BIOGRAPHY

Born to a Franco dad, that was on a perpetual bender, and to an Anglo mom, that was a student and single parent (as broke as she was brave), Ian Kelly’s childhood took place in a tiny apartment in Montreal’s West End. Settling, culturally, somewhere between Leonard Cohen and Daniel Bélanger.

Inherently resistant to authority, a teenaged Ian preferred drinking and smoking over the rigid confines of high school. He unofficially quit school, leaving the classroom behind so he could devote his time to listening to his older brother’s record collection. The latter, an avid drummer, rehearsed in their basement. Jimi Hendrix… then A Tribe Called Quest.

Some older friends that had heard him sing recruited him for their band. This was the inception of Jim-Bob and the Flying Chickens. Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, Nirvana…a soundscape for teenage angst. Oddly enough, it was the acoustic songs by these bands that resonated most profoundly with the young, sensitive rebel.

Though he was still too young to order his own drinks, he nevertheless hung out in the bars with the band. Over time, the self-taught musician also became a stage technician, most notably at the mythical Montreal Spectrum.

An intoxicating feeling of camaraderie marked those days, as well as a sense of reckless fun and burning the candle at all ends. Luckily, friends were always around to make sure he got home safely and stayed out of serious trouble. Then, by chance, Ian’s path took an unexpected turn when he found himself opening for Alanis Morissette at theatre Saint-Denis.

After his performance, in a matter of minutes, Ian’s albums (self-produced and funded), flew off the merch table and sold out. It was at this moment that he first considered that this could actually ‘be something’. The crowd’s reaction to him was the most electric feeling he had ever had. But one thing was still missing for the chaotic dream to come to fruition: love!

He found it at a bar. Love. She was leaving, he was coming in. She came back…

2 decades of sobriety and 4 children later, Ian spends most of his days in his home studio, in Morin-Heights. The studio is Ian’s melodic cocoon, where he creates moody, vibey albums that transport the listener.

Chance? Maybe. More likely, it comes down to choices and meetings.