Nick Kelly
Nick first came to prominence as lead singer and songwriter with The Fat Lady Sings between with whom he released two acclaimed albums, Twist (1991) and Johnson (1993), and toured extensively in Ireland, the UK, Europe and North America. His first solo album Between Trapezes, released on his own Self Possessed label, saw him nominated in Best Album and Best Songwriter categories and winning the Best Solo Artist Award at the 1999 Irish Music Critics Awards. His second solo album Running Dog (2005) was nominated for Irish Album of The Year at the inaugural Choice Music Prize. In 2009 he embarked on an innovative nine month-long project called Gestation, collaborating with a wide range of musicians in a variety of genres over nine live shows at Dublin’s Whelans, and inviting audience and online feedback. He released a subsequent album of recordings from this concert series, Nine Lives, under the alter ego Alien Envoy. In 2014 he released a new studio album Loads, again as Alien Envoy. In the subsequent Hot Press annual Readers Poll he was voted Ireland’s #3 Best Songwriter. In 2022, Nick wrote, recorded and released a new EP under the name Dogs with his friend and regular musical collaborator Sean Millar. Two songs from this EP - Old Dog, Young Dog and Heartbeat - entered the Irish radio charts top 20 in 2022. Later that year Nick cycled from Ireland to Glastonbury, playing shows along the route and at the festival itself with his Dogs partner Sean, to start a conversation about more sustainable ways to tour live music. He is now developing a documentary film about this project with the working title The Song Cycle. In addition to his work in music, Nick is an Oscar-shortlisted Film Maker (for his 2010 live action short Shoe) and a Clio-winning Advertising Creative (for his 2002 Guinness ad Tom Crean). He has composed music for all his own films to date, including all the soundtrack elements for his Shoe, and two keystone songs for his debut feature The Drummer and The Keeper (2017).
“The most visual songwriter Ireland has ever produced” – Hot Press
“Ireland’s most philosophical songsmith” – Sunday Independent.
“A poet’s eye for detail” – Irish Independent
"Incapable of constructing a duff concept, musical or otherwise" - Irish Times