Kevin Kelley (musician)
Kevin Kelley ( born 1945 in California, † April 6, 2002 in Los Angeles ) was an American drummer who was best known for his work in the band The Rising Sons and The Byrds.
Kelley was a cousin of the founding member of the Byrds, Chris Hillman. During his school years at the Beverly Hills High School he played in the school band. He then studied music first at Santa Monica College, and later at Los Angeles City College. After completing school he signed up for three years in the U.S. Marines and spent a year stationed in Japan, where he began taking an interest in Eastern religions.
After his military service, he joined the group in 1965 Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, The Rising Sons, at, where he replaced the subsequent founding member of Spirit, Ed Cassidy on drums. During this time he also learned to play guitar and piano. The Rising Sons were a band that versed blues, folk and rock mingled, and, during the time with Kelley, brought about the 20 studio recordings, but it was able to publish only a single. The remaining recordings were released in 1992 on CD.
After dissolution of the Rising Sons 1966, he worked in a men's clothing store. In January 1968, he was taken by Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman in the Byrds. McGuinn and Hillman had shrunk the end of 1967 to a Byrd Duo, after David Crosby shortly after Michael Clarke had been thrown out of the band and gone resigned.
The Byrds were a long time before a small audience as a trio before Gram Parsons joined them, who prevailed with Hillman, the idea of a pure country album. The result Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is considered a landmark of the country rock. A new program, the quartet tried to conquer a new following among hardcore country fans and was 15 March 1968, even in traditional Grand Ole Opry occur.
After a European tour and disappointing sales of the album, the Byrds Sweetheart planned a tour of South Africa. As Gram Parsons himself, refused because the local policy of apartheid, he was dismissed from the band and the Byrds were a trio again. In August 1968, the guitarist Clarence White joined them.
On the search for a compromise between the old style and the new Byrds Country influences, Hillman and White came to believe that Kevin Kelley not, could ' play hard enough for a country-rock program. Instead, he was Gene Parsons, a musical companions of White replaced.
After the Byrds Kelley joined the formation Fever Tree, the 1969 album For Sale recorded with him. At the same time he began a career as a studio musician. He worked in 1969 on the album The Yellow Princess by John Fahey with 1970 on the LP Gunfight At Carnegie Hall by Phil Ochs. In 1970, Jesse Barish, a friend of Marty Balin ( Jefferson Airplane ) the group Jesse, Wolf and Whings. With Kevin Kelley on drums they recorded a single and a self-titled album.
1973 Kelley played on the album What Did You Expect from Michael Cohen and 1974 on Let The Days Go By by Bryn Haworth.
Published in 2003, Legacy Records, a deluxe edition of the album Sweetheart Of The Rodeo with a previously unreleased song. In All I Have Is Memories Kevin Kelly was the lead singer.
He died on April 6, 2002 in Los Angeles at the age of 59 years of natural causes.