Meet Kelly Fleming

Kelly Fleming is a native of southern California. He was born in Newport Beach in 1957, the son of musician Van Fleming and his wife, June. Van was a jazz musician in the 1920's who later worked in radio in the '30's and '40's for both CBS and NBC. "Although my father was long retired from music by the time I was born," remembers Kelly, "he sang a lot around the house. One of my earliest memories is of my mother playing the piano." Kelly's latest CD, I Wonder What You Dream, is dedicated to his father with the words "To Van A. Fleming ... whose gift of love was beyond measure. The family lived in Honolulu and Louisville before returning to California during Kelly's teen years. He took up guitar in high school and began writing songs soon thereafter. He hasn't stopped since. Kelly has two sisters: older sister Laura lives in Juneau, Alaska, and younger sister Vanessa lives in the town of Eye near Peterborough in England. His 22-year-old daughter, Shia, lives in Massachusetts, where she attends college. In June of 1999, Kelly married his wife Eileen in their new hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The couple is expecting their first child in July of 2000. Several of the songs on I Wonder What You Dream were inspired by his meeting and courtship with Eileen, who is an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. While Kelly is best-known for his work on the guitar, he is also comfortable performing on bass, banjo, mandolin, and lap steel. "I write songs in many styles of music," he says. "Including styles I can't classify. I enjoy and have been influenced by many styles of music, including Irish music, blues, bluegrass, rock & roll, folk, and many varieties of ethnic music. I get in the mood to write in a particular style -- and that's what comes out." Kelly has performed in a variety of venues over the past 20 years, including concerts, coffee houses, folk festivals, and television and radio appearances. "I once had the distinction of dressing up in a dog outfit while Utah Phillips sang 'Every Time I Go to Town, People Kick My Dog Around' at a Lord Buckley festival," says Kelly. That shouldn't surprise; he is more than willing to admit that "Although I'm not a comedian per se, humor does find its way into my shows!" Through the years, Kelly has performed both as a solo act and in bands including the country & rock/bluegrass combo The Clam Brothers and the aptly-named Kelly Fleming Band. "Any time you get the audience to sing along with you," says Kelly, "that's the best and most memorable experience a musician can have on stage." Some people believe there is no place in the world lonelier than the stage. Kelly's experience has been quite the opposite. "I have played concerts, folk festivals, and pubs throughout California, Ireland, Alaska, and Northern Ohio," he says. "At many of these shows, I was lucky enough to be accompanied by Nina Gerber, Paul Kamm, and Eleanore MacDonald. These people have been playing with me for a long time. They're my friends." More than that, Kelly's friends understand his music. "When we get together, I know something good will happen," he says. "The concert takes on a life of itself; there's an alchemy that takes place. No matter what we rehearse, we're just as pleasantly surprised with the way it comes together that night." "It's nice to play with people who give my songs a good treatment, who know what to do with the music. I don't get a chance that often to play some of my material in a quiet, intimate setting. I like performing with these consummate musicians." There's more to Kelly than just his music, though that alone makes him a unique personality. He's also a dedicated family man excited about the impending birth of his new baby, and (he admits) "I'm an avid reader of history and historical novels. I have a great interest in archeology. If I wasn't a musician, I'd be an archeologist." So what does the future hold for Kelly Fleming? We can trust that he will be around to entertain us for years to come. Just ask him what his own favorite Kelly Fleming song is, and his answer is immediate: "It's one I haven't written yet." © 1999, Michael E. Doherty, Jr. with Kelly Fleming