Mark Colbert Kelly (born 9 April 1961) is an Irish keyboardist and member of the

neo-progressive rock Neo-progressive rock (also known as neo-prog) is a genre, subgenre of progressive rock which developed in the UK in the early 1980s. The genre's most popular band, Marillion, achieved mainstream success in the decade. Several bands from the genre ...

band

Marillion Marillion are a British rock music, rock band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becomin ...

. He was raised in Ireland until he moved to England with his parents in 1969. Kelly was an electronics student while performing part-time in the progressive/

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

band Chemical Alice, who released their EP ''Curiouser and Curiouser'' in 1981. He was invited to join Marillion when they supported Chemical Alice, replacing previous keyboardist Brian Jelliman. 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 An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

. Kelly also appeared on

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

's album ''Under the Red and White Sky'' in 1994 and on Jump's album ''Myth of Independence'' in 1995 on production and keyboards. Kelly has played keyboards with Travis for their headlining set at the

Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...

(10–12 June 2005), and at T in the park in 2005. He played Keyboards for

Edison's Children Edison’s Children are an "Epic" science fiction-oriented progressive rock trio, featuring Rick Armstrong (son of astronaut Neil Armstrong), Pete Trewavas (Marillion and Transatlantic) and Eric Blackwood. Edison's Children is known for wri ...

's new album "In The Last Waking Moments..." (featuring fellow

member

Pete Trewavas Peter Trewavas (born 15 January 1959) is an English musician, known as the bassist of Marillion. He joined in 1982, replacing Diz Minnitt, while acting occasionally as a backing vocalist and acoustic guitarist. Trewavas was born in Middlesbroug ...

and

Eric Blackwood Eric Blackwood (born December 7, 1921) is a Canadian aviator. A noted navigator, during World War II, serving in both the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Air Force, Blackwood is the founder of Eastern Provincial Airways. In the early days o ...

), for the song ''The "Other" Other Dimension'' as well as performing vocals with

Steve Hogarth Steve Hogarth (born Ronald Stephen Hoggarth, 14 May 1956 in Kendal, Westmorland) also known as "h", is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Since 1989 he has been the lead singer of the British rock band Marillion, for which ...

and Andy Ditchfield ( DeeExpus) on the

track ''The Awakening'' in 2011. Kelly is credited with inventing online

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

to fund the recording of Marillion's 2001 album ''

Anoraknophobia ''Anoraknophobia'' is the 12th studio album, by the British rock band Marillion, released in 2001. It is regarded as the first instance of a music recording completely financed by fans in a then-unique fundraising campaign, 12,674 copies were p ...

'', following a fan-funded Marillion tour of the United States in 1997, and pioneered many of the ideas copied by other music artists since. Kelly was made Co-CEO of the

Featured Artists Coalition The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) is a United Kingdom, UK-based Nonprofit organization, nonprofit organisation for featured musical artists. The organisation was founded by a number of artists in early 2009. It lobbying, lobbies and politic ...

, an organization which represents the interests of music artists in the digital age. Kelly stood down as a director of the FAC in 2018 From 2009 until 2020 Kelly was an elected performer-director of PPL. In 2016, he was cast as a guest keyboardist in

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electro ...

's 2017 album ''

The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...

''. 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

References

External links

Chemical Alice WebsiteMarathon WebsiteEdison's Children
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Mark 1961 births Living people Irish keyboardists Irish rock musicians Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Marillion members Musicians from County Dublin