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Wells Kelly April 7, 1949 - October 28, 1984 |
(I'd like to thank everyone who has provided information Wells).
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1. Photos 2. Tour 1983 with Meatloaf |
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Music Biography Updated.. March 10, 2009... I think the best way to start is by saying Wells, was a very gifted and multi talented musician who brought a lot to Orleans. Of course he's known best for being Orleans drummer, but what you may not know is that he was also a very talented keyboard player, and a gifted songwriter with a a wonderful voice. His music had a wide range of style that could be very picturesque like "Mountain" or "Sunset", or a bit whimsical like "Siam Sam" or "The Bum," but what all is songs had in common was great melody and lyrics. Wells, music career started prior to 1968 although I'm not sure of the year. According to one resource one of his earlier bands was Thunderfrog. I believe he first met John Hall prior to 1969 and he would later play on Johns' first solo album "Action" released in 1970. Anyways, back to 1969 Wells joined the first incarnation of King Harvest. They would have a hit a few years later in 1973 with the song "Dancing In The Moonlight". A song written by Wells' brother Sherman Kelly and first recorded by Boffalongo, a group Larry was part of at the time. In an interview with Larry, it was Approximately 1969 when Wells and Larry met for the first time at a jam session that also included none other than John Hall. This would mark the first occasion that Wells, Larry, and John played together. In 1970 Larry's band Boffalongo released their second album "Beyond Your Head" which included Shermans' song "Dancing In The Moonlight". The song was recorded with Sherman on vocals and piano, Larry on lead guitar, and Wells is credited as playing the Timbalis (which is a Latin percussion instrument). Still a member of King Harvest Wells left that band in 1970 and joined Boffalongo where he would remain thru most of 1971, until he was asked by John Hall to move to Woodstock to form a band. Wells accepted the offer and left Boffalongo and joined John in December 1971, and soon afterward Boffalongo would disband. According to the liner notes of "Dance With Me: The Best Of Orleans," originally Wells was to play keyboards, while the drummer and bass player ended up being only temporary members that soon left the band in 1972. This prompted Wells to contact former Boffalongo band mate Larry Hoppen to join them. Larry accepted the invitation and for awhile they would play as a trio often switching instruments during the show. Eventually they decided to add a fourth element to the band, none other than Larry's younger brother Lance who would become their permanent bass player, and this was the birth of Orleans, a name suggested by Wells. Wells history for the next few years is fairly well documented. Orleans would release an album every year from 1973 thru 1976 with Wells contributing one song per album with the exception of the 1975 release "Let There Be Music." In 1976 the band would release their "Waking and Dreaming," album with new band mate drummer Jerry Marotta who joined the band to allow Wells more time on the keyboards. This would also be the bands first lineup change. The album contained the Wells Kelly song "The Bum," and the song "Siam Sam" which didn't make the album, but did appear as the b side of one of the singles released from the album. The song wouldn't be released on a proper CD until 1997's "Dance With Me - The Best Of". As 1976 drew to a close the band had 2 successful albums both of which had top ten hit songs, and like a lot of successful bands tensions began to mount over various issues. One issue being that both Wells and Larry wanted more of their songs on future albums. The growing tensions prompted John Hall to leave the band in the middle to end of 1977 to pursue a solo career, and soon afterwards Jerry Marotta left the band. During this period it's uncertain if Orleans "officially" broke up, but they were definitely on temporary hiatus until either 1978/79. From a 2007 Glory-Daze interview with Larry Hoppen he recounted from 1977 thru 1978 Wells worked with The Beach Boys (more on this further down), and Lance and Larry toured with Garland Jeffreys. When Orleans regrouped in 1978/79 Larry, Lance, Wells and were joined by two new members Bob Leinbach and R.A. Martin, and released the "Forever," album in 1979 on Infinity Records. Wells did contribute the song "Isn't It Easy," however it was sung by Bob Leinbach. The album went on to be a success with the hit song, "Love Takes Time" and by all accounts this should've propelled Orleans onto bigger and better things, however this wasn't to happen. Bad business decisions on the part of Infinity Records forced the company into bankruptcy, and Orleans along with several other artists were carried over to MCA Records, the parent company of Infinity. The band once again reduced to the trio of Larry, Lance and Wells fulfilled their contractual obligation to MCA Records releasing their self-titled album in 1980. This album would be interesting in many ways as It featured more songs and vocals by Wells and Larry than any other Orleans album up until that time, it was also the first time Lance contributed a song (2 to be exact) and sang lead on both, and all former members of Orleans appeared on the album in some capacity. Unfortunately, the album received barely any promotion from MCA and after its release the band was yet again without a record company. It was shortly after this Wells chose to leave band. While I'm not sure as to why he left, I can speculate that it had to do with the uncertain future of Orleans at the time. After leaving Orleans, Wells joined Steve Forberts' Flying Squirrels in late 1981 or beginning of 1982. The Flying Squirrels were Steve Forbert (Vocal, Guitar), Frank Campbell (Bass), John Levanthal (Lead Guitar), Paul Erico (Keyboards) and Wells on drums. During this period Wells was still living in Woodstock, NY and he toured With The Flying Squirrels mainly around the East Coast. Clarence Clemons, best known from Bruce Springsteens' E Street Band, opened many of these shows and that is how he met Wells. Most likely in late 1982, Wells began working with Clemons on what would be his "Rescue" LP which was released in 1983, most likely in the Spring. In 1983, Wells joined Meatloafs' Neverland Express for his 1983 World Tour. To see the countries and cities played on the tour click HERE. Either at the end of 1983 or the beginning of 1984, Wells was back with Clarence Clemons and The Red Bank Rockers. This is documented because they played a show at Ripley's Music Hall in Philadelphia, January 22, 1984. By this time Wells had moved from Woodstock, NY to New York City for more opportunities to do session work. After he finished his tour with Clemons in 1984, he went to London to begin work on what would be Meatloaf's "Bad Attitude" LP. It was during his time in London that on October 28, 1984 Wells was found deceased due to asphyxiation. Update....Sept 21, 2008... I received this nice comment about Wells from his girlfriend at the time that I wanted to share. I was living with Wells at the time of his death. He was my love and my best friend and an enormous person. In his "tribute" it mentions that the writer did not have information on Wells for many of those years. Wells played with The Steve Forbert Band, Meatloaf and Clarence Clemmons and did various session dates. He moved to New York City to live with me. He had two children with his former wife Chris, Hunter Kelly and Wyatt Kelly - Wyatt and I keep in touch-he just had his own son, Samuel Wells Kelly. There are not enough words to describe Wells. As a matter of fact, his brother Sherman Kelly and I just got off the phone together, which is what made me start looking up information again..we love telling Wells’ stories and when I hear Sherman’s laugh, I hear Wells. Wells loved his music, he loved his children, he loved his life. I miss him every day. - Robin Another story that was shared with me by a friend, of Wells, takes place on Halloween night of 1982. Steve Forbert and The flying Squirrels played in Gettysburg, Halloween of 1982, which had Clarence Clemons opening for them. After the show Steve, Wells and the band returned to their hotel, along with a few friends. Eventually, Wells went down to the lobby of the hotel and noticed a Halloween party taking place in the ballroom that had a band. Wells called up to his hotel room and told the other band members to come down and one by one and they'd crash the party. Wells being the first one into the ballroom asked the drummer if he could tryout his drums, slowly the rest of the Flying Squirrels entered the room and what took place was an impromptu performance by The Flying Squirrels. - A friend who wishes to remain anonymous. Contributions To Orleans 1. Mountain (Wells Kelly) Lead vocals, drums and acoustic piano. 