Paula Kelley

Last updated

Paula Kelley
Birth namePaula Anne Kelley
Also known asThe Divine PK
Born (1971-09-10) September 10, 1971 (age 53)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Genres Indie pop, indie rock
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Instrument(s)Guitar, piano, bass, harpsichord, harp
Years active1994–present
LabelsStop, Pop, and Roll
Website thedivinepk.com

Paula Anne Kelley [1] (born September 10, 1971) is an American indie pop singer-songwriter and orchestral arranger/composer from Boston, Massachusetts.

Contents

Career

She began her musical career in the 1990s with the band Drop Nineteens before leaving them in 1994 to start her own career in songwriting. She worked with several other bands before finally going solo with her first album, Nothing/Everything , which was released in 2001 on Stop, Pop, and Roll Records in the US and then later on Caraway in Japan. The Trouble with Success or How You Fit into the World was released in 2003 on the independent Kimchee Records label in the US and again on Caraway in Japan. She followed this up with a US tour and a tour of France after the album's European release through Polaris Musique/Sony. Her latest release is the "Airports EP (2008)," a collection of four orchestrated tracks intended to be a teaser for her forthcoming album. Paula is known for her melodic, emotional songs, expansive instrumental arrangements and sweet, distinctive singing voice.

Kelley began playing piano at age three and was an orchestral harpsichordist by the time she was in high school. She also plays guitar, bass, drums, and other sundry instruments. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, then Boston University (where she received her bachelor's degree with a double major of History/Political Science) and Berklee College of Music.

In 2005, Kelley relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career scoring films and doing orchestral arrangements, in addition to recording and performing her own music. A filmography can be found on her professional website.

In 2022, Kelley reunited with Drop Nineteens. The band released a new album, Hard Light , in 2023.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurythmics</span> British music duo

Eurythmics were a British pop duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band that broke up in 1980. They released their first studio album, In the Garden, in 1981 to little success, but achieved global acclaim with their second album, Sweet Dreams (1983). The title track became a worldwide hit, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart, and number one in Canada and the US Billboard Hot 100. Eurythmics went on to release a string of hit singles and albums, including "Love Is a Stranger", "There Must Be an Angel " and "Here Comes the Rain Again", before splitting in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracey Thorn</span> British singer (born 1962)

Tracey Thorn is an English singer, songwriter, and author. She is best known as a member of the duo Everything but the Girl, active from 1982 to 2000, and again from 2022. She was in the band Marine Girls from 1980 to 1983. Since 2007 she has been active as a solo artist, and as a writer of books and essays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelson Riddle</span> American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator (1921–1985)

Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many vocalists at Capitol Records, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Rosemary Clooney and Keely Smith. He scored and arranged music for many films and television shows, earning an Academy Award and three Grammy Awards. He found commercial and critical success with a new generation in the 1980s, in a trio of Platinum albums with Linda Ronstadt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isobel Campbell</span> Scottish singer

Isobel Campbell is a Scottish singer, songwriter and cellist. She rose to prominence at age nineteen as a member of the indie pop band Belle & Sebastian, but left the group to pursue a solo career, first as The Gentle Waves, and later under her own name. She later collaborated with singer Mark Lanegan on three albums. Her latest studio album, Bow To Love, was released in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drop Nineteens</span> American band

Drop Nineteens is an American shoegaze band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1990. The band was formed by Boston University classmates Greg Ackell and Chris Roof (drums), who recruited Paula Kelley, Motohiro Yasue (guitar) and Steve Zimmerman (bass). Ackell noted that the band was "the American outlier in a largely British scene."

<i>The Trouble with Success or How You Fit into the World</i> 2003 studio album by Paula Kelley

The Trouble With Success or How You Fit Into The World is Paula Kelley's second solo album. It was released in September 2003 on Kimchee Records in the United States. The album also has been released in Japan and France under different labels. The album shows off her many talents such as playing guitar, piano and harpsichord. Her own orchestra, The Paula Kelley Orchestra, back her up on many of the songs. Los Angeles guitarist Aaron Tap played electric, 12-string and slide guitar. Fellow chamber-pop darling Eric Matthews contributes trumpet arrangements and plays on the record. The album has gained critical acclaim and plenty of fans from around the world, including Japan, France and the United States. Kelley supported the record with a full US tour and tour of France. The touring orchestra performed "A New Time" and Burt Bacharach's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" live on Radio France's Le Fou de Roi program. Kelley wrapped up promotion of The Trouble With Success or How You Fit Into The World in 2004 with a gala performance at Johnny D's in Somerville, MA, featuring with a 15-piece band/orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Matthews (musician)</span> American composer, musician, recording artist and record producer

Eric Matthews is an American composer, musician, recording artist, and record producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dirty Projectors</span> American rock group

Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's current line-up consists of Longstreth, alongside Mike Daniel Johnson (drums), Maia Friedman, Felicia Douglass and Olga Bell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fall Out Boy</span> American rock band

Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurley. The band originated from Chicago's hardcore punk scene and was formed by Wentz and Trohman as a pop-punk side project; Stump joined shortly thereafter. The group went through a succession of drummers before Hurley joined. Their debut album, Take This to Your Grave (2003), became an underground success and helped the band gain a dedicated fan base through heavy touring.

