Kelley Hunt

Last updated
Kelley Hunt
Birth nameKelley Wade
Born Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Genres Blues, R&B [1]
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, actress
Instrument(s)Piano, vocals
Years active1990s–present
Labels88 Records
Website Official website

Kelley Hunt is an American blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. Her 2004 album, New Shade of Blue, peaked at number 9 in the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart. [2]

Contents

In 2006, Hunt was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. [3] Her sixth album, The Beautiful Bones, was released on 88 Records in May 2014. [4] She is based in Lawrence, Kansas. [5]

Life and career

She was born Kelley Wade in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, and was initially musically inspired by her mother's jazz and blues styled singing. [6] She attended Lowther Junior High School in Emporia, Kansas, in 1970/71, and the University of Kansas in 1977.

Hunt's own musical influences came from a diverse range, including the work of Ruth Brown, Ann Peebles, Wanda Jackson, Jay McShann and Mary Lou Williams amongst others. [7] Her self-titled debut album, which was released in 1995, featured the bassist Reggie McBride and saxophonist Wilton Felder. [8] In 1998, Hunt's song "If I Don't Dance" from her debut album, was used in the film, Dance with Me . [9] The album Inspiration, followed in October 2000. [10] Her 2004 album, New Shade of Blue, which was produced by Garth Fundis and Gary Nicholson, peaked at number 9 in the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart. [2] Her fourth album, Mercy was issued in 2009, and the Star Tribune noted "Surprises don't often crop up on the well-trodden blues circuit. This Kansan is a full-blown phenomenon: powerhouse singer, hardboogieing pianist, polished songwriter…" [7]

In 2011, Gravity Loves You was released which included twelve new songs. [11] As well as her own tracks, several were co-written with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg. The St. Louis Beacon stated "Hunt's songwriting shines on powerful, moving compositions like 'Deep Old Love', 'This Fall', 'In the End' and the title cut. And she proves she can shine on the keyboard as well - with dynamic inspired playing throughout". She also released the single "Heartland", with Hunt on piano and vocals, plus the mandolin player Sam Bush. [7] The same year she performed a piano/vocal duet with Sista Monica Parker on the latter's album, Living in the Danger Zone. [12]

Hunt made her debut as an actress in Bunker Hill (2008), where she also contributed music to the film's soundtrack. [9]

She has variously performed at the Omaha Blues, Jazz, & Gospel Festival, [13] Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival (2013), [14] Memphis in May, [15] Austin City Limits Music Festival, and Thursday at the Square. [16] In addition, she has appeared six times on A Prairie Home Companion . [7]

Hunt's sixth album, The Beautiful Bones, was released in May 2014. [4]

Discography

YearTitleRecord label
1995Kelley Hunt88 Records
2000Inspiration88 Records
2004New Shade of BlueCoda Terra
2009Mercy88 Records
2011Gravity Loves You88 Records
2014The Beautiful Bones88 Records
2022Winter Soulstice88 Records

[17] [18]

Publication

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Joe Turner</span> American singer (1911–1985)

Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him". Turner's greatest fame was due to his rock and roll recordings in the 1950s, particularly "Shake, Rattle and Roll", but his career as a performer endured from the 1920s into the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Breeders</span> American alternative rock band

The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal, her twin sister Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson (drums).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Deal</span> American musician and singer-songwriter (born 1961)

Kimberley Ann Deal is an American musician. She was the original bassist and co-vocalist in the alternative rock band Pixies from 1986 to 1993 and 2004 to 2013, and is the frontwoman of the Breeders, which she formed in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etta James</span> American singer (1938–2012)

Jamesetta Hawkins, known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind". She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Lou Williams</span> American jazz pianist and composer (1910–1981)

Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records. Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie.

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

Ursula Desire Rucker is an American spoken word recording artist. Rucker is known for a diverse repertoire, and for using techniques that catch her listeners' attention.

The Edmonton Blues Festival is an annual blues music festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which was first held in 1999. The festival runs for three days in mid-August at the Heritage Amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park. In 2008, the festival was the recipient of the 'Keeping The Blues Alive Award' from the Blues Foundation, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Due to renovations that will close Hawrelak Park until 2026, the festival is moving to Edmonton's RE/MAX Field.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irma Thomas</span> American soul, rhythm and blues, and gospel singer

Irma Thomas is an American singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)</span> Blues standard written by T-Bone Walker

"Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)" (commonly referred to as "Stormy Monday") is a song written and recorded by American blues electric guitar pioneer T-Bone Walker. It is a slow twelve-bar blues performed in the West Coast blues-style that features Walker's smooth, plaintive vocal and distinctive guitar work. As well as becoming a record chart hit in 1948, it inspired B.B. King and others to take up the electric guitar. "Stormy Monday" became Walker's best-known and most-recorded song.