1973 - LP "Orleans" Lyrics 2. Sunset (Wells Kelly) Lead vocals, piano, organ. (It's John Hall on drums) 1974 - LP "Orleans II" Lyrics 3. The Bum (Wells Kelly) Lead vocals, lead guitar, and drums. 1976 - LP "Waking And Dreaming" 4. Siam Sam (Wells Kelly) Lead Vocals (probably other instruments as well, but I don't have a list). 1976 - B side single off of the "Waking And Dreaming" LP. The song was eventually released on a greatest hits CD, "Dance With Me - The Best Of". 5. Isn't It Easy (Wells Kelly & Sherman Kelly) Wells -Electric Piano Bob Leinbach - Lead Vocals A demo of the song does exist with Wells on Lead Vocals, however the Bob Leinbach version was chosen for the LP. 1979 - LP "Forever" 6. Bustin' Loose (Wells Kelly & Sherman Kelly) Lead Vocal & Piano 1980 - LP - "Orleans" 7. Dukie's Tune (Wells Kelly) Piano, Percussion 1980 - LP "Orleans" Instrumental 8. Oughta Daughta (Think I Will) (Wells Kelly& Sherman Kelly) Lead Vocal, Rhoades Piano 1980 - LP "Orleans" Other Contributions 1. King Harvest (1969 - 1970) Wells - drums, percussion, vocals Another band Wells played in prior to the formation of King Harvest, was Chin (1969) which included his brother Sherman, as well as, future King Harvest members Dave “Doc” Robinson and Eddie Tuleja. Sherman wrote “Dancing In The Moonlight” in 1969 while recovering from severe injuries, which is a story in itself. To read about that and to learn about the inspiration behind “Dancing In The Moonlight” I recommend that you check out Sherman’s’ official bio that you can find HERE, also check out his new CD that includes and updated “Dancing In The Moonlight”. The first recorded version of “Dancing In The Moonlight” was in 1969, and this is confirmed from Sherman Kelly’s bio, and it appeared on the Boffalongo LP “Beyond Your Head”, BUT….it’s not that easy. During production of the LP, which would’ve been that same year, the band consisted of Larry Hoppen, Basil Matychak, Ritchie Vitagliano and, former Chin member, Dave “Doc” Robinson. No Wells, No Sherman, AND…..No “Dancing In The Moonlight”, and the LP “Beyond Your Head” was released…..The FIRST pressing of the LP. Shortly after completion of the LP Basil Matychak (Keyboards) left the band, being replaced by Sherman Kelly (friend of Doc Robinson), and Ritchie Vitagliano (Drums) was replaced by Peter Giansante. Here’s what happened according to Larry, regarding the song and the LP “Beyond Your Head“; the label heard, liked and perceived the song to be a hit so it was quickly recorded and put on subsequent pressings of “Beyond Your Head“, however because the Label put little promotion into the song it failed to do well in the charts. While Wells does not play drums on this version of the song he does play an instrument called a Timbalia, which is a Latin percussion instrument. While I’ve never seen a copy of the 1st pressing on the LP (I assume their weren’t many) it could’ve been released, as early as, 1969 or in 1970. The 2nd pressing of the LP, which is much more common to find, and includes “Dancing In The Moonlight” was released in 1970. By the way “Dancing In The Moonlight” is the only recording that exists of the new lineup of Boffalongo. In late 1969 Dave Robinson would leave Boffalongo and regroup with Eddie Tuleja, Rod Novak and Ron Altbach in Paris, France (of all places) and form King Harvest. These four had all played together previously until they went their separate ways in 1969. So the period these four would be separate, and the period of Dave Robinson’s tenure in Boffalongo would’ve been brief. At the beginning of 1971 Wells moved to France and lived with the band, King Harvest, and introduced them to the song “Dancing In The Moonlight”. By the time King Harvest got a recording contract in the Spring of 1971, Wells had left the band and returned back to the U.S., joined Boffalongo and became their drummer. Meanwhile, King Harvest recorded “Dancing In The Moonlight”, with Steve Cutler on drums, and the song was released, late 1971, in France. The song didn’t do well, and according to the King Harvest MySpace page the band broke up shortly thereafter. Their producers though continued to shop the song and finally got it released, in 1973, on a small U.S. label and that’s when the song hit big, which prompted the band to reunite. That same year Sherman Kelly was asked to join the band and tour in support of the hit record. The Orleans connection with “Dancing In The Moonlight”. The Boffalongo version has both Wells and Larry on the recording, both founding members of Orleans. Sherman Kelly, while not in Orleans, would co write several songs with Wells that would appear on LP’s by Orleans (Forever and Orleans 