Roncalli for a while in the spring and later in the fall they started the "Good News Tour" through various churches. Both Kathy and Paul have been playing with them while Angelo decided to start his solo career. He released the CD "I'm Ready" and since then he's been very active in giving concerts and making new music. At last but not least, 2006 brought three more little members to the Kelly Families: Maite's & Florent's first daughter Agnes (*June 30th), Joey's & Tanja's third child, Lilian Ann (*July 21st) and Jimmy's & Maike's first daughter Aimee (*August 9th).

In 2007, Angelo has continued with his solo career with releasing the "Rejoice and Be Glad" CD and he split the European promotion tour into two parts - the first in the spring and the second in the fall. Maite announced that she and Florent had been expecting another baby. By the end of 2007, the Kellys (Jimmy, Patricia, Maite, Kathy, Joey and Paul) have organized "More Good News" and "Roncalli" tours. Actually, Jimmy was supposed to be at More Good News but he couldn't go because he started his solo career with "In the Belly of the Fish" tour. The fans have been missing Paddy more and more but sadly, it seems like he has already decided which path to take. However, most of us know that the most important thing is that he's happy.

Over the years they were constantly changing their music and looks and today they are a modern rock band in fashion clothes and leather jackets. Because of lack of members they were forced to accept helpers. The newcomers are two Germans - Christian and Matthias, who have fit perfectly in the band but for some reason they will never be a true part of it.

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.