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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZKELLY, Jo Ann(b 5 January 1944, Steatham, London; d 21 October 1990 of a brain tumor) A white English girl who sang the blues, and whose voice was compared to the very best. Bonnie Raitt equated her with Mavis Staples; Memphis Minnie was said to be a big influence. As a schoolgirl she hung around a legendary record shop, Dave Carey's Swing Shop in Streatham Hill; the other regulars included her brother Dave (later with the Blues Band) and Tony McPhee (later with the Goundhogs). When they first started playing guitars, Dave later said, ‘we thought we were the only people in the country playing country blues. We'd hang around waiting for records to come in by John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins and all the others.' When she left school she announced her intention to become a professional folk singer, but was drawn irresistibly to the blues. A limited edition EP Blues & Gospel with McPhee was released '64. She played with the early Yardbirds; she appeared on the bill of the first National Blues Federation Convention in London '68 alongside Davey Graham, Stefan Grossman, Ian Anderson (later the editor of Folk Roots), Champion Jack Dupree, Alexis Korner and others. At the next year's Convention, she performed with members of Canned Heat and they asked her to join them, but she signed to CBS '69, hailed as ‘Britain's answer to Janis Joplin, the sixties' answer to Bessie Smith.' Jo-Ann Kelly was released on Epic '69 (reissued on Beat Goes On '99): the British ‘blues boom' was almost over, but she stayed close to the real thing. CBS sent her to the USA that year; she rehearsed with Johnny Winter and appeared on the same bill with her heroes Bukka White and Mississippi Fred McDowell at the Centenary Blues Festival in Memphis (the only British artist who was invited), and duetted with McDowell on his Standing At The Burial Ground, made live in London that year. But her promotion including a USA college tour was underfunded and left her exhausted. More albums: Jo Ann Kelly '72 on Blue Goose, guests including John Fahey on three tracks; Do It '76 on Red Rag as Jo Ann Kelly & Peter Emery; It's Whoopie '78 on Austrian Columbia, with Martyn Pryker on piano and Torsten Zwingenbergen on drums (reissued on EMI Austria '91 as Martin Pryker: Return To Blues/It's Whoopie); Jo Ann Kelly Meets Dick Wellstood on BBC Radioplay Music, probably her rarest recording and sounding very interesting (see Wellstood's entry); Just Restless '83 on Appaloosa by the Jo Ann Kelly Band, with Emery and six others (Emery was her husband; they had one child, a daughter); Jo Ann Kelly '88 on Open (Stomp/Line CD); Jo Ann Kelly Retrospect 1964-72 '90 on Connoisseur Collection/ Document (including the four tracks from the EP); Jo Ann Kelly (Woman in (E)Motion Festival) '95 on Tradition & Moderne; two compilations of ‘Rare And Unissued Recordings' Key To The Highway 1968-74 and Talkin' Low 1966-88, as well as Tramp 1974, all on Mooncrest 1999-2001. Her fans are still out there. She contributed to a great many anthologies on various labels; Hard Cash '90 on Special Delivery included her ‘Odd Job Man', backed by Clive Gregson and Richard Thompson. |