1980). The band Orleans would record “Dancing In The Moonlight” which the LP was named after in 2005, and featured Larry, Lance and John on vocals. So, how classic is “Dancing In The Moonlight”, well after becoming an international hit in 1973 it was recently used in a TV commercial in 2009. One last interesting story. Most , if not all, the members of King Harvest attended Cornell University. Their was another guy by the name Huey Craig who attended Cornell during the same time period and possibly played with some of these guys, he certainly would’ve known them. According to some information I was able to find they all hung out at the Noyes Lodge which was a cafeteria at Cornell. Anyways, Huey dropped out of college in 1969 and returned to California. He would go on to have several big hits in the 80’s under the name Huey Lewis and The News. 2. Al Kooper, "Kooper Session: Al Kooper introduces Shuggie Otis (1969)" I would assume Wells played Drums and possibly backing Vocals, but I have no proof of this.  3. Boffalongo "Beyond Your Head" (1969) Wells - Timbalis Wells had only a small part on the LP playing on the song "Dancing In The Moonlight", written by his brother Sherman. By the time of the recording Sherman had become a member of Boffalongo, and Wells would later become of member of the band most likely in 1970/71. This is the first recorded version of the 1973 hit song by King Harvest. Sherman Kelly is on Vocals and Piano, Larry Hoppen, Guitar. Wells eventually joined John Hall in Woodstock, NY at the end of 1971, and shortly after his departure Boffalongo would disband. Larry would eventually join John and Wells in Woodstock in 1972 
4.John Hall, Action (1970) 
5. Bonnie Raitt, "Give It Up" (1972) Wells - Drums, Cowbell 
6. Todd Rundgren, "Todd" (1974) 
7. Celebration "Almost Summer - Music From the Original Motion Picture Score" (1978) Wells - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals Wells and The Beach Boys Wells toured with Orleans until John Hall left the band, to go solo, which would've been sometime after June 15, 1977 and before December 31, 1977. At some point, most likely, in 1977 (because the LP "Almost Summer" was released 1978) The Beach Boys were asked to provide the soundtrack for the movie "Almost Summer", but were contractually unable to do so. Mike Love, Lead Singer and original member of The Beach Boys put together a band which went by the name Celebration and consisted of several backing band members of The Beach Boys (Ron Altbach, Ed Carter, and Mike Kowalski), and session players Dave Robinson and Wells Kelly. It's interesting to note, because it shows how talented Wells was as a musician, he did NOT play drums on this LP instead he played Bass Guitar and performed Backing Vocals. The title track "Almost Summer" reached number 28 in the charts and is/was the most successful Beach Boys side project in terms of chart position, at least up until 2002. Another interesting note is this LP included Ron Altbach and Dave Robinson both original members of King Harvest. After the minor success of "Almost Summer", Celebration released one more LP. It was a self titled LP and included Ron Altbach and Dave Robinson, but Wells did not appear on this LP. Wells would be back with Orleans for their 1979 LP "Forever" which included the hit song "Love Takes Time." To the best of my knowledge this is the only affiliation that Wells had with The Beach Boys. I've not been able to find anything that supports Wells touring with The Beach Boys or any credits for him on any Beach Boys LP. Regardless, Wells talents as a musician weren't limited to drums and keyboards.  
8. Tom Rush, "Live at Symphony hall" (2001) Wells - Drums  9. Al Kooper, "Rare & Well Done: The Greatest & Most Obscure Recordings 1964-2001" (2001)  10. King Biscuit Flower hour presents Steve Forbert (Recorded Live: August 14, 1982) Wells - Drums  11. Clarence Clemons "Rescue" (1983) Wells - Drums, Background Vocals  12. Meatloaf "Bad Attitude" (1984) Wells - Drums, Percussion, Background Vocals "BAD ATTITUDE" debuted in the United States in 1984, as well as the United Kingdom that same year. This album was a basic "unknown" until it's resurrection in the "bargain bins" of music stores, and has steadily gained popularity among true Meat fans. One of the reasons for it's "cultish" popularity are the beautiful ballads encased here such as "Sailor To A Siren" and the unmistakable "Cheatin' In Your Dreams. To the best of my knowledge Wells did no play on any part of this tour, however the year before he was on Meatloafs World Tour.  |