"I'd Rather Go Blind" is a blues song written by Ellington Jordan with co-writing credits to Billy Foster and Etta James. It was first recorded by Etta James in 1967, released the same year, and has subsequently become regarded as a blues and soul classic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Hunt</span> American jazz pianist and composer (born 1958)

Steven Hunt is an American jazz pianist and composer. He has released two studio albums, recorded extensively, and toured the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariem Hassan</span> Sahrawi singer

Mariem Hassan was a Sahrawi singer and lyricist from Western Sahara. She usually sang in Hassaniyya, an Arabic dialect spoken mostly in Western Sahara and Mauritania, and occasionally in Spanish. Her use of the Spanish language was related to the former status of Western Sahara as a Spanish colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rana Farhan</span> Musical artist

Rana Farhan is an Iranian musician and singer of jazz and blues. After graduating from Tehran University, she left Iran in 1989, and has been living in New York since then.

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is an American poet, writer and professor, honored as the third Kansas Poet Laureate (2009–2012). A professor at Goddard College, a private, liberal arts college in Plainfield, Vermont, she serves as the coordinator for the Transformative Language Arts track, which she initiated. Enriching people across the United States, Mirriam-Goldberg uses workshops, retreats, and readings to broaden different communities' ideals about spoken, written, and sung word.

Caralisa Monteiro is an Indian singer known for advertising jingles and Bollywood songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lavelle White</span> American blues singer and songwriter

Lillia Lavell "Lavelle" White is an American Texas blues and soul blues singer and songwriter. After performing most of her adult lifetime, White released three albums, the first of which was issued in 1994, when she was aged 65.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhiannon Giddens</span> American musician (born 1977)

Rhiannon Giddens is an American musician known for her eclectic folk music. She is a founding member of the country, blues, and old-time music band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she was the lead singer, fiddle player, and banjo player.

Vaneese Yseult Thomas is an American R&B, jazz and soul blues singer, best known for her 1987 US Billboard R&B chart hit single, "Let's Talk It Over". In addition, in more recent times, she has supplied backing vocals on a long list of other musicians' work. Thomas has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and at the 2006 Pleasantville Music Festival. At the 36th Blues Music Awards, she was nominated in two categories; firstly for the 'Soul Blues Album' award for her 2013 album, Blues for My Father, and also as the 'Soul Blues Female Artist'.

Sista Monica Parker was an American electric blues, blues rock, gospel and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Robb</span> Musical artist

Terry Robb is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist, composer, arranger and record producer living in the United States. He plays electric and acoustic guitar, and is associated with the American Primitive Guitar genre through his collaboration with steel string guitarist John Fahey. He is a member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame, and was honored with the eponymous "Terry Robb" Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar in 2011. His original compositions draw on the Delta blues, ragtime, folk music, country music and jazz traditions.

References

  1. ↑ "New Shade of Blue - Kelley Hunt | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. 2004-06-29. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  2. 1 2 "Kelley Hunt | Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  3. ↑ "Kansas Music Hall of Fame: Inductees". Ksmusichalloffame.org. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  4. 1 2 "The Beautiful Bones: Music". Amazon. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  5. ↑ "News Archives for 11/9/2001". CJOnline.com. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  6. ↑ "Kelley Hunt – Born To Be A Musician". Rhythmandgrooves.net. 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Kelley Hunt". Kelley Hunt. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  8. ↑ "Kelley Hunt - Kelley Hunt | Credits". AllMusic. 1995-08-01. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  9. 1 2 "Kelley Hunt". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  10. ↑ "Inspiration - Kelley Hunt | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  11. ↑ "Gravity Loves You - Kelley Hunt | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  12. ↑ "Living in the Danger Zone - Sista Monica Parker | Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  13. ↑ Cooke, Chris (2006-08-09). "Omaha Jazz Blues and Gospel Festival returns this Weekend | 91.5 KIOS-FM". Kios.org. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  14. ↑ "Kelley Hunt : Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival / Music / Canadian / International / World / Family Event". Rootsandblues.ca. 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  15. ↑ "Memphis in May / Beale Street Music Festival Lineup". Alt-country.org. Archived from the original on 2015-02-22. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  16. ↑ "Thursday at the Square schedule". Niagara Gazette. 2006-05-12. Archived from the original on 2014-08-14. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  17. ↑ "Kelley Hunt | Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  18. ↑ "Kelley Hunt - The Beautiful Bones". Thealternateroot.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-01. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
  19. ↑ Landed: New Poetry & the Road Is Just a River CD: Amazon.co.uk: Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kelley Hunt: Books. ASIN   0980010241.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.