<i>Waiting for a Want</i> 2004 EP by Rufus Wainwright

Waiting for a Want is the first EP by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released through DreamWorks Records electronically on June 29, 2004. At the time it was released, the collection previewed Wainwright's forthcoming album, Want Two. Initially planned to be released shortly after Want One, after plans of a double album fell through, the purchase of DreamWorks by Interscope delayed the release of Want Two. The EP provided listeners with new material during this period. Admitting that he wanted to release "a couple of ditties" before the United States presidential election of 2004, Wainwright described the collection as "some of the more daunting tracks, the operatic, weird stuff, some heavy numbers that relate to my classical sensibilities".

<i>Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana</i> 2003 studio album by Ringo Sheena

Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana, also known as Kalk Samen Chestnut Flower and Chlorine Semen Chestnut Flower, is the third studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ringo Sheena, released on February 23, 2003, on Toshiba EMI / Virgin Music. The album's lead single was a massive success, topping the Oricon charts for the first time in her career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Leon</span> American record producer

Craig Leon is an American-born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many recording artists including the Ramones, Suicide, Talking Heads and Blondie.

Dee Palmer is an English composer, arranger, and keyboardist best known for having been a member of the progressive rock group Jethro Tull from 1976 to 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona Brice</span> Musical artist

Fiona Brice is an English composer, orchestral arranger and violinist.

"Trouble" is a blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, originally performed by Elvis Presley in 1958 and covered by a number of artists in later years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Wonder Years (band)</span> American rock band

The Wonder Years is an American rock band from Lansdale, Pennsylvania, formed in July 2005. The band currently consists of Dan "Soupy" Campbell, Casey Cavaliere, Matt Brasch, Josh Martin, Nick Steinborn and Mike Kennedy. They have released seven full-length albums, two EPs, and several splits/compilations. The group is currently signed to Hopeless Records. Their name originates from a paper that Campbell read that was written by one of his after-school educators titled "The Wonder Years."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost in the Trees</span> American orchestral folk pop band

Lost in the Trees was an American orchestral folk pop band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The lineup consisted of Ari Picker (writer/vocals), Emma Nadeau, Drew Anagnost (cello), Jenavieve Varga (violin), and Mark Daumen (tuba). Lead singer Picker cites diverse influence such as Beethoven, Radiohead, Vivaldi, Neutral Milk Hotel, Saint-Saëns, and OutKast, among others. Paste Magazine described its music as "mountaintop chamber music, a happy marriage of old folk traditions and even older orchestral ones," and listed the band among "The 20 Best New Bands of 2010."

<i>Delaware</i> (album) 1992 studio album by Drop Nineteens

Delaware is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Drop Nineteens. It was released on June 19, 1992, by Caroline Records. Hut Records issued the album, along with the single "Winona", in the United Kingdom the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vérité</span> American singer-songwriter

Kelsey Regina Byrne, known professionally as Vérité, is an American singer and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York City. Her first single "Strange Enough" was self-released in July 2014, reaching number one on Hype Machine and becoming the #1 Most Viral Twitter Artist the week of release. Described variously as indie pop, electropop or alternative pop, Liza Darwin of Noisey wrote that her 2014 Echo EP is "packed with crisp, delicate vocals, soaring melodies, and glistening production." Her second EP, Sentiment, was self-released on June 8, 2015. The EP was praised by Time, who called her vocals "rich and ethereal". She has toured internationally and performed at events such as Neon Gold Popshop, South by Southwest, The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn Bowl, the Firefly Festival and Lollapalooza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erica Nockalls</span> Musical artist

Erica Nockalls is an English violinist, vocalist, songwriter, and visual artist. She is best known as the violinist in The Wonder Stuff, one-half of acoustic duo Miles Hunt & Erica Nockalls, and as a live fiddle player for The Proclaimers. Nockalls is also the lead vocalist, violinist, and guitarist in her self-titled art-rock band.

References

  1. "ALL REQUEST HOUR". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved November 10, 2023.