Pat Kelly
Artist. Rocksteady, reggae, dub
- Active
- 1966-2019
- Sunrise
- 1944 or 1948, Kingston
- Sunset
- July 16, 2019, Jamaica
- Also known as
- Horatious Adolphus Kelly, Pat Kelley
Pat Kelly was the falsetto lead singer of the Techniques in their rocksteady heyday, then a solo star for Bunny Lee and Phil Pratt, and, less visibly, a recording engineer in the busiest studios of the 1970s.
He grew up around Chocomo Lawn, the west Kingston youth club where many musicians of his generation got their start. He joined the Techniques in 1966 or 1967 as lead singer alongside Winston Riley and Bruce Ruffin, and the group's best years at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle followed: "You Don't Care," modeled on "You'll Want Me Back," a Curtis Mayfield song that was a US hit for Major Lance, was his first hit with them. Curtis Mayfield and Sam Cooke were the singers he learned from. Lloyd Parks, who led We the People, put him "among Jamaica's top four singers" and called his "a Sam Cooke/Curtis Mayfield sound."
He went solo late in 1968. For Bunny Lee he cut "How Long Will It Take," issued in Britain on Pama's Gas label in 1969 and his biggest seller; Lee took him to England that year, and Pama's releases of his Bunny Lee records, "Try to Remember," "If It Don't Work Out" and "Little Boy Blue" among them, were big hits there. For Phil Pratt he made "Soulful Love" and "They Talk About Love," and in 1974 he gave Duke Reid one of his last hits, a version of John Denver's "Sunshine on My Shoulders."
Kelly had trained in audio electronics, and through the 1970s he worked as an engineer for Joe Gibbs, at Channel One and at King Tubby's, where he was one of the apprentices mixing Bunny Lee's riddims alongside Prince Jammy and Phillip Smart. He also produced for himself and others. He kept a low profile in later years, living quietly in Kingston, and departed in Jamaica; the cause was complications of kidney disease.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Winston Riley (bandmate)
- The Techniques (band)
- The Tamlins (backing group)
- Bunny "Striker" Lee (producer)
- Duke Reid (producer)
- Joe Gibbs (employer)
- Phil Pratt (producer)
- King Tubby (mentor)
- King Jammy (collaborator)
- John Holt (collaborator)
- Channel One (workplace)
- Treasure Isle (studio)
Notes
- Roy Black calls him "perhaps the most distinctive falsetto voice in Jamaican popular music." Roy Black, "Remembering Singer Pat Kelly," Jamaica Gleaner, July 21, 2019, https://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20190721/remembering-singer-pat-kelly. The Rough Guide calls him "another former lead singer from the Techniques" and gives his birth as 1948, Kingston. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 77. The Gleaner gave his age at his death as seventy-four, which points to 1944 or 1945; Black gives seventy. "Funeral Service for Pat Kelly August 17," Jamaica Gleaner, July 29, 2019, https://past.jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20190729/funeral-service-pat-kelly-august-17.
- Olivia Grange, then minister of culture, recalled that "Pat was a member" of the Victors Youth Club at Chocomo Lawn. Black, "Remembering Singer Pat Kelly."
- "Funeral Service for Pat Kelly August 17." Black dates his arrival to 1967, after "the migration of Junior Menz," and says Kelly did not sing lead on "Queen Majesty," "Love Is Not a Gamble" or "My Girl," which were led by Menz. Black, "Remembering Singer Pat Kelly." The Rough Guide places "You Don't Care" and "Queen Majesty" among the Treasure Isle sides of the Techniques without naming the lead. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 62. The Gleaner calls "You'll Want Me Back" an Impressions song; the Rough Guide gives it to Major Lance.
- Black, "Remembering Singer Pat Kelly." The Rough Guide names Mayfield's "high-tenor lead" as a model for Kelly. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 62.
- Brian Bonitto, "Parks Lauds Pat Kelly," Jamaica Observer, July 21, 2019, https://jamaicaobserver.com/2019/07/21/parks-lauds-pat-kelly.
- Black, "Remembering Singer Pat Kelly." "Funeral Service for Pat Kelly August 17." The Gas single is dated 1969 on Discogs. "Pat Kelley: How Long Will It Take / Try to Remember," Discogs, accessed October 6, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1499178-Pat-Kelley-How-Long-Will-It-Take-Try-To-Remember. Bradley credits Bunny Lee with "coaxing some serious reggae out of Pat Kelly ('How Long')" and thanks Pama for the record. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 226, 244. The Rough Guide lists it among Lee's hits of 1970. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 103.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 98, 118. The Treasure Isle "Sunshine" is dated 1974 on Discogs. "Pat Kelly: Sunshine," Discogs, accessed October 6, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/6543503-Pat-Kelly-Sunshine.
- Bunny Lee told the Gleaner that Kelly "was a good studio engineer who worked for Joe Gibbs, King Tubby's and Channel One." Black, "Remembering Singer Pat Kelly." On the Bunny Lee dubs: Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 228. His training in audio electronics is from "Legendary Jamaican Rocksteady Singer Pat Kelly Dies," Caribbean National Weekly, accessed October 6, 2026, https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/entertainment/legendary-jamaican-rocksteady-singer-pat-kelly-dies/.
- "Legendary Jamaican Rocksteady Singer Pat Kelly Dies," which says he worked with Gregory Isaacs, Delroy Wilson and Johnny Clarke and co-produced with John Holt.
- Michael Barnett, recalling that he found Kelly in 1990 living "right here in Jamaica, in Meadowbrook Estate," in Black, "Remembering Singer Pat Kelly." On his death: "Funeral Service for Pat Kelly August 17."
