Mark Kelly
Mark Kelly onstage with Marillion at their 2009 weekend festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Mark Kelly onstage with Marillion at their 2009 weekend festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Background information
Birth nameMark Colbert Kelly
Born (1961-04-09) 9 April 1961
Dublin, Ireland
GenresArt rock, neo-progressive rock, pop rock
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)
  • Keyboards
  • piano
  • backing vocals
Years active1980–present
LabelsRacket Records
Websitewww.marillion.com

Mark Colbert Kelly (born 9 April 1961) is an Irish keyboardist and member of the neo-progressive rock band Marillion. He was raised in Ireland until he moved to England with his parents in 1969.[1]

Kelly was an electronics student while performing part-time in the progressive/psychedelic band Chemical Alice, who released their EP Curiouser and Curiouser in 1981.[2] He was invited to join Marillion when they supported Chemical Alice, replacing previous keyboardist Brian Jelliman.[3] His first performance with the band was at the Great Northern at Cambridge on 1 December 1981. He has appeared on every Marillion studio album. Kelly also appeared on John Wesley's album Under the Red and White Sky in 1994 and on Jump's album Myth of Independence in 1995 on production and keyboards.[4]

Kelly has played keyboards with Travis for their headlining set at the Isle of Wight Festival (10–12 June 2005), and at T in the park in 2005. He played Keyboards for Edison's Children's new album "In The Last Waking Moments..." (featuring fellow Marillion member Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood), for the song The "Other" Other Dimension as well as performing vocals with Steve Hogarth and Andy Ditchfield (DeeExpus) on the Edison's Children track The Awakening in 2011.

Kelly is credited with inventing [5] online crowdfunding to fund the recording of Marillion's 2001 album Anoraknophobia, following a fan-funded Marillion tour of the United States in 1997, and pioneered many of the ideas copied by other music artists since.[6] Kelly was made Co-CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, an organization which represents the interests of music artists in the digital age. Kelly stood down as a director of the FAC in 2018.[7] From 2009 until 2020 Kelly was an elected performer-director of PPL.

In 2016, he was cast as a guest keyboardist in Ayreon's 2017 album The Source.[8]

In September 2020 Kelly released a single "Amelia" with his new solo band, Mark Kelly's Marathon. The debut album was released in November 2020.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "CHAPTER SEVEN, 1985, A SINGLE PUSH TO AN ALBUMS BAND". Archived from the original on 6 May 2005. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Profile, Btinternet.com; accessed 12 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Marillion.com Archived 7 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Profile Marillion.com; accessed 12 August 2015.
  5. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: The birth of crowdfunding: Mark Kelly at TEDxBedford, retrieved 5 September 2019
  6. ↑ "Mark Kelly on the Origins of Crowdfunding". Huffington Post. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  7. ↑ Featuredartistscoalition.com Archived 16 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Guest Musicians". New Ayreon Album. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  9. ↑ "Mark Kelly reveals first single Amelia from new solo album". Retrieved 19 September 2020.
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